Friendly reminder that...
· If your story has a character set at an age wherein they are below 18 then maybe they can be said to be about youth or adolescence. Maybe up to 21 at a BIG push. Thereafter they are an adult, a younger, still learning and stumbling adult maybe but an adult all the same. E.g. Rugrats is a story about youth.
· If your story starts with a character under the age of 18-21 (see above) or whatever in the context of the narrative or society equates to the age at which one obtains maturity and your character ages through the course of the story, the whole thing climaxing when they hit a certain age or point of personal development equating to mental or emotional maturity then you are telling a coming of age story. E.g. Harry Potter.
· If you are telling a story about a character who starts off as a teenager and gradually ages, hitting over 18-21 and their mental/emotional maturity and it then keeps going then you are not telling a story about youth, coming of age or actually anything beyond just the life and times of a character who’s story happened to kick off when they were a kid.
If you wrote them as a kid or told stories about them coming of age that would’ve just been necessitated by the fact that if they START as a kid you obviously WRITE them as one and if it’s about their life beginning in adolescence then no shit you tell a coming of age type of story within the wider course of the series.
Case in point whether you love it or hate it: Clark Kent in Smallville.
Starts as a teen and acts (sort of) as a teen.
Hits 18-21 and keeps aging.
Emotionally and mentally matures into an adult, coming of age by adopting the responsibilities of a job, being a home owner and stuff like that and does this stuff LONG before the series closes curtain.
Maybe it’s not strictly speaking about his life (it’s probably more appropriate to say it’s a story about growing into and embracing your destiny), but it’s not a story about being young or about coming of age.
And neither is Spider-Man.
P.S. Also if you were 18 in 1965 (when Spidey graduated High School), or 22 in 1979 (when Spidey graduated college) or 24-25 in 2987 (when Spidey got married) you were already considered an adult.
18 in 1965 didn’t mean what 18 means now.
22 in 1979 didn’t mean what 22 means now, especially if you had a college education.
24-25 in 1987 didn’t mean what 24-25 means now, bearing in mind even now people get married at age 25. It’s towards the younger side of the scale of what most people consider an appropriate age to get married (most people placing that around 30ish nowdays) but it still happens. 24-25 in 1987 though was something few people batted an eyelid at.