The beauty of adolescence is that it doesn’t discriminate. Everyone battles the raging hormones and changing bodies of puberty with the same barrage of drama and trauma that comes with the emotional turmoil of middle school and the wild ride that is high school. And while that time in everyone’s life pretty much comes in the same packaging, the movies and television shows that approach this era of life more often than not get dropped into suburban settings with a white teenager as the lead, and there’s nothing wrong with those. Lady Bird is fantastic, as is Dawson’s Creek, but the world mustn’t forget that everyone goes through this period of life.

Speaking of periods, Pixar’s Turning Red is just the latest addition to the coming of age realm, telling the story of a Chinese-Canadian girl named Mei (Rosalie Chiang) dealing with not only changes but also a crucial boy band obsession. Turning Red is also the latest in this genre to prove that not just white teens and tweens come of age, and here are nine other notable movies and TV shows that have done the same.

RELATED: 5 Best Coming of Age Shows Currently Streaming

Never Have I Ever

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Lee Rodriguez, and Ramona Young in Never Have I Ever
Image Via Netflix

After helping create one of the most adored shows of the 2000s, Mindy Kaling went back to school to deliver Never Have I Ever. The Netflix series follows the frustrating decisions of Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), an Indian-American teen dealing with the death of her father (Sendhil Ramamurthy), as well as love triangles, best friend drama, and hormones that often lead her to all those aforementioned bad decisions. Devi is far from perfect, but that’s been one of the reasons fans have enjoyed the show. She showcases that teenagers don’t always do the right thing, and that growing up is all about learning as one goes.

Boyz n the Hood

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Image Via Columbia Pictures

John Hughes famously made what’s believed to be the standard for teen movies in the ‘80s, and while The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles sit high atop the coming of age mantle, John Singleton pushed them aside and made room for Black youth in 1991 with his directorial debut, Boyz n the Hood. There was no suburbia, no mom making a giant breakfast that no one would eat at the start of the film. Boyz n the Hood was a new take on what it meant to grow up, but at the same time, the characters were still navigating things like sex and rivals. Only the rivals in this movie weren’t mean girls, but rather rival gang members and neighborhood violence.

Sex Education

simone ashley in Sex Education

Sex Education offers one of the most diverse casts to ever grace television, especially on a show focused on the teenage experience. It’s not just race either. This hit Netflix series also explores gender and the spectrum of sexuality. It’s hard not to feel some sort of representation when watching, but praise in regard to giving audiences more than just the love story between Emma Mackey and Asa Butterfield must be given because the show would feel dull without the likes of Ncuti Gatwa, Chaneil Kular, and Patricia Allison. As well as the rest of the cast that rounds out Moordale Secondary School, and makes sure that when viewers watch, they can identify with characters on multiple levels.

Pariah

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Image Via Focus Features

Long before Sex Education came the movie Pariah starring Adepero Oduye as Alike, a 17-year-old Black girl figuring out her sexuality. Alike was not only trying to make sense of friendships turned situationships turned heartbreak, but also acceptance in her own home as her mother (Kim Wayans) was not running towards joining PFLAG. Family struggles have long since been a part of the coming of age experience in entertainment as Hughes’ Breakfast Club dove into that with John Bender (Judd Nelson), the rebel with a horrible home life. Both Pariah and Breakfast Club highlighted that parents aren’t always going to be like Leave it to Beaver, and be by their child’s side, and the mental impact that can and will have on teens.

Fresh Off the Boat

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Image Via ABC

Fresh Off the Boat was inspired by the adolescence of chef and food personality Eddie Huang. It told so many stories, but one of the most engaging was the narrative of growing up alongside immigrant parents and finding that balance between one’s cultural heritage and American pop culture. On top of all of that, Eddie (Hudson Yang) and his brothers (Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen) dealt with typical adolescent challenges like dating and new body odors.

Real Women Have Curves

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Image Via Newmarket Films

It’s never been easy to be a woman due to everything from advertisements to celebrities making beauty standards seem impossible to reach, but there was something extra toxic in the water in the early 2000s. Thin was very in, and fashion trends like demonic low rise jeans were all the rage. So when America Ferrera (Superstore) starred in her breakout role in the movie, Real Women Have Curves, many took notice. It was the first time audiences saw not only a Hispanic teen lead a movie, but also a plus-size teen do so. Teenagers deal with a mountain of insecurities, especially when it comes to weight, making this movie a majority of kids could and can still watch, and attach themselves to.

On My Block

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Image Via Netflix

From The Goonies to Stranger Things, there is something enthralling about a group of kids on bikes trying to solve something. This is one of the many reasons On My Block was an instant hit with audiences when it dropped in 2018. On top of the tried and true bike and mystery plot, On My Block also put Black and Brown kids at the core of its story far from white picket fences, but didn’t lean into any sort of stereotypes. And while the cast wasn’t a handful of white kids with one singular non-white friend like the aforementioned bike/mystery moments, fans still fell hard for these characters because at the end of the day, On My Block delivered teens struggling with first loves, anxiety, parental drama, and more.

Crooklyn

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Image Via Universal Pictures

Losing a parent is a dark path to take, but it’s the reality some kids face and it’s never easy. In recent years, movies like The Edge of Seventeen explored this in picturesque Portland with Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye) at the helm, but 20 years prior, Spike Lee brought a similar story to light with Crooklyn. Troy (Zelda Harris) is a nine-year-old girl in 1973 Brooklyn in a family of all boys who loses her mother to cancer. It’s not an easy watch, but like The Edge of Seventeen, Crooklyn gives those who’ve lost a parent an on-screen emotional connection.

Reservation Dogs

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Image via FX

Those who have grown up next to or on a Native American reservation know all too well how perfect Reservation Dogs is. From the language to the casting, it’s noteworthy just for that, but as far as coming of age and telling the story of what it means to be a teenager goes, it also hits it out of the park. That longing to ditch one’s hometown for something, anything, better was ever-present throughout the series’ first season, as was dealing with loss and bullies, as well as the typical family ordeals.