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Book Reviews -
Movie and Music Reviews
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Written by Jennifer Roppa
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 Thirteen
Director: Catherine Hardwicke, Winner of the directing award at the
Sundance Film Festival
Screenwriters: Catherine Hardwicke, Nikki Reed
Last night, I watched the movie Thirteen. This
was not an easy movie to watch, it is shocking, heartbreaking, and
eye opening.
This is a movie I think every parent should see, particularly parents
of girls. This movie offers an in depth look in to the clandestine
side of a teenage girlÌs life while she struggles with becoming
an individual, gaining the acceptance of a group of popular and sexy
girls, while desperate to leave her childhood behind. Adding authenticity
to this film is the fact that Nikki Reed, a teenager herself, wrote
the original screenplay, and plays the role of the Ïbad girlÓ influence
in the film.
This film does and excellent job portraying the secrecy, angst and
inner turmoil that parentsÌ and adults in general, are often
blind to. Important themes in the film include the devastating consequence
of teenagers becoming overly attached to their peers, and their enthusiasm
to do anything in order to be accepted. This film demonstrates the
end result of the dangerous journey teenagers today embark when significant
adult influences are ignored and pushed away.
Personally, it took me back to that nightmare time in my own life,
the age of thirteen, the age of self discovery, self depreciating confusion,
secrecy and angst. I watched through damp eyes, as the true life drama
unfurled, bitter reminiscence of what it was like to be that age. All
the while, praying that my own children will somehow avoid the heartbreaking
confusion of the teenage identity crisis.
Though my own experiences were different, and not (quite) as shocking,
the underlying theme was the same. Teenagers growing their identity,
becoming their own person -dealing with the new found freedoms, see
everything with a flair for the dramatic, and judge and model their
own actions based on those of their peers. Now looking back, I can
remember how everything, even truly trivial things, seemed to be of
earth-shattering importance. Sadly, I can also recall that while I
would spend hours on the telephone discussing everything with my girlfriends,
I would never in a million years have considered sharing any of what
I was going through with my own mother.
I believe that it is even harder for girls today, while struggling
with the age old phenomenon of finding their own identity, they are
also bombarded with sexual image and adult role-playing as no generation
has ever seen before. The girls in this film do not look thirteen,
they look like the adult women they are often assumed to be. Today,
little girls dress and act like their sexually charged role models
at an epidemic rate. These girls are not equipped, emotionally or physically
to handle the consequences of their promiscuous behavior, which leads
them down the road to heartache, self hatred, and self abuse, all of
which there is no recipe for quick recovery.
So, what are parents to do? I think that facing up to these heart wrenching
issues is a big first step. Once we acknowledge what influences our
children, we are a step closer to protecting them from devastating
ignorance, and we then have a better chance of being appropriately
involved, seeing the signs, and taking the right steps to stop the
vicious cycle.
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