1. Rose DeWitt Bukater
Film: Titanic
Played by: Kate Winslet
One of the most memorable movie characters of all time — as a pair with Jack Dawson and individually in her own right — the ethereal beauty Rose was 17 in the year 1912 when she boarded the ill-fated Titanic in the eponymously named James Cameron classic.
Though only 17, Rose — played with grace as well as grit by 21-year-old Kate Winslet — was a woman of the world, unafraid to speak her mind and not wet behind the ears. With wisdom and determination (or stubbornness, depending on how you see it) far beyond her years, she lived the best days of her life in the few days she spent with Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) aboard the Titanic, always holding on to the promise of “never letting go”.
2. Edward Cullen
Film: Twilight
Played by: Robert Pattinson
Based on the bestselling series Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, this series of fantasy films has a vampire named Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) falling in love with human teenager Bella (Kristen Stewart). Both Edward and Bella start as 17-year-olds in Twilight (2008), with Bella celebrating her 18th in New Moon (2009). But Edward has been frozen at age 17 since 1918. Being a vampire is a natural anti-ager.
3. Elio Perlman
Film: Call Me By Your Name
Played by: Timothee Chalamet
Andre Aciman’s seminal coming-of-age novel found its way to screen in the 2017 film of the same name, with Timothee Chalamet embodying a 17-year-old shy teenager in the throes of first love with a man seven years his senior. Chalamet’s Elio was a super-smart introvert given to spending time with himself. While some may have called out the age difference between Elio and Oliver (Armie Hammer), the unconventional chemistry between the two remains memorable.
4. Peter Parker
Film: Spider-Man
Played by: Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire is 48 but doesn’t look a day above 20. In 2002, when the first Spider-Man film was released and took over the world, the baby-faced actor was 27 and was playing out the early days of Peter Parker who metamorphosed into the webbed superhero, then only 17 and discovering himself as well as his superpowers.
Spider-Man is as much about a teenager’s coming-of-age as it is a superhero story. Andrew Garfield reprised the role of the 17-year-old in The Amazing Spider-Man, which arrived 10 years after the first film in Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Being Spider-Man must have been fun, but having to keep in mind that “With great power comes great responsibility” at age 17... not so much!
5. Marty McFly
Film: Back to the Future
Played by: Michael J. Fox
The cult 1985 film had Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high-school student, accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown, and inadvertently ending up altering history. That apart, Marty is a regular 17-year-old. He plays guitar with his group The Pinheads and likes listening to Huey Lewis and the News, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Halen and Michael Jackson. He is also a talented skateboarder. But it is his time-travelling expertise that has made Marty Empire magazine’s 12th Greatest Movie Character of All Time.
6. Christine McPherson
Film: Lady BirdPlayed by: Saoirse Ronan‘In 2002, an artistically inclined 17-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.’ That is the simple — or rather simplistic — description of Greta Gerwig’s much-layered solo directorial debut. Lady Bird, which earned five Oscar nominations, focused on Christine (Saoirse Ronan) who, at 17, is desperate to move from Sacramento to what she calls “a city of culture”. Strong-willed and introspective, Christine, called ‘Lady Bird’, brings warmth, wit and often confronting revelations of teenagehood to the fore and gives us a character, as well as a film, that combines hilarity and heart.
7. Frances “Baby” Houseman
Film: Dirty DancingPlayed by: Jennifer GreyThis ’80s classic is known for its beautiful soundtrack as well as for the wondrous romance that it brings alive between Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey), a young woman who falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) at a holiday resort. Set in the ’60s, 17-year-old Baby and Johnny, 25, hit it off from the get-go with their sweet chemistry lighting up the film. Take one look at them in (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, especially how Baby melts in Johnny’s arms, and you will know.
8. Hannah Baker
Series: 13 Reasons WhyPlayed by: Katherine LangfordThis devastating look at adolescence and the ugly trappings that sometimes come with it had 17-year-old Hannah Baker’s suicide as the pivot around which its drama unfolded. Introduced as a sophomore at the fictional Liberty High School where she is sexually labelled, abused and assaulted in the struggle to adjust to living in an unsympathetic school environment, Hannah’s death unpacks a can of worms, or rather a box of tapes, which calls out all those who wronged her. From a “fresh-faced teen with a bright future” to a disillusioned, depressed girl who takes her own life, Hannah’s journey is heartbreaking but also eye-opening in many ways.
