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Spring 2009 Course |
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Representing Adolescence |
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Professor Marah Gubar |
Why is it that, as a culture, we so often associate adolescence with agony, trauma, or moral depravity? Though puberty is undeniably a time of great physical and emotional change, there is no scientific reason to pathologize it as a disease of the mind, heart, or soul. And yet so many books and films about adolescence portray teenagers as either vicious victimizers (think CRUEL INTENTIONS) or devastated victims (think CARRIE). Just as we tend to romanticize childhood as a time of innocence, wonder, and joy, so too we tend to demonize and pathologize adolescence as a time of trauma. In this course, we will study the work of theorists, writers, and filmmakers who helped popularize the paradigm of the monstrous adolescent, and then move on to study the contributions of other artists who have actively resisted it, rebelling against the idea that adolescence is always and inevitably a time when young people either inflict or suffer great pain.