Can We Please Cast Real Teens in Movies?

October 09, 2020

Can We Please Cast Real Teens in Movies?

I love teen movies. Whether it's adapted from a YA book or not, they're fun (when they're not crass) and lighthearted. However, I have one big beef with them.

Do these look like high schoolers to you?

Putting on a flannel and riding a bike doesn't make you look less like a college kid

No, they do not. That's because they're not. These two actors are 22 and 25 respectively.

I'm not against casting older people in teen parts. Some of them, like myself or Tom Holland, don't look much older than teenagers. But when you're trying to convince me that Andrew Garfield is only in high school, I scoff.

You needn't look so shocked, my college age friend

I'm not saying there aren't older looking teens either. Teenagehood is a weird time when some of start to look like adults and others off us still make people choke when we say we're 23. As a non-specific example. Or look at Ralph Macchio in Karate Kid, who plays a convincing high schooler despite being 23.

But what I am saying is that it would be nice to see some real teenagers cast in YA movies. There are a lot of memes out there about how my generation looked at 13 versus now, and I think this might be in part to movies.

For an example, let's look at Noah Centineo. (~~Because he is gorgeous.~~ Because he's all the rage right now.) This is him in To All the Boys I Loved Before, in which he's playing a high schooler, let's say seventeen years old. It came out when he was 22.

This is him four years earlier when he was actually 18, in How to Build a Better Boy. (It's a lesser known DCOM involving two girls accidently hacking into their dad's military grade supercomputer to make a robotic boyfriend. Lesson learned, sisters before misters.) Anyway, look how different he looks between when he was actually a teenager and when he wasn't.

When we cast people in their twenties as "teenagers", especially ones that don't look like it, it can make actual teens feel like they have to look older too. Be more mature. Wear lots of make-up. Buy designer clothes.

Or consider (and this took me a lot of work to come up with a good example) Natalia Dyer from Stranger Things. This is her when she is suppose to be a high schooler.

And this is her at 14 in Hannah Montana. I know she's not quite in high school, but look at the difference!

The clothes especially always gets me. Have you seen the way teenagers dress? Activewear, 80% of the time. In the movies, they're always wearing perfectly styled outfits with their hair and make-up flawless, instead of the same hoodie they've had since they were twelve. It's a personal pet peeve to see girls dressed like models all the time. (But that's a post for another day.)

I'm sorry, Lara Jean, but most girls don't dress like this on a daily basis

I understand that finding good actors that age might be hard (but not that hard). I understand that being a minor means there are a lot of rules you have to follow in the film industry. (And YA books include a lot of sex scenes for things involving teens.)

But I also think it would be a big confidence boost to a lot of kids. To see other kids that have acne and bad hair days and look young for their age. To see that people who aren't wearing tons of make-up and still considered beautiful.