Introduction
Teens can’t wait to get out of (their parents’)
control. They are young men and women emerging from an awkward and
self-conscious passage, a regular hormonal sea change. Suddenly
they blossom into the pristine young gods and goddesses television
producers can never get enough of. Is their newfound potency channeled
into proactive engagements with society at large? Or is this internet
generation lost in virtual space? Will tomorrow see today’s
teens grappling with the establishment, just as their parents’
generation did during the social conscience boom of the 60s? Our
exploration of the Adolescent Sublime departs from the
teen’s transition to adulthood in a time of global upheaval.
Why is interrogating
teens important?
Historically, the teenage voice has remained under-represented
in society’s ongoing dialogue.
Today’s teens will be tomorrow’s decision-makers;
how do they feel societies and civilization are shaping up?
Exploring the relationship between teens’
self-image and society’s impression of them stimulates a critical,
mutual learning process.
What makes teens
interesting subjects?
Teens inhabit the ambiguous
terrain between childhood freedoms and the responsibilities of mature
adults.
Thanks to our media-driven
‘infoculture’, today’s teens can speak on adult
themes with greater authority than ever before.
For most, they are
also at the last point in their lives when speaking their hearts
and minds is the norm.
Interview-based, the film will be nonetheless
dynamic, shot on site in teen venues ranging from the North American
"all-ages concert" to the cafés of Europe, the medina in Marakesh,
Morocco, even the grounds of Buddhist monasteries in South-East
Asia. How much control do teens have over their lives? To what
degree have they assimilated society's advances: seeing beyond
the exterior of race and gender to the shared humanity of individuals,
for example. Looking at teen culture for answers to these questions,
and referencing today's leading thinkers in the fields of education,
psychology, and sociology, Adolescent Sublime will illuminate
a subject often left in the dark, but always radiant with potential.
At its inception,
Generation Y was praised as the most positive and idealistic generation
since its parents, the Boomers. Against today’s backdrop
of economic recession and threats of war, the Adolescent Sublime
are tomorrow’s decision-makers getting a grip on the future.
A film essay on contemporary teens and their
realities, Adolescent Sublime is not a conventional documentary
film. Neither is it a feature film, based on fictive subjects
and conjured purely through the imagination. Galvanized by the
intersection of subjective rumination and social history, this
film essay offers a range of politically charged visions and a
unique blend of abstract ideas with concrete realities.
In the aftermath of 9-11, caught up in an enduring economic slump
and facing daily reminders of the potential for war on a global
scale, the legacy for Generation Y is looking daily less attractive.
Approaching the end of the millennium, polls of American kids
indicated that members of their generation were optimistic about
the future, yet aware of problems that might jeopardize national
or personal well-being. How will their views evolve with the on-going
War on Terrorism? In Europe and in Asia, how do teen responses
to the prospects of war compare with those of American youth?
How does a fearful status quo affect the work, school and social
lives of kids the world over?
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