Adolescence and Teenage Life in Sag Harbor

Throughout Sag Harbor, we see Benji and the rest of his friends try to make new friends and fit into different social groups, whether that be by joking around with each other or just generally trying to be more mature. In general, it seems that these teenagers possess a lot of insecurity surrounding their social status and relationships. This is reflected in the way that they put each other down and make fun of each other casually. This also seems to be apparent in real life relationships, but I'd like to think it's not because all teenagers are super insecure about themselves. 

Although their friend group has this kind of dynamic, the insults that fly around are meant to keep them in check. It may attack their coolness, personality, and "vibe", but it serves as an objective outside perspective. At the same time, these insults also seem to be a way of putting someone down so that someone else can be artificially elevated in popularity, social status, etc. In this way, a certain person can be a leader in a group just based on how much they get insulted and how much they insult others.

These insults are also somehow a twisted part of their identities. The way that they can insult people is considered original and funny and depending on how original and funny it is, it can elevate Benji and the rest of his friends. This originality/creativity in their insults, personality, and style is also represented in originality in song lyrics (e.g., when they start arguing about how Afrika Bambaataa stole from Kraftwerk). This originality in style seems very important to these teenagers as it virtually makes up their entire identity. At one point, it's even said that "if someone was stealing your style, they were stealing your soul".

This also poses the question of whether anyone can be truly original, whether that be in song lyrics or style. In the same way that lots of songs can be based off a variety of other music, I feel that one's identity can also be viewed as a collage of other people's identities. As long as you're not solely basing your identity off a single person/artist/band, I feel that you can truly be original. Although you might contain a bunch of unoriginal characteristics, the collection and combination of those characteristics makes you inherently original. In the same way, you could also say that no one is actually original and that all these teenagers are stealing styles and jokes from everyone else.



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