The Coming-of-Age Genre -- Part 3

This series began with Part 1.

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In Part 1, I provided the Wikipedia list of genres, which included the Philosophical genre, which included the Coming-of-Age subgenre. This categorization of genres emphasizes the philosophical aspects of coming-of-age stories. A young person becoming an adult must develop his own philosophy of life.

That is not, however, the only categorization of genres. A different categorization is provided by Daniel Dercksen in his blog the writing studio. His article titled Genre and genre conventions lists the following Genre Plots, which include The Maturation Plot, which includes the coming-of-age story.

The Quest Plot

The Adventure Plot

The Pursuit Plot

The Rescue Plot

The Escape Plot

The Revenge Plot

The Riddle Plot

The Rivalry Plot

The Underdog Plot

The Temptation Plot

The Metamorphosis Plot

!!! The Maturation Plot !!!

The Love Plot

The Forbidden Love Plot

The Sacrifice Plot

The Discovery Plot

The Wretched Excess Plot

The Ascension and Descension Plot

Dercksen elaborates The Maturation Plot as follows:

The plot is about growing up; there are lessons to learn, and those lessons may be difficult, but at the end the character becomes (or will become) a better person for it. Whereas the transformation plot focuses on adults who are in the process of changing, the maturation plot focuses on children who are in the process of becoming adults.

In this coming-of-age-story the protagonist is usually a sympathetic young person whose goals are either confused or not yet quite formed.

Examples: The Killers, Great Expectations, Huckleberry Finn, Stand by Me.

From this categorization's perspective, the development of Baby Houseman's philosophy is not the key consideration. Rather, the development of Baby's physical, mental and emotional maturity is the key consideration. For example:

Baby begins to engage in adult sexual activities.

Baby begins to discuss issues with her father in a more adult manner.

Baby ends her romantic relationship with Johnny objectively and stoically.

Such changes are troublesome and consequential, but makes those changes decisively. She demonstrates that she is ready to move away from her parents to a college and to fit in with unfamiliar peers and teachers.

Baby gained enough self-confidence to present herself in a sexually attractive manner. Her romantic relationship with Johnny was exciting, but she was able to separate herself from him. Baby still loved her father, but she recognized his faults and dealt with them effectively. She matured significantly during that summer.

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In my previous post in this series, I included a video about the top ten cliches in coming-of-age movies. The #7 cliche is an ambiguous ending (beginning at 2:35 in the below video).

The movie Dirty Dancing has an ambiguous ending. The movie audience does not know whether the relationship between Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle will continue in any way. One possibility is that they will part ways, and an opposite possibility is that they will become a permanent couple.

Such an ambiguous ending is a fitting ending for a coming-of-age story like Dirty Dancing. She is barely entering her adulthood, and the movie tells a mere three weeks of that initial process. Her experiences during those three weeks were interesting and exciting, and they ended rather well. That's the story!

 We know that she lived at least until the year 1987, because that is when the movie was released and because she narrated the opening scene retrospectively. Much happened in her life during that interval from 1963 to 1987.  During that interval, she made many decisions that adjusted her adult life's course. She dealt with many decisions, obstacles and relationships.

The movie tells some initial steps in her young adult life. In a coming-of-age movie, the audience is supposed to focus its thoughts only on such a few steps. Usually a coming-of-age movie does not tell what happens afterwards.

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I will continue this series in Part 4.