Instead of dedicating this entry to a specific artist or writer, I have chosen to write about a guilty pleasure of mine: Coming of age-themed movies and shows. This genre has always fascinated me; when I was growing up myself and now, as an adult. Growing up, experiencing everything for the first time, all the ups and downs seem larger than life. Vivid and saturated. I like to put my nostalgia goggles on and look back at this time, or visit it through books and movies.

My own teenage years were not particularly interesting. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, felt different and isolated, and spent a lot of my time escaping through books and music. At first I did not really have a filter. I read every book on the shelf and was desperate enough to read the whole “Little House on The Prairie” series. Twice. Then I got in touch with other bored teenagers online who would recommend new books and music to me. Many sleepless nights were spent in front of my stationary computer in the basement, reading about the (more interesting) lives of others. In the city, in love, with superpowers.

The list below could go on forever, but I will try to list some of the shows and movies I think have shaped me and my work. I will leave the books out to make it short. Here are some of the teenage dramas that make me melt with nostalgia and wish I were a 17 year old boy in love, instead of a 30 year old man on a working trip in Estonia, on a bus full of smelly old people.

TV-shows:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) (Quite possibly the best tv-show ever made. Willow!)

Queer as Folk (1999)

Sabrina The Teenage Witch. (1996) (yes)

SKAM (2015)

Movies:

The first X-men film (2000) (Teenagers struggling to come to terms with secret superpowers. Metaphor much?)

Thelma (2017)

Beautiful Thing (1996)

North Sea Texas (2011)

Jongens (2014)

Come Undone (2000)

Wild Reeds (1994)

Being 17 (2016)

Criminal Lovers (1999)

Call Me By Your Name (2017 film)

God’s Own Country (2017)