Are The Kids Alright?: A 'Thirteen' Analysis
By Taylor Linn
Collage by Primcess
Okay, but really, are they? In the modern coming-of-age tale that is 2003’s Thirteen, a girl blowing out the candles on her thirteenth birthday becomes a frightening premonition to her peers, parents and schoolteachers.
Thirteen’s Tracy is a classic smart and dorky middle schooler who is teased about her “Cabbage Patch” outfits at school. Eager to elevate her social status and escape the realities of her less-than-stellar home life, Tracy jumps at the chance to befriend cool-girl Evie, who looks and acts closer to 18 than 13.
Here begins Tracy’s path into self-discovery as she pushes the envelope of what a 13-year-old girl “should” be doing. Tracy is done playing with Barbie dolls and writing in her Password Journal. She dives into a new life of shoplifting, stealing, sneaking into R-rated films, getting tongue and belly button piercings, unprotected sex, thong underwear, binge drinking, and doing whip-its in her bedroom.
From birth to adulthood, the painful process of growing up is caused by the infinite widening of one’s worldview. As an infant, our world is limited to that of our parents within a single room, then maybe to extended family and the rest of the house, then our age-appropriate peers as we enter elementary school away from our parents. Right around the dreaded thirteenth birthday is when children start to realize there is a whole world outside of just school and home, and they wish to explore it with friends, sans the ball-and-chain that are watchful parents.
These moments, without a parent telling us what to do, define who we are and will be.
The single most iconic scene from Thirteen involves a drugged-out Tracy urging Evie to slap her across the face. “Hit me, I’m serious, I can’t feel anything. Hit me! Again, do it harder!” The girls laugh until they nearly cry as blood drips from Tracy’s lips to a punk rock guitar soundtrack. Is there nothing more fun and carefree than intentionally hurting yourself just to feel something? Tracy’s maniacal laughter echoes through the room. These vignettes into the secret life of the American teenager unearth a deep need to participate in mindless pastimes chasing control and autonomy.
At the end of the film, the impact of Tracy’s choices are clear when she discovers she will be repeating the 7th grade. She is mostly shielded by the financial and emotional support of her mother. Yes, she was foolish, and yes there were consequences, but Tracy has that maternal cushion to fall back on, the security of an unconditional love.
Growing up these days isn’t an updated version of Sixteen Candles, with the biggest stressor in a teen’s life being which respectful young man will take them to prom. While Tracy’s teenage growing pains may seem exaggerated and dramatic, we each experience this period differently as we decide who, what, when, where, how we can be independent of our parental figures.