Analysis of Growing Up Documentary - Thesis Example

Despite being brought up by a conservative single mother he turns to Zen Buddhism. However, this goes on only for a short while before he succumbs to her mothers’ persuasion to find God. During this time instead of having a spiritual awakening, his musical affinity is awakened by the gospel choir. He later joins the choir mainly because of his attraction to a girl in the choir. During his life in the choir, he meets with Franklin Jones who was the choirmaster who introduces the youth to drugs. He develops a liking for the guitar and soon afterward deserts the choir to form a punk rock band with fellow ex-choir members.

With time, he abandons his bandmates and starts saving money to travel to Europe where he anticipated becoming a musician which his mother and the community disapprove of. In the film, the youth says, “Slaves have options, cowards only have consequences.” This depicts his state of discomfort with his reality and how he had the resolve to go to Europe. After a long argument with his mother the youth goes to promiscuous Amsterdam where for the first time in his life he discovers freedom.

He suddenly has easy access to all the social evils such as sex and drugs he lamented “All vices in full view “when he says hashish on the menu of a coffee shop with topless women serving coffee. The Youth also first experiences acceptance in the form of a girl named Marianna who willingly gives her the keys to her apartment. After these experiences, he discovered that the good life or paradise was not good for him as he could not write songs. He decides to leave for Berlin leaving Marianna behind. 

Here we see him maturing up, wanting to focus on his career and not live an entertaining life. He arrives in Berlin and makes friends with some protestors who are performing artists. He finds himself having to grapple with issues of ethics and integrity when he has to misrepresent his identity to gain acceptance from the revolutionary artists that were living with him. He feels the urge to keep his stereotypical personality to feel accepted. During this time he got a new girlfriend Desi who is the leader of the performing artists.

The story takes a dramatic twist when we are fast-tracked to the funeral of her mother. It is narrated that though he rushed to see his sick mother he arrives too late. And concludes that there is a need for something beyond the “real” and that’s love. This statement shows his maturity at this stage. His journey to discover the real took him across many countries and many encounters but youth can still discover themselves through proper mentoring by responsible adults which the Youth never had or were too busy like his mother.