American Teen is a Bad Title

Let me start of by saying, I do not go to high school in the Midwest.  The experience that these kids have is entirely different from the experience I have had in school.  This brings up the first issue I take with the film: the title.  “American Teen” is a horrendous and misleading title for this film.  The title suggests to the viewer that what is being depicted on screen is the process that every teenager in the United States goes through.  This is so far from the truth.  My years in high school have been totally different, and I think I can safely say they are totally different for students in an impoverished neighborhood with a school that has a significant lack of funding.  The experience would also be totally dissimilar for an upper class teenager in Beverly Hills or a kid living in Alaska or even a kid being homeschooled.  All of these experiences together represent a much better cross section of America than the students featured in the film.  They are all white, middle class, and live in the same Illinois town.  It is misinformation for the director to suggest that this film shows what it means to be a teenager in America.  If I were to have directed this film I would have traveled to not only this Illinois town but also to places across America that represent other points on the spectrum.  A more interesting film could’ve come out of comparing and contrasting these places.  The film could’ve provided first hand insight into the severe inequality that exists in our nation rather than its, in my opinion, unperceptive message of “wow look high school is difficult for these white Midwestern teens”. 

The main criticism against American Teen is that it feels staged.  In fact, when Mr. Boswell first showed us the film many students in our class thought the film was scripted.  I know that psychologically, the students may have started to become used to the presence of the camera, however I imagine that some of the things that the students say or do are fabrications in an attempt to appear more interesting.  Burstein is also, suspiciously, always in the right place at the right time.  She gets reaction shots of students and can hear the other side of phone conversations.  These elements appear to be an example of Burstein fabricating the narrative, not the kids.  However, moments that are raw, initimate, and powerful such as when Hannah refuses to go to school and sits in the car with her father, feel  like they are too personal to be staged. 

I understand what Burstein was going for.  She wanted to create a film where the camera was invisible and the audience gets an untainted, completely realistic view of this group of American teenagers.  However, I feel like she openly defies this intent with the way the film is constructed.  She often manipulates the narrative by withholding information from the audience until it becomes important.  If I were placed in the position of the filmmaker I would have done away with the out of place animated sequences and presented a straightforward documentary that did not manipulate the events to form a coherent narrative arc for each of the characters. 

While the film presents some honest and powerful moments from each of the characters, at many points it feels staged.  The film also does not present a diverse cross section of the American teenage experience and thus has no business calling itself “American Teen”.