The family will watch American Teen tonight. My daughter and I saw it in the theater and liked it well enough to cajole my wife into watching it. My daughter loved the movie; I kind of liked it, but there was one aspect of it I found interesting and a little disconcerting.
American Teen takes place in a "small" Indiana town (I put "small" in quotes because I've noticed that in the movies and on TV, 50,000 qualifies as "small". I live in a town of 4500. I know from small.) What I noticed was that every kid on screen, every one of them, was completely comfortable with and aware of the camera at all times. Late in the film, when one girl blows up at her best friend, she carefully removes her body mic before storming out of the room.
I don't know if this has any greater meaning. I could speculate about our media culture, a steady diet of reality TV, or the belief that being on screen gives life meaning. I could wax philosophical about how our dreams have shrunk to the point that we cannot imagine anything higher than being on film. I could, but I won't, because that would be stupid. I don't have enough data or a concrete thesis. Take it for what it is--something that poked me in an uncomfortable place.
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