Larry Clark Interview

Why did you decide to film/photograph teenagers? Why're we so interesting? 

I think that what happened in our youth, especially our teenage years can effect us for the rest of our lives. I started drugs when I was barley 16 and kids these days are doing that type of stuff so much earlier. Theyre having sex and living and I wanted to capture that. Everyone has a story and in my films, especially in Kids, a lot of the dialog isnt scripted, like in kids when the boy and girl are sitting and talking on a bed and he tells her his life story, thats all real, thats what my films are all about. 

And what about how sexual some of your photos of the youth are and some of the backlash about them?

I though 'why not show everything?" no one else is showing everything, and as I said, the youth are doing this. Iv been called names from Pedophile to Perverted etc.. I just dont listen, this is art, Im not getting much money from it or anything like that. You open a magazine and see half naked kids everyday, they do it for profit, I dont. 

What do you think about drug use with kids these days compared to you when you where younger?

In the 50's drug use within youth had just begun and thats when I began filming my friends and I with our drug use, I think when all that came out middle America was shocked because it had just hit them then and I showed drug use from the begining to the end, showing how it effects your life. As I said I started using drugs before I was even 16, it started with weed and led upto shooting up etc.. Kids these days start a lot earlier. Some of the kids I met where shooting up and they where only 14.

Why do you document teens who are into drug use and are sexually active etc.. Why not 'normal' teenagers (if there are even normal teenagers these days).

Maybe I will film 'normal' teenagers one day. For me being a teenager is a traumatic time in your life, and I wanted to see that from the point of view from the youth these days. back in my youth that type of life was secrative, no adults aloud, but these kids in 'kids' have let me into their life. Its interesting, these kids have to go through so much growing up in ghettos and such.