Sex, Censorship and the Millennial Teen Film

An in-depth exploration of how millennial teen films shape and control attitudes towards sex, gender, and sexuality, shedding light on the relationship between film, classification systems, and the regulation of teenage bodies.

Through an in-depth analysis of iconic teen movies, this study explores how popular representations of sexual pleasure and desire reinforce institutionalised gender norms and heteronormativity.

Jade Jontef argues that in light of the recent revival of and nostalgia for popular culture spanning from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, teen films such as Clueless (1995), American Pie (1999), and Cruel Intentions (1999) continue to influence thinking around sex, gender and sexuality. Drawing examples from film classification and ratings policies, she argues that these films present a homogenous and exclusionary form of teenhood, providing millennial audiences a limited perspective of youth culture informed by white, middle-class sensibilities and notions of ‘proper’ sexual behaviour.

Combining close textual analysis with a uniquely socio-legal framework, Jontef interrogates the relationship between cinematic representation and institutional regulations. She highlights how dominant Anglo-American narratives perpetuate exclusionary ideas of adolescence and limited constructions of gender and sexuality.

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