Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is a coming of age film in many ways. Luke goes from farmboy to becoming a man.

RJSchwarz

I would say any of the original Star Wars trilogy would be a good coming of age besides that I can't think of any.

Well Star Wars, the original trilogy is certainly a coming of age story but is more in line with the Heros Journey.

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

Sci-Fi films that are coming of age, I don't think you need to see specific coming of age films that are science fiction. It is the setting, the technology, the environment etc... that makes a film science fiction. Just look at general coming of age films, see what they have. Often coming of age films utilise the Hero's Journey as it throws the person coming of age into and unexpected series of events that they must overcome. So I recommend any coming of age story, and find how this can help with your overall concept of what you have in your story so far.

Michael Rogers
McRogson

The recent Star Trek by J J Abrams is definitely a good example. U get to see how Kirk and Spock come of age and become good friends.

I may be of some help here. I've been studying on what makes a good story, and this is what I've found.

First of all, most if not all stories are retelling of older ones, so, in a sense, there are no new stories. So Star Wars is an adaptation of Akiro Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. In a similar vein, Forbidden Planet is a retelling of Shaekespeare's The Tempest, and, of course, West Side Story is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

If you want to do a young adult science fiction story, the first thing you should do is browse the literature for young adults, and try and get a sense of the general themes. You shouldn't limit yourself to science fiction, because science fiction is often a retelling of older, non-science fiction stories, as I've shown. Then, after you've got a feel of the genre, you will have a better idea of what you should do.

Good luck, and keep us posted. 🙂

Thanks for the advice guys.

When I googled coming of age films and it looks like there was some boom of those types of films in the 80s. However, some that I took a look at weren't very good. I guess I should just stick to 'The breakfast club,' 'Juno' and star wars. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I actually had to pitch this story to a panel of judges for $1500. I'm guessing I lost because they immediately thought of huge star wars sets. I'm a firm believer in simplicity so the script has small locations for the most part. I don't even know if I'm eligible for the mayor's office of tv/film and all that they offer, so i'm not about to blow up bridges and fly over buildings.

Question: I obviously have sci fi elements to my story but I think I limit myself when writing. I almost feel its not sci fi enough especially when watching things like star wars with strange names, planets, and technology. Should I be going all out? How do I let my mind wander?

Try the following novels.

1) Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time".
2) C. S. Lewis' Narnia series, like "Prince Caspian", "The Magician's Nephew" or "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".
3) Robert Heinlein's "Space Cadet" or, one of my favorites, "Starship Troopers".

To get a feel of young adult stories, you should also watch, "The Karate Kid".

I can't think of anymore right now, but that will get you started. Again, always, always remember that you're a story teller, because ALL science fiction stories are stories, so you HAVE to understand what story telling is. Without that, your film will fall flat. And that means reading outside the genre to get a feel for YA stories.

I know David. What he means is Field?s book is an excellent
foundation to build your script - but you don?t need to follow
every single aspect of his format. The story structure Field
talks about is solid, however.

Depending on what you mean by ?coming of age? almost every story
written is a coming of age story. If you are limiting it to a
young person growing up there are still quite a few. If you mean
a person learning something about their life, their
friends/family and the world in which they live, there are many,
many more stories to use as examples.

?Sci-fi? as coined by Forest Ackerman is so much more than strange
names, planets and technology. Though the technology is a very
important aspect of the ?science? in SciFi. A movie like ?Primer?
has no strange names and no planets, but can be called science
fiction. Much of what Rod Serling wrote is called ?sci-fi? and he
said ?Science Fiction is the improbable made possible?.

Does the story you?re writing really need to be called science
fiction? Do you feel you need to add strange names and planets to
make it more ?sci-fi??

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Interesting point. My story is about the latter(a person learning something about their life, their
friends/family and the world in which they live). I did feel like I had to go all out. At this point it's a coming of age with some sci fi elements if anything.