There are many great movies about adolescence and growing up, including many classic book-to-movie adaptations for young adults that explore the transition from childishness to adulthood. In general, in these movies, we expect teens to gradually start behaving more like adults and not the other way around. If you’re wondering what the opposite would look like, screenwriter Diablo Cody has you covered.
According to Newsreel InternationalCody came up with the concept Young adult when interviewers kept asking why she almost exclusively wrote films for young adults, including Juno in 2007. Reflecting on her own experiences, Cody thought it would make a great character, “a woman in her thirties who writes young adult fiction and clings to misleading teenage fantasies in her real life.”
Diablo Cody quickly shared the script with her boyfriend and the director of Juno, Jason Reitman, who immediately showed an interest in directing. The film tells the story of a divorced, alcoholic, 37-year-old YA author named Mavis Gary and functions as a reverse rom-com, similar to the not-so-ordinary Revenge. Mavis is effectively played by Charlize Theron, known for her roles in Arrested development and Mad Max: Fury Road. Theron has the perfect attitude for this character, who impulsively decides to return to her hometown to ruin her high school boyfriend’s marriage. Here’s how Young adult with Charlize, Theron perfectly captures the refusal to grow up.
Mavis lives in the fictional world of her YA characters
A hallmark of adolescence is constant daydreaming, fixation on drama, and social hierarchy, all of which are explored in Mavis Gary’s novels. While Mavis seemingly lives a “grown-up” life in her Minneapolis apartment and continues her writing career, her habits are painfully immature. She spends her days drinking Diet Coke and watching the most recent episodes of the Kardashians until she decides to return to her hometown of Mercury, where she felt she was adored, and live her ex-boyfriend’s life. dismantle. Mavis exists in part in the universe she writes about, which is fueled by drama and revenge, what a terribly teen attitude.
According to an Collider interview with Charlize Theron, the actress found Mavis “fascinating” and loved the idea of ”a woman dealing with common issues in her mid to late 30s that women can really relate to, but because of how she wants her life, she treats them the way a sixteen-year-old would. This movie takes the concept of someone who is supposedly established and mature and turns it on its head. Rather than the “successful” character being mature and enlightened, it’s actually the people of simple living in Mavis’ hometown who know how to navigate life.
Everyone tells Mavis to “grow up”
You’d think if multiple people suggested you’re immature, you’d take a hint. Not narcissists, and not Mavis. After successfully scheduling a meeting with her ex-boyfriend Buddy, who is married and has a baby on the way, Mavis resorts to hanging out at her hometown bar. There she starts talking to Matt, an old classmate played by Patton Oswalt. Matt is out for a seizure when he was in high school when a group of jocks beat him up thinking he was gay.
Although Matt was unpopular in high school and has never left their hometown, he has a better sense of the world and is the first to tell Mavis that she needs to grow up. He tells her that her plan with Buddy is ridiculous, selfish and a waste of time. Mavis naturally ignores this advice and declares her love for Buddy anyway. Finally, she is rejected and bemoaned by much of the community for her delusions.
In the end, Mavis doesn’t change
Mavis Gary is an unusual main character. Usually in movies we are presented with a likeable main character who grows over time as their worldview is challenged. Although Mavis’s worldview seems time and time again to be ineffective, she doesn’t drastically change her behavior. After being rejected by Buddy, Mavis quickly seeks out Matt for comfort and sleeps with him. In the morning, Mavis speaks to Matt’s sister Sandra, who admired her popularity and beauty at school. Mavis talks about changing her ways, but Sandra convinces her not to, saying she’s better than the people of Mercury the way she is.
Young adult indicates that people like Mavis don’t change overnight, if at all; maybe people like Sandra and Matt, so ignored and bullied in high school, don’t change either, still convinced that the popular kids are better than them. Mavis, though she has some connections in Mercury, still chooses to leave those people behind. She even refuses to grow up and develop real connections at the end of the movie. Her cured writer’s block, however, is fueling growth in her book characters, suggesting that Mavis may be maturing as well.
Mavis’s character has been difficult for critics to judge at times. Roger Ebert responds That Young adult “breaks form, falls short of our expectations, and is about a heroine we like less at the end of the movie than at the beginning.” The complete disregard for audience expectations is what makes this film a success and an honest story, albeit a grim tale of stunted adulthood and people’s failure to change.
Diablo Cody’s Young adult is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.