History Film / Kids

* DoomedProtagonist: The girl in the opening scene and the four main characters [[spoiler: all get exposed to HIV and are doomed to die at a young age ([[ScienceMarchesOn at least in that time period]]), a consequence of their irresponsible/immoral behaviour.]]

* SexIsEvil: All sex depicted in this movie is either questionably consensual (the boy not caring whether the girl enjoys it, even when she is in pain) or downright rape. It's also completely devoid of any other emotion than pure lust and teens just spreading STDs around, making the scenes even more repulsive.

* DudeShesLikeInAComa: [[spoiler: In the next-to-last scene, Jenny is raped while unconscious.]]

* FromBadToWorse: Every time when you think the teens can't behave any worse than the previous scene, it gets more shocking, culminating in the ending. [[spoiler: Jennie fails to find Telly in time to tell him he gave her HIV, and when she finally discovers him, he is already having sex with another unsuspecting virgin. Her first time is extremely painful too, but he doesn't care about her feelings, even when she cries. Jenny doesn't do anything to stop them, as she swallowed a drug some hours ago and is too dizzy and tired to react. Later on, as she sleeps off her drug effects, she gets raped in her coma by Casper, giving him HIV, too.]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: Chloe Sevigny was 20 during filming, yet she doesn't look any older than Rosario Dawson, who was 15.

* SexIsEvil: All sex depicted in this movie is either questionably consensual (the boy not caring whether the girl enjoys it, even when she is in pain) or downright rape. It's also completely devoid of any other emotion than pure lust and teens just spread STDs around, making the scenes even more repulsive.

The film charts a day in Telly and Casper's lives, as they go about their daily activities of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy using black slang]], smoking pot, shoplifting, beating up a passerby who crosses them in the park, and attending midnight raves, whilst Jennie and her friend Ruby (Creator/RosarioDawson) attempt to track them down and give Telly some information of life-and-death importance.

The film was and is extremely controversial for its frank, unabashed depiction of [[HormoneAddledTeenager teen sexuality]], deliquency and drug use, initially landing it an NC-17 rating[[note]]which US Distributor at the time Creator/{{Miramax}}'s parent company, Disney, forbade from releasing films with that rating, so a one-off company was made solely to handle the release of this film[[/note]]. It is notable for using [[AmateurCast untrained actors]] actually recruited from the street (this was Sevigny and Dawson's debut).

Critical reception of it was mixed, with some calling it "a wakeup call to America's youth" and others decrying as nothing more than a glorified [[ExploitationFilm exploitation film]] bordering on child porn with many scenes done for shock value only.

* AdultsAreUseless: It's not that the parents don't care, it's just that they are completely clueless. It is strongly implied that bad/non-existent parenting is the cause of Telly being such a horrible, morally indefensible human being. His mother is depicted as being pregnant, yet smoking at the same time and doesn't ask her son any questions where he goes all day and night, only asking him to "be back tomorrow".

* AuthorAppeal: The film has been criticized for showing real teenagers, some clearly underage, taking drugs on camera and being shown in semi-nude and sexual positions. Seeing that Larry Clark also photographs such real life youngsters a lot and all of his other films have similar scenes, it's clearly something that interests him.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Jenny [[spoiler:only had unprotected sex once and gets HIV, while Ruby has had it several times and tests negative.]]
* ChildrenAreInnocent: The kids are shown as people who are morally unaware of what they are doing and freely indulge in illegal and ethically disturbing activities. So the [[SarcasticTitle fairly innocent-sounding title is a complete subversion of this concept]]. Yet, at the same time there is still an innocence to them, as they don't think about the consequences of their dangerous behaviour.

* CorruptTheCutie: Children are usually perceived as innocent, adorable and the "hope for the future". This movie brutally shows them as horrible delinquents without a conscience, making you fear the worst about the way our society is heading.
* CrapsackWorld: This cynical movie shows teenage life as dangerous, frightening, shocking and doomed. All of them just live for achieving egotistical kicks and nothing else. And the finale is such a DownerEnding that you might become an advocate for curfew for minors afterwards.
* CreatorCameo: Harmony Korine appears briefly in an uncredited role as Fidget, a raver boy who [[spoiler:coerces Jennie into taking a depressant at a party]].

* DoomedProtagonist: The girl in the opening scene and the four main characters [[spoiler:all get exposed HIV and are doomed to die a young age ([[ScienceMarchesOn at least in that time period]]), a consequence of their irresponsible/immoral behaviour.]]
** It should be noted that a single sexual encounter with an HIV infected partner does not guarantee infection, [[https://www.catie.ca/en/pif/summer-2012/putting-number-it-risk-exposure-hiv as about 1 in 100 encounters in heterosexual partnerships resulting in an infection.]] Meaning [[spoiler:Darcy, Casper, and the unnamed girl in the opening scene may not be infected (at least from their onscreen encounters).]]
* DownerEnding: The film ends [[spoiler: with Telly, Casper, Jennie and Darcy contracting or testing positively for HIV, with Casper raping Jennie at the end, unknowingly being exposed to it. Telly's final narration states that without sex he has nothing, implying he will further transmit the disease or that he just will end his life when he finds out.]]

* DrugsAreBad: The teens freely engage in drugs, not only alcohol and marihuana, but even heroin. [[spoiler:Jenny gets raped by Casper while she is in a drug-induced sleep. If she hadn't done this she could have probably prevented or stopped Telly having sex with Darcy and especially avoid being raped herself.]]

* FromBadToWorse: Every time when you think the teens can't behave any worse than the previous scene, it gets more shocking, culminating in the ending. [[spoiler:Jenny fails to find Telly in time to tell him he gave her HIV, and when she finally discovers him, he is already having sex with another unsuspecting virgin. Her first time is extremely painful too, but he doesn't care about her feelings, even when she cries. Jenny doesn't do anything to stop them, as she swallowed a drug some hours ago and is too dizzy and tired to react. Later on, as she sleeps off her drug effects, she gets raped in her coma by Casper, giving him HIV, too.]]

* GreenEyedMonster: Casper [[spoiler:envies Telly for having more sex than him. When he sees that he scored again, he eventually decides to rape Jenny in her sleep.]]
* GrossUpCloseUp: The director seems to take delight in depicting teenage love as repulsive and icky as possible, with the extreme closeups of characters' kissing each others' mouths in the opening shot as a typical example. It doesn't help that many teenagers in this movie aren't exactly portrayed as the most likeable or attractive characters. [[spoiler: And the notion that Telly has HIV makes it even more {{Squick}}.]]

** Ruby ''really'' gets around, but it's [[spoiler:Jennie]] that turns up HIV-positive.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Telly, who never cared about the well being of any of his partners and considered AIDS a myth, contracted HIV. Casper ends up raping Jennie in the final scene, also contracting the disease.]]

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Jenny's reaction [[spoiler: to the news she has contracted HIV is very underwhelming. She doesn't cry, panic or get upset, but seems more confused than anything else. It could be argued that she is just in shock.]]

* NoEnding: The film ends [[spoiler:after all the irreparable damage by the teens' foolishness has taken place. Yet we never see Jenny telling Telly the big news and how he, Darcy, Casper would react to that.]]

* OutOfCharacterMoment: Casper [[spoiler: who is portrayed as gullible for drugs, but does give a legless beggar some money in one scene. Compared to his demonic friend Telly he also comes across as far more sympathetic. Yet in the end even he turns to the dark side by raping a drugged out girl in her sleep.]]
* ParentalAbandonment / ParentalNeglect: Telly's mother never asks her son what he is doing all day and night long. We don't learn why this is so, but it is implied that he comes from a broken home. With all the other teens, there's also open questions: where are the parents half of the time? Are they at work? Are the teens orphans? Are they all clueless or don't they care at all? Even the teens don't mention them much.
* ParentalObliviousness: This film is pretty much every parents' worst nightmare about what their sons and daughters (might) do behind their backs: having unprotected sex and getting deadly venereal diseases as a result, drinking, smoking, taking drugs bought right on the street (which is always dangerous because you don't know what you're being sold), stealing, hanging out with people who are a bad influence on them, showing no respect to other people, even downright murdering somebody, breaking in and entering buildings, raping someone or getting raped, etc. At a certain point it does get a bit over the top, especially since the characters all do this in the timespan of only one day!

* SexIsEvil: All sex depicted in this movie is either questionably consensual (the boy not caring whether the girl enjoys it, even when she is in pain) or downright rape. It's also completely devoid of any other emotion than pure lust and teens just spread STD's around, making the scenes even more repulsive.

* STDImmunity: [[spoiler: Averted. At least five characters that we know of either have HIV (Telly, Jenny) or have a serious chance of having contracted it (Darcy, Casper and the unnamed girl in the opening scene).]]
* TeenageWasteland: All throughout the film teenagers just hang out freely and follow every possible kick they can find, from drugs to unprotected sex, without any regard for their environment. Adults are hardly seen [[spoiler:and the only one who tries to call them out for their bad behaviour is beaten up and presumably murdered by them.]]

* UnreliableNarrator: Telly is sometimes heard as a voiceover giving his opinions about sex and teenage life in general. Most of what he says is either incorrect, ignorant or claims that can't be verified. For instance: how can he be so sure that all his sex partners are virgins? [[spoiler: This also blows up in his face hard, as it turns out that he did contract HIV, anyway.]]

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: [[spoiler:The film ends with Casper waking up and asking the camera "Jesus Christ, what happened?"]]

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: All of them just live for the moment and are quite clueless what they're doing with their monotone lifestyle. As Telly explains: "When you're young, nothing matters much."

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler:Not before the end of the movie, but eventually.]]

-----

* AdultFear: This film is pretty much every parents' worst nightmare about what their sons and daughters (might) do behind their backs: having unprotected sex and getting deadly venereal diseases as a result, drinking, smoking, taking drugs bought right on the street (which is always dangerous because you don't know what you're being sold), stealing, hanging out with people who are a bad influence on them, showing no respect to other people, even downright murdering somebody, breaking in and entering buildings, raping someone or getting raped, etc. At a certain point it does get a bit over the top, especially since the characters all do this in the timespan of only one day!

* ParentalAbandonment, ParentalObliviousness and ParentalNeglect: Telly's mother never asks her son what he is doing all day and night long. We don't learn why this is so, but it is implied that he comes from a broken home. With all the other teens, there's also open questions: where are the parents half of the time? Are they at work? Are the teens orphans? Are they all clueless or don't they care at all? Even the teens don't mention them much.

The film is extremely controversial for its frank, unabashed depiction of [[HormoneAddledTeenager teen sexuality]], deliquency and drug use, initially landing it an NC-17 rating [[note]]which US Distributor at the time Creator/{{Miramax}}'s parent company, Disney, forbade from releasing films with that rating, so a one off company was made solely to handle the release of this film.[[/note]] It is notable for using [[AmateurCast untrained actors]] actually recruited from the street (this was Sevigny and Dawson's debut).

* AdultFear: This film is pretty much every parents' worst nightmare about what their sons and daughters (might) do behind their backs: having unprotected sex and getting deadly venereal diseases as a result, drinking, smoking, taking drugs bought right on the street (which is always dangerous because you don't know what you're being sold), stealing, hanging out with people who are a bad influence on them, showing no respect to other people, even downright murdering somebody, breaking in and entering buildings, raping someone or getting raped, etc. At a certain point it does get a bit over the top, especially since the characters all do this in the timespan of only one day!

* AdultFear: This film is pretty much every parents' worst nightmare about what their sons and daughters (might) do behind their backs: having unprotected sex and getting deadly venereal diseases as a result, drinking, smoking, taking drugs bought right on the street (which is always dangerous because you don't know what you're being sold), stealing, hanging out with people who are a bad influence on them, showing no respect to other people, even downright murdering somebody, breaking in and entering buildings, raping someone or getting raped, etc. At a certain point it does get [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped a bit over the top]], especially since the characters all do this in the timespan of only one day!

* STDImmunity: [[spoiler: At least five characters that we know of either have HIV (Telly, Jenny) or have a serious chance of having contracted it (Darcy, Casper and the unnamed girl in the opening scene).]]

* CurbStompBattle: At one point, Casper has a rough altercation with a man he bumps into at a skate park, and it quickly escalates into a fight. [[spoiler:With the help of ''every'' kid nearby, the man is swiftly beaten into unconsciousness if not death.]]

* DoomedProtagonist: The girl in the opening scene and the four main characters [[spoiler:all get HIV and are doomed to die a young age ([[ScienceMarchesOn at least in that time period]]), a consequence of their irresponsible/immoral behaviour.]]
* DownerEnding: The film ends [[spoiler: with Telly, Casper, Jennie and Darcy contracting or testing positively for HIV, with Casper raping Jennie at the end, unknowingly contracting it. Telly's final narration states that without sex he has nothing, implying he will further transmit the disease. Or that he just will end his life when he finds out.]]

* TruthInTelevision: That said, longitudinal studies of adolescent and early adult sexual behavior in economically depressed urban areas frequently gather data which can be ''horrifying''.

[[quoteright:331:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kids.jpg]]

The film is extremely controversial for its frank, unabashed depiction of [[HormoneAddledTeenager teen sexuality]], deliquency and drug use, landing it an NC-17 rating. It is notable for using [[AmateurCast untrained actors]] actually recruited from the street (this was Sevigny and Dawson's debut).

Critical reception of it was mixed, with some calling it "a wakeup call to America's youth" and others decrying as nothing more than a glorified [[ExploitationFilm exploitation film]] bordering on child porn with many scenes done for shock value only. Which is the case with all of Larry Clark's films and a lot by Harmony Korine too.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: The kids are shown as people who are morally unaware of what they are doing and freely indulge in illegal and ethically disturbing activities. So the [[SarcasticTitle fairly innocent sounding title is a complete subversion of this concept]]. Yet, at the same time there is still an innocence to them, as they don't think about the consequences of their dangerous behaviour.

* DrugsAreBad: The teens freely engage in drugs, not only alcohol and marihuana, but even heroin. [[spoiler:Jenny gets raped by Casper while she is in a drug induced sleep. If she hadn't done this she could have probably prevented or stopped Telly having sex with Darcy and especially avoid being raped herself.]]

* VagueAge: Many teens look like actual people in the 13 to 16 year old age bracket, but according to film producer Cary Woods the children in the sexual content scenes are 17 and above.

''Kids'' is a 1995 Drama film directed by Creator/LarryClark and written by [[Creator/HarmonyKorine Harmony Korine]].

Leo Fitzpatrick and Justin Pierce star as Telly and Casper, two New York teenagers of around 17. [[KidAnova Telly's mission in life is to deflower virgins, referring to himself as the "virgin surgeon"]]. His latest sexual conquest has been 13-year-old Jennie (Creator/ChloeSevigny). The film charts a day in Telly and Casper's lives, as they go about their daily activities of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy using black slang]], smoking pot, shoplifting, beating up a passerby who crosses them in the park, and attending midnight raves, whilst Jennie and her friend Ruby (Creator/RosarioDawson) attempt to track them down and give Telly some information of life-and-death importance.

The film is extremely controversial for its frank, unabashed depiction of [[HormoneAddledTeenager teen sexuality]], deliquency and drug use, landing it an NC-17 rating. It is notable for using [[AmateurCast untrained actors]] actually recruited from the street (this was Sevigny and Dawson's debut). Critical reception of it was mixed, with some calling it "a wakeup call to America's youth" and others decrying as nothing more than a glorified [[ExploitationFilm exploitation film]] bordering on child porn with many scenes done for shock value only. Which is the case with all of Larry Clark's films and a lot by Harmony Korine too.

* AdultsAreUseless: It's not that the parents don't care, it's just that they are completely clueless. It is strongly implied that bad/non-existant parenting is the cause of Telly being such a horrible, morally indefensible human being. His mother is depicted as being pregnant, yet smoking at the same time and doesn't ask her son any questions where he goes all day and night, only asking him to "be back tomorrow".

* AllMenArePerverts and AllWomenAreLustful: All the characters treat sex as a kick rather than anything more serious.
* AuthorAppeal: The film has been criticized for showing real teenagers, some clearly underage, taking drugs on camera and being shown in semi nude and sexual positions. Seeing that Larry Clark also photographs such real life youngsters a lot and all of his other films have similar scenes it's clearly something that interests him.
* BigApplesauce: It takes place in New York City and depicts the city as a haven for debauchery.

* CurbStompBattle: The skateboard scene in the park, [[spoiler: where a man is murdered by teens.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: Scriptwriter Harmony Korine made this film because he felt most other teenage movies always had actors who were way too old to play teenagers and their stories always had a happy end, which he felt didn't feel true.
* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Not before the end of the movie, but eventually.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: Jenny [[spoiler: only had unprotected sex once and gets HIV]]

* DownerEnding: The film ends [[spoiler: with Telly, Casper, Jennie and Darcy contracting or testing positively for HIV with Casper raping Jennie at the end, unknowingly contracting it. Telly's final narration states that without sex he has nothing implying he will further transmit the disease. Or that he just will end his life when he finds out.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As morally corrupt as these teenagers are they do get along fine with people from other races.
* ExploitationFilm: The film has been accused of (''borderline'') being this. It sometimes feels as if the makers just wanted to shock their audience scene by scene and try to see how far they could push the boundaries with teen actors.
* FromBadToWorse: Every time when you think the teens can't behave any worse than the previous scene it gets more shocking. The ending scene is a good example [[spoiler: Jenny fails to find Telly in time to tell him he gave her HIV and when she finally discovers him he is already having sex with another unsuspecting virgin, whose first time is extremely painful too, but he doesn't care about her feelings, even when she cries. Jenny doesn't do anything to stop them, as she swallowed some drugs some hours ago and is too dizzy and tired to react. Later on, as she sleeps off her drug effects she gets raped in her coma by Casper, giving him HIV too.]]

* GreenEyedMonster: Casper [[spoiler: who envies Telly for having more sex than him. When he sees that he scored again he eventually decides to rape Jenny in her sleep.]]

* NoEnding: The film ends [[spoiler:after all the irrepairable damage by the teens' foolishness has taken place. Yet we never see Jenny telling Telly the big news and how he, Darcy, Casper would react to that.]]
* OneWordTitle: "Kids".

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The makers of "Kids" have suggested that a lot of the outrage over the depiction of everyday teenage life in this film has more to do with the fact that people are more used to safe, idyllic depictions of teenagers usually played by actors who are way too old to convincingly portray such roles. Most people aren't aware of actual teenage life or, as Larry Clark said: "Parents forget what it was like when they were kids."
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Scriptwriter Creator/HarmonyKorine himself was once a skater and actually met the director while doing this in the park. Korine was only around 21-22 years old when he wrote the script. All the teenage actors in the film were just random teens Korine and Clark met on the New York streets or people from Korine's own skater posse. Actress Creator/ChloeSevigny was Korine's girlfriend at the time. Director Larry Clark was hooked on heroin himself when he was a teenager and spent many years among his peers having the same kind of debaucherous life in New York City. He gained his first notability as a photographer in the 1970s, taking pictures of teens from broken and dysfunctional families taking drugs and stripping (half) nude on camera. He still spends company in the presence of teenagers today, despite being old enough to be their grandfather at this point. Make of that what you will...

* ScareEmStraight: Though some critics have argued: more for parents than for the teens themselves.
* SexIsEvil: All sex depicted in this movie is either questionably consensual (the boy not caring whether the girl enjoys it, even when she is in pain) or downright rape. It's also completely devoid of any other emotion than pure lust and teens just spread STD's around, making the scenes even more repulsive.
* ShoutOut: On Music/{{Eminem}}'s album ''Music/TheSlimShadyLP'' the character Slim Shady wants to take advantage of a drunk underage girl at a party. His conscience tries to talk him out of it:
--> ''Man, ain't you ever seen that one movie, ''Kids''?''

* TeensAreMonsters: Well duh. It's a Larry Clark film.

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: All of them just live for the moment and are quite clueless what they're doing with their monotone lifestyle. As Telly explains: "When you're young nothing matters much."

* UnreliableNarrator: Telly is sometimes heard as a voiceover giving his opinions about sex and teenage life in general. Most of what he says is either incorrect, ignorant or claims that can't be verified. For instance: how can he be so sure that all his sex partners are virgins? [[spoiler: This also blows up in his face hard as it turns out that he did contract HIV anyway]]

--> ''Man, ain't you ever seen that one movie, ''Film/{{Kids}}?'' ''

* DownerEnding: The film ends [[spoiler: with Telly, Casper, Jennie and Darcy contracting or testing positively for HIV with Casper raping Jennie at the end, unknowingly contracting it. Telly's final narration states that without sex he has nothing implying he will further transmit the disease. Or that he just will end his life when he finds out.]] In real life the movie also had a downer ending. Actor Justin Pierce (Casper) committed suicide only five years after the release of the film, while actor Harold Hunter (playing Harold, one of the skateboarders) died of a drug overdose, six years after that.

* DoomedProtagonist: The girl in the opening scene and the four main characters [[spoiler:all get HIV and are doomed to die a young age, a consequence of their irresponsible/immoral behaviour.]]
* DownerEnding: The film ends [[spoiler: with Telly, Casper, Jennie and Darcy getting AIDS. Telly's final narration states that without sex he has nothing implying he will further spread the disease. Or that he just will end his life when he finds out. He'll die anyway, so... ]] In real life the movie also had a downer ending. Actor Justin Pierce (Casper) committed suicide only five years after the release of the film, while actor Harold Hunter (playing Harold, one of the skateboarders) died of a drug overdose, six years after that.

* RapeAsDrama: A more complicated version. The victim is an AIDS victim. The subtext would tend to indicate the victim is much more concerned for the rapist.