A movie about suicidal teens (Tout est parfait/Everything Is Fine) reminded so much of being a teenager that it inspired Rebecca and David, the main characters in Masks. Once the idea formed, the teenage characters were not hard to imagine. We’ve all been there. We were inexperienced, confused, dramatic and reckless. How many times did I say “If I don’t get [concert tickets/clothing/party/an A], I’m going to die!” It was such an emotionally turbulent time in life that it’s easy to recall and dramatize in a story. In other words, it was easy to take such an important life stage as adolescence and create a story about a teenager dealing with abusive parents.