Teenage Father is a 1978 short film (30 minutes) directed by Taylor Hackford.
It's one of the earliest examples of the Mockumentary, coming six years before Trope Maker This is Spın̈al Tap.note John and Kim are 17 and 15 years old, respectively, and he has knocked her up. The situation is not very promising. John is your typical teen boy, who likes girls and cars. He is pushing Kim to give up the baby because he is desperate to avoid the responsibility of being a father. Kim for her part leans towards keeping the baby because having a baby would be "fun" and, according to Kim, once they're past one or two years old kids take care of themselves anyway.
Funded by the Children's Home Society of California. Taylor Hackford went on to a big-time career as a feature film director. Suzanne Crough, who played Kim, was a child actress best known for being on The Partridge Family.
Tropes:
- As Himself: Susan Cronkite the social worker, who counsels Kim and John, was a real social worker playing herself.
- Carload of Cool Kids: A carload of John's friends pulls up alongside him on the main street and hoots at him while John is driving and talking with the interviewer. It's an illustration of the carefree youth he doesn't want to lose.
- Coming of Age Story: Averted, in that the two principals don't seem to be doing any growing up at all.
- Downer Ending: Keeping the baby! Kim does not appear to be ready at all to take care of a child, adopting a sullen tone in interviews and shrugging that maybe she'll get some kind of job, or maybe she'll just go on welfare. John for his part is horrified when he is told in the hospital that Kim has changed her mind and won't be putting the baby up for adoption. The last shot shows him with a Thousand-Yard Stare.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Kim didn't even tell her mom until she was over four months along. Nobody seems to think that an abortion would have been the best idea, with one of John's buddies forcefully objecting to that while at the same time saying that he would want no part in taking care of a kid.
- Mockumentary: One of the first ever, made in the 1970s as the genre was really coming into vogue. The whole film is done in straight documentary style with talking heads and everything.
- Talking Heads: A mockumentary done in classic documentary style, as the filmmakers interview John, Kim, John's parents, Kim's mom, and John's friend.
- Teen Pregnancy: A pretty grim portrait of two teenager who are in no way ready to have a baby.
- Title Drop: Opens with a member of the production saying "Teenage Father, Take 1". John is also referred to as a teenaged father several times.
