All you see is a girl’s face—in the opening of the new movie Thirteen—staring at you through the screen and pausing to inhale from a can of toxic keyboard cleaner. She is astonished that she can’t feel anything, hitting herself to prove the numbness.

This introduction to Tracy, the main character of Thirteen, demonstrates the central theme of losing control. Just as she can’t feel her cheek as she slaps it, Tracy can barely feel her former self as she enters a new world of popularity, sex, and substance abuse. The violent test of her numbness parallels her experimentations with her bodily limits—pushing the boundaries as she falls into self-destruction, a common fate of our generation.

Sprinkler scene. Photo by Anne Marie Fox.

Is Thirteen—the latest movie to scare parents and amaze less-extreme teens—actually a good update to the classic coming-of-age story? Perhaps. In its exploration of the darker side of teenage life in the new millennium, Thirteen does address many difficult topics, such as drugs and alcohol, sex, family life, and peer pressure. 

The level of abuse of herself and her loved ones displayed by Tracy and her friends is surprising to many adults. Mariella Robinson, 40, of Princeton Junction, NJ, says she “hadn’t really realized these people were out there. You hear about it, of course, but to watch the deterioration of such a nice girl is just such a reality check.”

Many teens, though, wouldn’t share in Robinson’s shock. We see this behavior all the time, in classmates, friends, and even ourselves. But Tracy’s deterioration—as she steals, takes drugs, breaks rules, and otherwise rebels against the social norm—does revive questions about the causes of this behavior.

Losing Control

Tracy begins her slide into dangerous habits in an effort to be popular. She sees her male peers worship the middle-school heartthrob, Evie, and longs for that kind of attention. After being stood up for shopping with Evie, Tracy follows her to the stores and learns that she shoplifts. To become friends, Tracy steals a wallet out of a woman’s purse and treats Evie to a shopping spree down the main boulevard.

Each step further into destruction is brought by a desire to be Evie’s friend. Tracy inhales with Evie, smokes marijuana with Evie, has her first boyfriend on Evie’s urging—everything, except her most personal destructions, is a direct cause of her wanting friendship.

Tracy’s loss of control over her life, then, may seem a direct cause of wanting to be popular. But most of her actions are self-imposed, as is her desire to be friends with Evie at all. Tracy comes into the relationship with a perfectly good set of friends, a generally comfortable, if slightly untraditional, life, and valuable relationships with loved ones. She is also a talented writer and a good student. What, then, is she looking for?

Seeds of Destruction

Like many girls her age, Tracy wants to resemble her idols. At one point in the movie, she gawks over a picture of Christina Ricci, a well-known film actress. Her imitation of favorite celebrities, common at that age, leads to her dislike of her true self and then to her self-destruction.

“I was always comfortable with my body, my friends, my clothes, and my maturity until I got to middle school, too,” relates Eleanor Marder, 19, of Chapel Hill, NC. “But then I started watching teen movies. That was what really made me worried—not peer pressure, but the media.” 

Tracy’s family also has a large influence on her, but not in the traditional way. Her mother is less strict than perhaps she ought to be, allowing her brother to smoke pot and not asking too many questions about Tracy’s sudden abundance of clothes. She also takes her shopping when Tracy wants a new image to fit in with Evie, though this is a loving action to please her daughter. 

Tracy’s deterioration, though, can’t be entirely blamed on her mom. Her brother is the first person to call Tracy’s attention to Evie, which spurs her obsession with popularity. Tracy’s mother’s boyfriend is a former crack addict, still in a halfway house and drug recovery. He gives Tracy an easy outlet to rebel against her mother’s concerns, saying that if he takes drugs, how can her mom complain about her own drug use.

Reality Check

One of the movie’s strong points is that blame is not directed at any one person. This emphasizes the reality of these situations—it isn’t any one’s fault, and so, no one person can prevent it. This message is important, since it forces people to rethink scapegoats.

Will Thirteen really have a large impact on the public’s view of teens and their behavior? Probably not, with its limited distribution and audience. But compared to other media presentations of teenage life, it does provide a fresh and horrifically realistic image of the possibilities of adolescence. Parents may rethink how they give “the talk” to their children, keeping in mind the realities young people face every day at school. 

Thirteen also has an effect on younger preteens, if they are taken to see it. Madeline Hoffman, 10, of Nashville, TN, says, “I was scared—I don’t think my middle school life will be like that, or even close, but it is scary to think that that could happen. Tracy seemed so nice at the beginning.” 

The smallest impact of the movie may be on older teens themselves, as we are already aware of this life. We know people like Evie and Tracy and face the risks of drugs, alcohol, sex, and abuse every day. Most of the film’s effect on teens seems to be in how other groups, such as parents and teachers, relate to us. The movie can help them more accurately judge us in the context of our lives—not in the context of theirs.

“I’m glad my mom finally understands what I’m up against,” says Trish Marden, 16, of Princeton Junction, NJ. “I don’t think she realized that I dress conservatively for my grade.” 

Clearly, Thirteen is a beneficial movie to general society in its creation of awareness of teenage issues and its excellent, non-blaming presentation of a tragic story. Will these tales of teenage self-destruction ever truly have a happy ending? 

Much like Thirteen, we are left hanging, with only the promise of change as the camera of the media fades out of our lives, waiting for the next splash of destruction.