Which film is the first representative work of teen films is always controversial. Most people consider the film <rebel without a cause> as the beginning of teen films. But there were still some films related to teenagers appeared before this one, like <the wild one>, <blackboard jungle> and so on. However, Doherty(2002:2) claimed 1995 is the concrete birthdate of 'the teenpic'. And his choice is specifically tied to the landmark American film that year which is <Rebel without a cause>. After that, suddenly, many studios realized that they need to making movies marketed to teens, who had lots of free time to go to see films, could be a huge moneymaker.
At the early stage of the development of teen genre, those films were mostly based on romantic love and comedy, like <April Love> which was not only a film but also a musical. And some of them show the social problem caused by teenagers, like < Rock 'n' Roll High School>.
English: Photomontage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off ...
Cameron's House in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
North view of the house used in the 1985 teen film...And some horror films even came out at that time, like <I was a teenage werewolf>. These films mostly were telling the teenagers' inner world and their confusion about the life through different ways of expression.
As time came into 1980s, a person who was a director as well as a writer injected fresh blood to teen genre-John Hughes. During 80' in teen genre, he definitely outshined others, as it even became the 'thing' to go and see the new John Hughes films when they came out. Most of Hughes teen films have these features: white&pure, suburban, and normatively middle class. They are mostly describing the story about love and life of teenagers that happen in high school. Such as these three examples below: <sixteen candles>, < The breakfast club> and <pretty in pink> which are...