*spoliers*
A couple weeks ago my sister put on the movie “LadyBird” for my mom, and she didn’t end up liking the film because “nothing happens”. The comment made me think about how we view movies in general, they’re meant to entertain and so we naturally expect them to be entertaining with complex plots and characters. However, we particularly expect a lot from coming of age films- the ones which glorify the teen years and have their cliche, almost formulaic, moments. “Ladybird”, directed by Greta Gerwig, waters down the elements of what we would call the “coming of age moments” perfectly to make one of the most important teen films to date.
For those who are unfamiliar with the film, “Ladybird” is about Sacramento raised teenager Christine (who insists on being called Ladybird) as she goes through her senior year of college. Her strained relationship with her mother, introductions into dating, and goal of getting into a New York College are chronologized throughout her year. While any three of those topics seem like your average teen movie plot points, “Ladybird” presents them in such an understated way that to some it really feels like nothing happened. Instead of romantic gestures or schemes to "get the girl", all of Christine's love interests are just boy names crossed out on a wall. While Danny and Kylie (her first love and first time) certainly add to changes in Christine’s outlook, dating them isn’t the driving motivation of the film. Getting into a New York college, one of the greater focuses “Ladybird” maintains, still doesn't have that arch we are used to seeing. There are scenes showing conversations about financial aid or backup collages, not montages of intense studying to music or piled on extra curriculars. We don’t even hear her college essay, it's only mentioned (think about how many coming of age teen movies include the main character narrating their college essay- “dear Harvard admissions…”). There’s not even a “Perks of Being A Wallflower” scene with someone standing through a car sunroof to Heroes by David Bowie- there is no one “epic scene”.
But this is still an epic movie.
The beauty of “Ladybird” is it’s realism, the happenings of prom or her first serious relationships are shown in a calm way. Compare this to every other teen movie you’ve seen- those are like looking at a character right? You’ve got the nerdy girl or guy who goes through a transformation or gets their greatest wish, and the nerdy part of yourself gets inspired by it. They romatize the parts of growing up we all look forward to. You don’t get that with “Ladybird”. You may want her witt or her pink hair but there’s never a moment of “wow, I wish I was her '' in the same way we want to be the outcast who gets the popular guy in those other movies. Christine lends herself to being a reflection of the average person. Her tensions with her mother, her feeling of being perfectly average, or of benign a second choice, it’s all so relatable and mundane and therefore important. “LadyBird” teaches that any story is movie worthy and that coming of age doesn’t entail the antics of love triangle schemes and soundtracks of 2000’s music.
Everything can be perfectly explained with the way “Ladybird” ends: with nearly no resolution. Yes, Christine makes it to a New York college. And there’s this beautiful moment of Christine calling her mother to thank her for all that she's done. However, the audience can still tell their relationship isn't magically cookie-cutter from one phone call. There’s no hug running into each other's arms. No smiling last shots of a perfect mother and daughter. There’s not even clips of Christine thriving at college, we get images of her being drunk and wandering into a random church instead. The only final resolution we get is her accepting Christine as her name, the one w=she was legally given. The beauty in this imperfect and unfinished ending is that her life didn't magically fall into place when she got into her dream school and finally got to attend. It’s a story about how no few moments or grand events make you grow up, it’s an ongoing and sometimes ordinary process. But the ordinary isn’t in a bad way, it’s a story still full of heart and meaning depending on the attention you give to it. It’s the perfect coming of age story in the way that it defines what coming of age can be, and that it never really stops.
*Still from LadyBird with her pink hair and pink cast*
