Two years after showing films about American college life, ELC thrilled the STU students again with a one-month film exhibit focusing on “American Teens on Films”. Raging from Rebel Without a Cause, staring “the first American teenager” James Dean, to High School Musical, showing “the future of American” dominated by “tweeners” (young adolescents aging 9-13), five screenplays were selected to afford a historical portrait of American youth culture.

 

“To understand American culture today, we must understand American teenagers.” said ELC faculty Duff Johnston, the host of the film series, in conference room #3 of ACC on the evening of October 27, 2007, which marked the beginning of the program.  

 

To bring to light the stories behind the scenes, The Shantou Beat talks with ELC faculty Duff Johnston, the host of the film series.  

 

S: Why did you choose these five films?

Duff: To understand American culture today, we must understand American teenagers. Partly I hope to provide a look at American youth culture from a historical perspective. I want to go back to the beginning of the 1950s, until today. I think that was very important. Sometimes people prefer showing the most recent films, because they think teenagers would like them, but I think if you do that, you lose your history.

 

S: How do you characterize American teenagers?

Duff: Basically, I think American teenagers are asked to express themselves, to be individually unique, to find their own styles, beliefs, and personalities. I think there is one point that is common among most American teenagers-they are expected to struggle with identity to find who they are. In that sense, they are expected to be troubled.

 

S: What do you think of Chinese teenagers?

Duff: I’ve seen many Chinese young people who are asking questions about themselves, their life, and their future, which is universal among young people all around the world. I think in some way China is now going through something that happened in America. I read Chinese news about teen violence, teen suicide, which are big issues in America.

 

Still, cultures are different, so where Chinese students are coming from the past is maybe different from American young people. Teenagers were not very important in China, since the Confucian tradition places emphasis on authority and teenagers are considered not to have anything to say.

 

However, Chinese economy is really improving, and people are more and more concerned about young people. I think in Chinese culture you will see more and more music, films, and television about and for teenagers.