Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows two teenagers together, then cuts to an interview with the young man in which he discusses his reasons for smoking and how it affects his parents. Teenagers are then shown smoking outdoors and blowing smoke into the camera while addressing comments through the camera to their parents. A young woman sitting in her bedroom discusses with the interviewer the invasion of her privacy and her thoughts of and attempts at suicide. This footage is intercut with shots of her room and her door with a message to her mother written on it, which sarcastically 'thanks’ her mother for going through her room. The clip ends with a long take of the same young woman talking to her mother about her reasons for repeatedly running away from home.

Educational value points

• The clip provides a portrait of disaffected suburban Australian youth. In recent years, this group has been presented as antisocial and self-destructive by the media, with graffiti, vandalism, gang violence, self-harm and illicit drug use all portrayed as examples of a perceived alienation from authority and cohesive family life. This clip may be seen to provide some of these young people with a voice.

• As highlighted in the footage, teenagers can use their behaviour to create spaces for rebelling against parental authority. Their freedom to abuse their own bodies and take risks is presented here as a rejection of their parents’ attempts to monitor or control them. In spite of the fact that the daughter has frequently run away from home, she regards her mother’s searching of her bedroom and reading of her diary as invasions of her privacy and personal space.

• Some teenagers want to harm themselves through the use of drugs or by physical means such as cutting themselves or attempting suicide. A study from the United Kingdom indicates that one in ten young people attempts to harm themself. This has been linked to pressures on young people to achieve and conform, and on their isolation from traditional sources of support and security. This clip captures, through the body language and responses of the participants, some of the resentment and anger that may give rise to self-harm.

• The clip suggests some of the rites of passage that accompany entering adulthood. The teenagers shown here struggle to adopt some of the prerogatives of adulthood, such as smoking and privacy. Adopting such behaviour may be seen as part of their testing of this new role of being an adult.

• The generation gap is vividly illustrated. The clip depicts an inability of family members to engage with and meet each other’s needs. In the last shot in particular, the tension between the mother and daughter is palpable. The camera and the editor spare the audience none of their discomfort.

• The process of making this documentary is visible rather than invisible as in the traditional documentary form. Via the use of a second camera, the teenagers are seen performing for the camera, bringing into question the sincerity of their behaviour and comments. The presence of the camera may well encourage them to act in different ways. The viewer is also aware of the presence of the adult interviewer and the crew, rather than feeling that the documentary is a spontaneous or unmediated teen confessional.

We see teens sitting in a park talking and smoking, then an interview with a young male.

Young male I’ve been smoking for about probably about two years now. I knew they hated it so I turned around and did it, and every time they come back in, it was like telling them off without saying it.

Interviewer Smoking was a way of telling them off?

Young male Yeah. 'Cause I knew it got 'em angry.

We see teens in a park smoking in front of a camera.

Kate Mum, look at this.

Man Oh, those poor little lungs of yours, darling.

Woman Oh, your lungs are screaming, Kate.

We see an interview with a teen girl in her bedroom. We see graffiti on the wall reading, ‘Thanks for going through my room Mum. You suck.’

Young woman Well, I was actually so depressed at one stage, I was contemplating suicide, but, um, soon as I mentioned that to Mum, she said, 'That’s got to do with your drug problem’, and I said, 'It’s got nothing to do with that.’

Interviewer Do you think it has?

We see the teen girl sitting on a stook in the kitchen talking with her mother who is sitting on the other side of the bench.

Young woman No. I mean, you could have done anything but reading my diary, because that’s really…

Mother Well, that was when you ran away the first time. We had no idea where you were. You could have been in Queensland or The Cross or whatever.

Young woman Did you think I was going to write it in my diary to let you know?

Mother We didn’t know. What we were looking for was a clue as to why you’d done what you’d done, where you were. We had the police here, we had to get photos of you. Missing person, I mean…

Young woman Yeah, but…

Mother 'This is Becky’s diary…’

Young woman You can’t say that it was because of you, all the times I left. You and Dad. It was because of you and Dad. And then you say – and then you say to me – you still can’t see why I kept leaving, and it was because of you.