Coming-of-Age Films
We’re kicking off August with the coming-of-age classic The Wood (1999). Directed by Rick Famuyiwa (Brown Sugar, Dope, The Mandalorian) and starring a who’s-who of young Black It girls and boys of the late ’90s and early aughts, The Wood was the seventh film produced by MTV Films and part of a barnstorming spate of four movies released by the newly formed studio that year alone. Black coming-of-age films, outside of the so-called “homeboy” canon, were sparse before this era and seem to have receded back into rarity since. Grossing over $25 million on $6 million budget, the film’s relative box office success eerily belies its lack of currency in mainstream culture. But, like a lot of films from the era, its cult status among Black millennials is unequivocal and a testament to Todd Boyd’s and Famuyiwa’s ability to write young Black best friends whose universal earnestness and love for each other transcend the white-perceived social barriers of their environment. The Wood’s version of 1980s Inglewood is less a counterpoint to the South Central L.A. of Boyz n the Hood and more a vibrant, necessary companion text, of which there should have been many more. From an industry standpoint, it’s a classic indie film from the height of the American indie wave that’s rarely mentioned in conversations around more widely adored coming-of-age films of the era like Dazed And Confused, Rushmore, or Slums of Beverly Hills.
Watch along with us as Week 5 of Black Is Not A Genre explores the under-examined universality of the Black Bildungsroman, the invisibility of the Black middle class, and the magic of Black Los Angeles. And, stay tuned this Friday for Episode 5 of the BINAG podcast.
Featured guests:
Matthew S. Robinson is a Washington, D.C. native, writer, director, and playwright based in Los Angeles. He graduated from Pepperdine University in 2012 with a Bachelor’s in Media Production with an emphasis in Political Science. After making his feature directorial debut with, “My Friend Violet,” Robinson wrote and directed various short and feature-length plays. Robinson has won several awards while working with some of the most talented individuals in the LA community. His original plays, “Mary's Medicine" and "BlackBalled” won the Encore Producers award at the LA Fringe Festival in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Steven DeBose is a writer and podcaster from Austin, Texas. He has worked as a judge for the Austin Youth Film Festival, Conference Coordinator for the GTX Film Conference and most recently as director of script competitions at Austin Film Festival.