Iconography - Coming Of Age

1. ICONOGRAPHY: Iconography used in coming of age films are usually mobile phones and school books as these are things young people use regularly. Pop music is also strong iconography as this is also often related to young people as it is youthful and fun. Some other iconography is things such as posters of bands as this is something many teenagers are interested in for example a lot of adolescent girls are big fans of the band one direction so posters of these would be seen as good iconography for a girly teenaged character. Cd’s and magazines are also very good for showing the characters interest for example young girls would have magazines such as Seventeen magazine as it has a big female teenage audience and talks about themes such as beauty products and fashion which are big interests for teenage girls and would connote the character is a typical girly girl. 

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2. LOCATION: Coming of age films usually have setting such as taking place in a school or at the protagonists home. If the protagonist is girly they may have parts where the character goes shopping to the mall as it is something that would appeal to the female audience as a lot of teenage girls go shopping with their friends. They often show the protagonists bedroom at some point as it reveals much about their character as it is a private place usually filled with their interests such as music, science, games etc. it is a god opportunity for the film makers to incorporate as much iconography as possible to create a personality and theme to their film. School or college is also a good setting because the teenage audience will relate as it is somewhere they go everyday of their lives. Other places could be places such as sports, music, science etc. clubs, leisure facilities such as the cinema (maybe on a date with the protagonists love interest). 
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4. NARRATIVE: The storyline in these type of films usually revolves around a teenaged protagonist who has some kind obstacle in their life. They often want to be accepted and try to be popular or try to win over their crush or they have some kind of hobby or talent such as singing and have dreams of making it big however often there is something in the way of this such as their family not accepting their dreams and trying to make them do something else such as join their family business. They can often just be about a teenagers day to day life and the struggles they face at school being a misfit and suffering embarrassing situations, all these things relate with their target audience of teenagers as the audience can relate to these situations as many of them have actually been in them their selves or seen people who are. 
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6. THEMES: Education, Romance, Friendships, Overcoming obstacles in daily life
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8. MUSIC: The music in these type of films is normally what is in the mainstream at the time the film is made so the average teenager will relate although depending on the personality of the protagonist it could either be rock or pop as it displays their interests and instantly shows the audience what type of person the protagonist is e.g. it could display if they are rebellious or a positive person depending on the song but typically pop is the music most often used because it is upbeat and happy which is a quality of a lot of coming of age films as they are supposed to be feel good movies.
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10. PROTAGONIST: The protagonist are usually male or female and are in their teenage years. They normally have some kind of interest or hobby that the film revolves around. Often they are social misfits and the film is about them wanting to be accepted. They almost always have different personalities to keep the films interesting and allow the audience to relate. Other characters tend to be the protagonists crush, their friends, bullies, parents, popular and social outcast groups at school. 
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12. ACTORS: People like Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Hilary Duff, Selena Gomez are good examples as they have all been in a many coming of age movies.