The Unbearable Awkwardness of Your Early Twenties
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The Last Days of Disco is one of my favorite movies. It follows a group of recent college grads awkwardly copulating in New York in the waning days of a Studio 54-ish club. Disco was out of print on DVD until the Critereon re-released it this month. The Whit Stillman-written-and-directed film was such a cult classic that when I tried to buy it on Amazon a few years ago, the going rate for copies of the film hovered around $100. Today on Slate, Troy Patterson points out Stillman's virtues as a social commentator and chronicler of "WASP decline." The reason I love Disco, though, is because it is the piece of film that best illustrates the deliciously awkward post-collegiate years.
There has been a great deal of film made about the mortification that goes along with adolescence (see the ouvre of John Hughes). But there is a distinct lack of moviemaking (especially from the female perspective) that is about the misery involved in one's early twenties. The main character in Disco, Alice Kinnon, is, as Troy describes her, "bright, impressionable, naive, virginal, faintly awkward, and, being played by Chloë Sevigny, alive with fluid movement and alarming prettiness." Alice makes several embarrassing social missteps (one involves telling a potential lover that she thinks "Scrooge McDuck is sexy," in order to seem appealing) and all of them seem much worse because she is trapped in a tightly knit social circle. When Alice comes down with an unfortunate social disease, all of her friends know, too—because her bitchy roommate Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) tells everyone about it.
The characters in Disco are all groping around for their adult selves—trying on new personalities, jobs, and lovers—and falling down often on the way forward. The only other movies I can think of that get this life period right are Kicking and Screaming and The Graduate. Am I forgetting any fantastic examples?
Image is a screenshot of The Last Days of Disco.
Jessica Grose is the managing editor of Double X and the co-author of Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home. Click here to follow her on Twitter.
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Maybe more mid 20's but...
By: Annothergirl | Thu, 08/27/2009 - 11:44
Singles! Such a great movie and a great cast!
The Last Kiss
By: teaspoon | Thu, 08/27/2009 - 11:04
I know that the Last Kiss isn't immediately post-college, but it portrays the uncertainty of settling down and transitioning to family life. I thought it was interesting that the main character turned to college-aged girl for his affair; he felt safer taking a step backward rather than forward.
A few friends and I call this
By: David Arnott | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 21:12
A few friends and I call this the quarter life crisis. For this dude, at least, the modern movie that captures it best is Garden State. For all the movie's flaws, it's an excellent portrait of mid-late-twenties characters figuring out what they're supposed to do after people stop telling them what to do.
early 20's
By: relizabeth | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 16:58
I liked Andrew Bujalski's "Funny Ha Ha"--I watched it in my early twenties and it cut almost too close for comfort. "Muriel's Wedding" is funny and poignant as well.
L.I.T.
By: Nina Rastogi | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 16:22
I second Lost in Translation. I watched it over and over the year I lived abroad, soon after graduating.
Lost in Translation
By: LenoraBabb | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 16:06
Scarlett Johansson's character in Lost in Translation is one of my favorite examples of the post-grad feeling. She doesn't know what she's doing with herself, listens to cheesy self-help books on tape, stares out the window, is insecure yet feels superior to most people, she gets involved with an older man...it's perfect.
It's not a movie, but the
By: rcwilliams83 | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 15:50
It's not a movie, but the sixth season of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer hits hard on the post-adolescent, first-sense-of-real-responsibility blues.
You've hit the very best
By: megiac | Wed, 08/26/2009 - 15:18
You've hit the very best example, which is Kicking & Screaming, particularly for those of use who are early- to mid-90s college graduates. In fact, that movie is one of the main reasons I went to law school. It made the prospect of hanging around in my college town (even if it was Boston) seem somewhat pathetic. It certainly wouldn't have been as funny as K&S, so I would have just been left with the pathos.
Wilt Stilman and Noah Baumbach are really kindred spirit filmmakers.