We’ve all heard of the mid-life crisis, teen-aged angst and even the terrible two’s but what about those ten years of ambiguity? That space in time where you’re too old to not be proactive but you’re too young to really know what you want from your future.
The teaching twenties – or as I like to call it “the quarter-life crisis” – is the name of the chapter where we are learning how to transition from the person we once were to the person we are expected to be. We have to watch our friends lives speed ahead of us, we are beginning to grasp the concept of “real love”, some of us can barely keep our rooms clean let alone stay out of our overdraft, whilst others are scraping the bottom, trying to scoop out a clue of what their purpose is.
The teaching twenties’ are like your teenage years but with the absence of empathy. We’re like baby birds, that have to find our own food and build our own nests but first we must learn to fly.
Frances Ha personifies this transition with its depiction of a young “twenty something” that loses her way to a destination unknown. She is forced to fend for herself when her best friend decides to move across seas. We watch her deal with very familiar financial woes; dilemmas in love and the heartbreak that comes with losing a friend. However, her wings become strong and she learns how to fly. She learns how to maintain old friendships, grasps the importance of creating new ones, discovers her hidden talents and most importantly she realises her purpose.
New York City lends its landscape as a black and white canvas, to such a colourful story with such vibrant and individual characters. The light-hearted humour and the intricate storyline, opens your eyes to the fact that as a young “twenty something”; you may not be where you want to be but in your own designated time, you will get there eventually.
Words by: Siane Mullings
