You're killin' me, Smalls

Coming of age movies are the soft-serve ice cream of movies: predictable, consistent, and just the right amount of sugar.  It's what I love about them.  The best coming of age movies take me right back to my childhood, both the good and the bad.  It lets me face my childhood fears (dogs) and relive the glorious moments (pick up games in the park).  It reminds me how long ago it was, yet how close it is in my mind.

Having watched a few coming of age movies recently, it reminded me how diverse the genre can actually be.  The process that we all go through, from innocence to knowledge, is familiar yet foreign, frightening yet unavoidable.  George Lucas captures those conflicting emotions brilliantly in American Graffiti.  Curt has to make a decision, the biggest decision that most of us make - what am I going to do with my life?  What makes his journey so familiar is his pushing the boundaries.  I'm sure his whole life, he did the right thing.  He studied when he was supposed to, joined the right clubs, did everything he needed to in preparing for college.  But when it came time to leave, he realized that he didn't know himself very well.  It was only through the Pharaohs that Curt could learn that he was capable of doing anything - stealing, vandalism, maybe even a blood initiation.  College would be easy after that night.  When people talk about maturity, I think what they really mean is "Do you know who you are?".  The best coming of age stories help a character realize, in the immortal words of Christopher Robbin, "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

This is what caught my attention about Training Day.  Not everyone will recognize this as a coming of age movie, but Jake Hoyt learns a lot about himself in one day.  His journey is the classic "descent into Hell" that many heroes go through, fighting through the temptations  and Siren calls of money, power, and control.  I loved Denzel Washington's brilliant performance as Alonzo Harris.  He's the dark side that calls to all of us, promising a path to all that we want, but not telling us until too late that it is a muddy path that many get stuck in, and no one comes out clean.

In The Truman Show, I see the "adult as child" reality that Truman lives in, and realize it is the coming of age story that we all lived.  His world, he finally discovers, is a complete fabrication.  Nothing is real.  Not his marriage, his friendships, his job.   Even his weather is carefully controlled to elicit particular reactions.  In many ways, it is what we are all afraid of as we stand on the precipice of adult life - what I know, I know, and what I don't know, I really don't know.  But like Truman, we have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to life than this.

And that is what coming of age is all about.  It doesn't matter if you are young or old.  We are constantly in a process of learning, growing, changing, and adapting to our environment.  These changes are, in the moment, difficult, but the reality is, once we have seen the possibilities, we can never go back.  Truthfully, we probably don't want to go back, because innocence and ignorance are cousins, and both of them can get you into trouble.  I think that is why I like American Graffiti the best of the three movies.  When I look back at that time in my life, I just want to talk to my high school self, and tell him it is going to be okay.  In fact, it is going to be great.  So do yourself a favor.  Get in your car, and cruise the strip.  There are adventures out there, waiting for you to experience them.