I absolutely love that I get the excuse to re-watch some of my favorite coming-of-age comedy movies' opening scenes and talk about them. Film openings are crucial in general to establish the tone, characters, and the plot. Openings for comedy movies, however, have the added pressure of introducing the comedic voice of the entire project. This means that if the humor introduced in the beginning of the film isn't immediately funny, the audience is very likely to drop the movie as the rest of the project will continuously not land with them. This makes me nervous about creating a script as I'll have to be specific enough with the humor that it's interesting and unique while simultaneously trying to reach a larger audience. As an 18 year old girl who has made people laugh once or twice, I'm confident enough to tackle this challenge.
Booksmart (2019):
The opening of this film follows a very traditional set of tropes found in your average coming-of-age comedy film. It begins with the main character Molly meditating before school as she listens to affirmations that she is better than everyone else because she works harder. As this audio is playing, the camera cuts to different parts of her room, flashing her cap and gown which has an academic stole that reads, 'valedictorian'. We also see photos of Michelle Obama and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, along with various awards and medals which tell the audience Molly is a very dedicated and conscientious person when it comes to political issues and likely wants to pursue that in the future. The affirmations continue playing, ironically contrasting her room decor which portray her to be much more caring than she seems to be while the audio reminds her to look down at the losers beneath her. These two things combined have already let the audience know that this character is stuck-up, arrogant, intelligent, hard-working, and conceited all within the first 30 seconds.
Mean Girls (2004):
Mean Girls is a film that heavily satirizes stereotypes and pokes fun at the clique-iness of high school. The movie follows protagonist Cady Heron who is not a stereotypical teenager by any means considering she grew up in Africa and not America. This slight subversion adds an interesting element to the plot and keeps the audience interested. The opening begins with a low angle shot, facing upwards towards Cady's parents as they ask her various questions to see if she's prepared for her first day of school. The manner in which they speak to her plus the angle gives the impression they are speaking to a small child, but after the camera rises it cuts to Cady as she narrates and tells the audience she is 16 years old. The dialogue in addition to the shot composition help to show the audience Cady's family dynamic. The rest of the opening scene is standard American high schools tropes, showing jocks bullying nerds in the hall, Cady getting pushed around, and people othering her in the cafeteria. This opening introduces Cady's conflict and adds context to why she eventually becomes involved with 'The Plastics'.
Easy A (2010):
Easy A opens with Olive Pendergast, the main character, introducing herself and the plot through narration which we come to find out is from a webcam video which she posted on the internet. The camera captures all the students walking in the halls of this high school as Olive narrates and even acknowledges and speaks down on the coming-of-age genre saying that this is not that kind of typical teenage story. The entire conflict of this film begins with Olive coming up with a lie so that she didn't have to go camping with her best friends' family. As this lie begins to spiral out of control, so does her reputation. This unique and silly conflict not only adds to the comedy because of its ridiculous nature, but it also separates this movie from others in the genre and helps it stand out.
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