Initiation (Innocence vs. Experience)

A cousin to Rites of Passage, initiation represents a transformative bridge from one state of beng to another, with a few key differences. Here the event is likely non-obvious to others, its occasion is often the result of happenstance vs. planning, and as often as not one experiences it alone (others may be involved, but perhaps don’t even realize they’re part of a process). Additionally, initiation often takes place amid our everyday surroundings. Following are excellent illustrations of people undergoing experiences that forever change their understanding of the world and they way they engage it.

Examples of Initiation in Film

• A Bronx Tale
• About Last Night…
• Alien
• An Education
• Breaking Away
• Burlesque
• Captains Courageous
• Casualties of War
• Continental Divide
• Death to Smoochy
• Defending Your Life
• Deliverance
• Dirty Dancing
• Doubt
• Flipped
• Frailty
• Good Morning, Vietnam
• Harold and Maude
• Ink
• Japanese Story
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Kung Fu Panda
• Lost in America
• Margin Call
• My Girl
• My Week with Marilyn
• Notes on a Scandal
• Places in the Heart
• Platoon
• Rock Star
• Seven
• Skateland
• Snow Falling on Cedars
• St. Elmo’s Fire
• State and Main
• Submarine
• Sunshine Cleaning
• Taps
• Tea with Mussolini
• The Art of Getting By
• The Big Kahuna
• The Firm
• The Lord of the Rings
• The Matrix
• The Silence of the Lambs
• The Squid and the Whale
• The Tree of Life
• Thelma & Louise
• Thumbsucker
• Trading Places
• Wall Street
• White Squall
• X-Men: First Class

What are some of your favorite examples, and why? Please do share ~