Stephen King’s ‘19’ universe
The number 19 is a significant and recurring Easter egg in Stephen King’s novels, which have invariably found their way into most of their screen adaptations. While 19 makes its appearance in a lot of King’s work — primary examples being the address in Dreamcatcher (19 Maple Lane), the 19-year sentence in The Shawshank Redemption and the date in 11/22/63, the stairs adding up to 19 in The Shining, among many, many others — its most telling usage is in the Dark Tower series where it is employed to signify a “taheen” (magical) number. Longtime readers know that in-universe lore runs vast and deep throughout King’s interconnected universe, and his built mythology has constantly been added to and revised over the years. It symbolises “ka” (destiny), appearing in character names, dates and as a key plot device.
Children of the Corn
In this 1984 film, 19 is the critical age of “passing” when cult members are sacrificed to “He Who Walks Behind the Rows”. Characters reaching their 19th year are considered too old and must be killed. Also based on Stephen King’s work, the film gave rise to a franchise which witnessed its latest release in 2020, a supernatural slasher film also called Children of the Corn.
Brokeback Mountain
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
In Ang Lee’s genre-defining, multiple Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are both 19 years old when they first meet and fall in love while working as sheep-herders in Wyoming. At 19, they are shown working together on Brokeback Mountain in 1963, with Ennis at base camp and Jack higher up. The film, released in 2005, spans two decades, highlighting how their intense, secret relationship is constrained by fear and societal pressures.
The Social Network
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network
In David Fincher’s biographical drama about how social media platform Facebook was created out of a college dorm, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is shown to be 19 years old. Depicted as a ruthless sophomore who founded Facebook to increase his chances with women and enable him entry into elite Ivy League institutions, The Social Network’s portrayal of his character was criticised by Zuckerberg, who went on record to say that all the film got right was his age and his wardrobe.
Les Miserables
Hugh Jackman in the 2012 film Les Miserables
In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean (played in the 2012 screen adaptation by Hugh Jackman) is famously imprisoned for 19 years (originally five for stealing bread, plus 14 more years for escape attempts) before his release in 1815.
Rey in Star Wars
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey (Daisy Ridley) is introduced as a 19-year-old scavenger living on the desert planet Jakku. Born around 15 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), she is supremely Force-sensitive and demonstrates significant, untrained, and raw power while fighting against Kylo Ren. At 19, Rey shares the same age as other iconic Star Wars protagonists when their journeys began, prominent among them being Luke Skywalker in A New Hope and Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones.
Unishe April
In Rituparno Ghosh’s 1994 watershed film Unishe April, April 19 holds critical significance, being the death anniversary of Aditi’s (Debashree Roy won the National Award for her portrayal, as did the film) father, which coincides with the day her mother, Sarojini (Aparna Sen) receives a prestigious dance award. The day serves as a catalyst for an intense emotional confrontation between the two, laying bare decades of repressed resentment, familial estrangement and a complex mother-daughter dynamic.
Significant 19-year-old protagonists in cinema
In Carol, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) is 19 when she meets and falls in love with the much older Carol, played by Cate Blanchett; In Saturday Night Fever, Tony Manero (John Travolta), who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local disco while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his working class ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn, is 19 years old; in the 2014 Oscar-winning film Whiplash, 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a first-year student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York, aims to become one of the “greats” under the intense, abusive mentorship of conductor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).