What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the film delves into mature subject mature, including sexuality, death (suicide, for one), abortion, and teenage and middle-age ennui. Most of the teenage characters, and many of the adults, too, are pushing their boundaries and defining themselves, sometimes in ways that seem destructive. One girl appears to flaunt her sexuality, especially at older males. There’s also a fair amount of swearing. By way of foreshadowing, astronaut Christa McAuliffe's death during a failed 1986 takeoff looms over the storyline.
- Families can talk about the teacher-student dynamics portrayed here. How realistic is it? How challenging must it be to teach teens who are trying to forge their own identities?
- What does Babbitt have in common with the students he's trying to profile?
- How difficult is it as a journalist to cultivate a source's trust but still maintain distance?