Narrative technique · used in 4 films
Building part of the story around a young character's first test of adulthood, such as a hunt or an ordeal. The trial shows what a community values and what it hides from its children.
Examples
Bo Burnham · 2018
Kayla's first real test of growing up is a car ride with an older boy who pushes her to play truth or dare. The scene is quiet and cramped, and nothing violent happens on screen. That is why it is so uncomfortable to watch.
Where to see it: The truth or dare car ride. Riley pressures Kayla into an invasive game, takes off his shirt and gets angry when she refuses to do the same.
Osgood Perkins · 2020
Perkins said the story was reshaped around Gretel as a coming-of-age tale. She is sent into the world and faces the test of whether she will become like the witch. The house is her trial, and what it hides is a version of adulthood.
Where to see it: The witch's lessons. Holda teaches Gretel to levitate a staff, and Gretel begins to feel her own power.
Luca Guadagnino · 2022
Maren has to learn what she is and whether she can live with it. Her father has left her alone with it. He leaves her a cassette tape that explains her past.
Where to see it: The cassette tape. After her 18th birthday, Maren's father leaves her cash, her birth certificate and a tape describing her history, including killing a babysitter as a child.
Danny Boyle · 2025
Spike is 12, and Jamie takes him to the mainland for the hunt the island treats as a rite of passage. Spike makes his first kill, but the trip also shows him how much his father has not told him. You watch a boy find the gaps in his community's story.
Where to see it: Spike's first kill. Jamie leads his 12-year-old son across to the mainland, where Spike kills for the first time.
Questions