Boyhood and Catcher in the Rye Review

By Nicholas Neyhouse on January 22, 2015

The Catcher in the Rye

 

Boyhood Poster

Warning!! This has spoilers!! The film Boyhood (2014) expresses the mentality of a modern coming of age story. I know that I spoke about Boyhood in my last article, but there is just so much more to say.

Director Richard Linklater filmed filmed his actors over a 12 year period from 2002 till 2013. I recently finished the book The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, for the first time. This book is a much older coming of age story, and while they have their differences they share a lot of similarities as well.

Two of the largest, yet superficial, differences are the media and time periods of the pieces. Boyhood is a film that takes place within the last two decades, while The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that takes place in the late 40′s early 50′s. While these seem like major differences between the two works, there are similar themes and issues that the main characters deal with.

The film focuses on the life of the character Mason Evans Jr., who we see as an innocent child that loves Dragon Ball Z and messing with his older sister Sam. Although we eventually see Mason grow into a young tween and then later a teenager, who is begins to experiment with alcohol, drugs, and the endeavors of young love, as most people do at his age.

And the audience begins to see his teenage angst and frustration with his mother and her new husband. Holden Caulfield is the main character of The Catcher in the Rye, and he is dealing with Teenage angst like Mason, when we read about him in the novel. .

Holden is being kicked out of another boarding school, and has decided to leave early in order to have a good weekend in New York City before he goes back to his parents who will undeniably be angry with him. His weekend of fun consists of trying to have sex and drinking a lot of booze. Caulfield has a great desire to be seen as an adult, and to live an independent life far away. Although he does not seem to understand that he must deal with the problems in front of him instead of running away in order to truly be an adult, and he fleets from maturity at about every instant in the book. Holden can not find something he likes at all, except sitting and talking to his sister. His sister Phoebe is the only thing that anchors him down and keeps him from running away.

Mason as well can not pin down what he exactly likes in life, until he discovers photography. Photography seems to help him structure his life, and he even receives a scholarship through his work. Holden has not been able to find his life altering skill yet, although he dreams of being someone who catches people in a rye field before they jump off a cliff. There is an idealistic future that he creates in his mind, although he is unclear of what it means or where he is headed. Mason seems to be in the same boat, although he accepts what he is given in the moment, and does what he can with it.

Even though these two works are about 5-6 decades apart the themes seem similar as each character deals with similar problems. The parallels are so interesting, and I believe that if we followed Holden’s story he would reach a similar standing as Mason’s. Time and technology separate these two boys, but growing up is always the same.

Catcher in the Rye image from: StevenTong taken on May 23, 2009

Boyhood Poster image from: Global Panorama taken on August 10th, 2014

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