10 Shows & Movies To Watch About Teen Angst On Netflix

What’s the best way to describe teen angst? According to the internet its moments during your teenage years where you experience extreme emotions from anxiety, stress and inner turmoil. Everyone goes through this period, but it’s sometimes helpful to watch shows and movies that describe how you feel.

When you’re a teenager it seems like the world is against you from your best friend dating your brother, coming to terms with your sexuality, or accepting your body image. Netflix has more than a handful of titles that will have you laughing and crying as teenagers try to make sense of their lives. Let’s take a look at 10 titles that encompass the teen angst genre.

10 Insatiable (2019)

Insatiable made the rounds when it was released in 2019 on Netflix. The storyline and premise got people’s attention but it sadly got canceled after the second season. Patty Bladell (Debby Ryan) is the main character who goes through an extreme body transformation after she spends a summer with her mouth wired shut.

Despite having a new body and prospects, she lets her new persona get the best of her as she tries to get revenge on her old bullies and enters a beauty pageant. The show has many twists and turns audiences didn’t expect, but it boils down to losing who you really are.

9 Then Came You (2019)

A teenage girl in her last stage of cancer and a teenage boy who is a hypochondriac become best friends. Calvin Lewis (Asa Butterfield) is advised to go to a support group for cancer patients to get over his fear of dying. He meets Skye Aitken (Maisie Williams) and he offers to help her finish off her bucket list.

Calvin is having a hard time in life as he lives in constant fear about the possibility of dying and having a crush on a girl at work. Skye tries to help Calvin while still trying to get through the major events a teenager should have like losing your virginity. Both try to come to terms with what’s the best way to live their lives.

8 Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2019)

Getting through high school isn’t easy regardless of how it looks on the big screen. Sierra Burgess Is A Loser does a good job of describing teen emotions during high school, especially when they involve a boy. Sierra (Shannon Purser) isn’t popular by any means and plays in the school band.

The popular girl, Veronica (Kristine Froseth) gives Sierra’s number to Jamey (Noah Centineo), the popular football player. He texts the number thinking he’s talking to Veronica, but it’s Sierra. This starts a whirlwind of fake feelings for the wrong person that breaks a lot of hearts.

7 Sex Education (2020)

Sexuality during your teens can feel like one of the hardest moments in your teenage life. Netflix released the show Sex Education in 2019 and it’s resonating with a lot of viewers. The British comedy-drama follows a socially awkward teen and dealing with his mother’s career as a sex therapist.

The topics of sex aren’t new to Otis (Asa Butterfield) and he decides to capitalize on it and create a sex advice business with a fellow troubled classmate, Maeve (Emma Mackey). What could possibly go wrong? The second season deals a lot more with relationships and the dreaded sexually transmitted disease they warn you about in high school.

6 13 Reasons Why (2017)

The show, 13 Reasons Why had social media buzzing when the first trailer hit and even more so when it premiered. Some were intrigued by its intricate yet bizarre storyline that was then criticized for its message to young audiences. The show follows a classmate named Clay Johnson (Dylan Minnette) when he receives a box of cassettes from Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford).

Hannah had committed suicide weeks prior. In the cassettes, she details her reasoning and events that led to her suicide. She instructs Clay to distribute the tapes to the corresponding people involved. The following seasons deal with the aftermath of her suicide and tapes.

5 I Am Not Okay With This (2020)

I Am Not Okay with This is a coming-of-age teen series that combines the trails of highs cool, romance and sexuality. For an added element, the main character also has to deal with mysterious superpowers. Sydney Novak (Sophia Lillis) is having a hard time at home constantly fighting with her mother about the death of her father.

To make things worse, she also has to deal with her best friend being whisked away by her new boyfriend, her brother’s bully and a possible romance with a boy. As she tries to deal with her life, she starts to realize odd occurrences that she believes she’s the cause of when in a fit of anger.

4 The Edge Of Seventeen (2016)

There are a ton of teenage drama films that revolves around the forbidden romance with your friend’s older sibling. The Edge of Seventeen deals with the drama of a friend’s betrayal that leads to a downward emotional spiral. Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld) has a popular older brother and an image-conscious mother. Her only supporter was her father, who passed away and now relies on her best friend, Krista (Haley Lu Richardson).

When Nadine finds her best friend in bed with her brother, it shatters her. After forcing Krista to choose between her and her brothers, she is left betrayed and with no one to rely on.

3 Dumplin (2018)

Dumplin will send you on a rollercoaster of emotions and teen angst as Willowdean “Dumplin” Dickson (Danielle Macdonald) has never been able to live up to her mother’s expectations as a daughter. Her mother is known for being prim and proper, skinny and beauty queen. Will is everything but and is constantly made to feel belittled for it.

When the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Beaty Pageant comes to town, Will decides to give her mother a taste of her own medicine and take part as a form of protest. The pageant soon brings pent up emotions and turmoil for Will.

2 The Half Of It (2020)

Not all romances are a love story in the Netflix show, The Half of It. Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is shy and dedicated to her school work. She is approached by Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer), a football player, to help write a love letter to a girl in school. The two start a budding friendship and Ellie finds herself being able to talk freely with Paul.

Things aren’t easy when everyone’s emotions become intertangled. Ellie is hiding a secret of her own that she can’t bear to let free for fear of repercussion from her father and everyone else.

1 Never Have I Ever (2020)

Never Have I Ever will resonate with many young audiences and have you laughing in the process. Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is a 15-year-old girl of Indian heritage who wants to bump up her high school experience.

With the help of her friends, she wants to change her social status and get her first boyfriend, preferably the hot popular boy. Along the way, she has to deal with her Indian traditions and her overbearing mother after the death of her father. She makes rash decisions that could cost her the people closest to her.

About The Author

Gabriela Silva
(478 Articles Published)

Gabriela Silva is a List writer for Screen Rant with experience in all things television, film and pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University with previous years experience interning for Cliché Magazine.

With her passion for movies, television and entertainment, she’s interviewed some great actors from Cress Williams of ‘Black Lightning’ to Tati Gabrielle from ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.’

Her love for entertainment reaches a broad range of interests from 90s thriller movies, guilty pleasure teen dramas, action-packed MCU movies to popular K-dramas. You’ll most likely find her binge-watching a new television show or movies on Netflix into the early morning.

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