Hiding to Survive: “The Fallout” is a tragic coming-of-age movie and a cry for better gun control in the U.S.

Gun Control.

We’ve seen it across every billboard, news outlet and website. It’s become one of the most highly discussed and debated topics in the country. So, it’s only fitting that “The Fallout,” a modern coming of age movie on HBO Max, tackles the topic as well. 

The first 12 minutes of the movie are a bold decision by the director — it contains its most action-packed, high intensity scene that depicts every teenager’s worst nightmare: a school shooting. Instead of relying on built up suspense, the movie draws out the gut-wrenching consequences of being a 21st century teen.

“The Fallout” accomplishes all the dry acting and stunning cinematography of a modern coming-of-age-film, but leaves you with something more — a sense of determination to improve gun control in the U.S. 

Released January 27, the movie follows formerly “chill” Vada, played by Jenna Ortega, as she redefines herself and her view of the world after several of her classmates are killed. While sorting through her emotions, she experiments with new activities and people — including her polar-opposite, girly new best friend Mia, played by Maddie Ziegler, who shares her trauma from the shooting.

The movie’s hip-hop-ish, modern indie vibe and blunt depiction of teenage emotions made watching them experiment with love, drugs and new friendship like watching a blend of “Euphoria” and “The Edge of Seventeen” — shows with leading female actors that cover the emotional growing pains of living in the modern world.

The movie is a generational culture shock, highlighting the effects of a school shooting on young students. The viewer sees Vada’s frustration with her mom’s lack of emotional understanding, the high schoolers’ direct pleas for better gun control laws and in each of Vada’s body shakes and thrashing nightmares, the mental and physical effects of this tragedy.

Where movies like “The Kissing Booth” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” failed to express valid reasoning behind teenage moodiness, “The Fallout” validates Gen Z’s frustration that’s sometimes released in the wrong ways, such as in anger toward loved ones or in rash decisions like taking ecstasy at school.

In the end, Jada traces her impulsiveness back to her anger at the world for allowing these tragic events to happen, communicating the movie’s main purpose of promoting stronger gun control laws.

The movie also acts as a voice to represent our generation. With TikTok commercials, Juice Wrld songs blasting in the movie and two actresses that we’ve grown up with, it’s abundantly clear that “The Fallout” was intended for a Gen Z audience. Still, the movie sends a clear message to adult audiences like parents, teachers and voters that our generations’ problems should be taken seriously.

Aside from showing the effects of gun violence, “The Fallout” is a direct cry for better gun control laws in the U.S. The most punch-to-the-gut scene was when Amelia crawled into Jada’s bed in the middle of the night, saying she couldn’t sleep because she was scared. When Amelia asked Vada how she knew a shooter wouldn’t come to her school next, Vada’s silence said it all — she didn’t know. And the painful ending left a sore in my heart and a sense of unfinished business. It was clear that the producers wanted us to know that school shootings will continue if no one steps up to stop them.

Each character represents a different type of Gen Z-er — Vada, the “low-key” grunge girl sporting Billie Eilish-esque shorts and baggy T-shirts, contrasts perfectly with Mia, the makeup-ed, crop-top-wearing Instagram influencer with 82K followers (and few real friends). 

Despite their different appearances, the girls have a lot in common and are brought together under the shared grief they both feel — similar to the way that our generation has found solace through social media, from sharing mental health struggles to laughing about the same Instagram meme.

Then there’s Vada’s little sister, Amelia, whose world revolves around Tiktok and her older sister. She goes to a different school and didn’t experience the shooting, and her insensitivity for her sister’s sadness make her an embodiment of the media reacting to these horrific events in real life. 

Through scenes where Amelia ignores Vada’s grieving to film TikToks and chat about Starbucks, the viewer gets the important message that, while these school shootings happen all too often in our country, there will always be another social media trend or distraction that people use to wash away the attention from the children that just watched their friend get shot during English class.

A factor that sets “The Fallout” apart from other movies is the emphasis it places on mental health awareness. It shows each character’s method of coping with the trauma of the shooting — whether experimenting with drugs like Vada, trying to make everything return to normal like her mom or advocating for national change like her friend Nick — proving that coping is a process that looks different for everyone and people deal with mental health differently.

And though Vada was too “numb” to take action herself, the film left me with the impression that the responsibility should be on adults rather than the youth. Parents need to watch “The Fallout” to understand the severity of these events and their effect on teens, and voters need to watch it to understand what the second amendment truly means.