Monday 19 November 2012

Thirteen & Adrian Mole: the adolescence

The book The secret diary of Adrian Mole and the film Thirteen both talk about the different (negative) possibilities of lifes of teenagers. The main topics are the problems with the own family at home (Tracy and her separated mother and the difficult situation at home because of her mother's job and her boyfriend; Adrian and his always discussing and irresponsinble parents), the school life and the obstacles it brings along (the "cool girls" in Tracy's case and the bully Barry Kent and Pandora in Adrian's case).
The film was quite shocking for me. I have to say that I really don't like teenage films. And even less the ones which try to show the worst sides of teenage life. They depress me a bit because when I watch a movie, I start to feel with the characters. And then, when I have to see scenes like a girl who's changing from her old life with her friends and without any major problems (except the ones with her own family which may have been another reason for her drastic changes) to a life with drugs, stealing, cutting... I mean, it's true that we all have to make our own experiencies and when we arrive at a certain age we all start to be more rebellious or we have to go through a difficult stage because we're confused. But this is really a striking example...
Then, on the other side, there the book which, in my opinion, shows the more pathetic part of being an adolescent. Adrian is not the smartest guy (well, the poor boy has got a difficult situation at home, too...) and his thoughts and conclusions... Well, reading the book I felt embarassed for Adrian. And I really don't like this feeling, to be honest. I guess, I didn't enjoy too much this topic, didn't I?
The adolescence is such an important step, but it can also be such an ugly time... I think that what we learn adolescence can affect us for the rest of our life (well, I'm still too young and still too... adoslencent to confirm it). When we start to be mature, to open our mind for different points of view, when we begin to realize all the things that happen in the world and we start to find the essential part of it: the things we really want and our dreams and objectives. And everyone has his own ones. There are people who think that love is the most important and they're always worried to find the special one to spend their life with. Others may believe that the work is the most important and they concentrate on school and later on their jobs. There are also people who dream of being a big star, they want to get to the top with their special talent: a sport, acting, singing... 
I think that exactly that is what's so interesting about knowing different people. In our life we meet one person after another, but there aren't two equal to each other. We all have different dreams and opinions and points of view. And this sometimes is the source of conflicts between people. But this is the fault of the intolerant persons. Unfortunately, there are many individuals who just don't want to accept the thoughts of the others. We can't argue that we can't always agree with everyone, that's not the point. But even if we don't agree what the others say, we could just accept and respect their opinions. It's kind of utopic to think about a world where everyone understands each other (this is one of the big themes in Naruto, too... You remember my post about that manga last year?), but to give up is never a solution. Maybe one day it will come true. We just have to keep trying and teach the next generations to do a we do. We don't have to make them think like us! We just have to show them the right direction and let them walk on their own path. 
Well, it seems I've swung off a bit of the initial topic. I hope you enjoyed reading it even though. It's just... they weren't really my favourite book and film and without these philosophical parts it wouldn't have been my own post ;)

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