I would bet a quarter that those of us born in the 80s can’t think of high school movies without thinking of 10 Things I Hate About You. If there is any reason to add a high school movie to the list, it should really be 10 Things.
There are so many reasons: Health Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Julia Stiles when she was still awesome, the marching band scene, the paintball scene, the MUSIC-omg that soundtrack was the soundtrack of my life for years. The quote, “She hates you with the fire of a thousand suns.” And Shakespeare and the prom. So, really, folks. Let’s add Ten Things I Hate About You to this arc!
I could see that. Super Bad is definitely my generation’s high school movie though. American Pie was like a few years earlier, prolly around the same time as 10 Things(Not release date wise, but generational wise)
Also, my new obsession is Freaks and Geeks, which I somehow missed at the time*. It features the entire Judd Apatow players. It’s an awesome show about high school burnout/underachiever upperclassmen and geek underclassmen. It is awesome. Almost plays like a sequel to My So-Called Life. The show’s set in 1980/81. Funny as hell and has a lot of heart.
Anyhow, I strongly move that the show be made part of the high school arc, which is easy to do 'cuz IFC is rerunning a (commercial-free) episode every week, AND Sunday Aust 22, it’s airing a four or five episodes in a row. So that’s a great chance to jump in. Maybe make it part of the Sept 3 Superbad episode?
Let’s not drop the talk about extending the arc to include Grosse Point Blank. Cuz really, I’d guess the majority of alpacas have already hit their 10th reunion… and/or then some.
Yeah. I went to see 10 Things in the ninth grade and American Pie that summer. We had to sneak in, of course. I would say, though, that while American Pie had a great series of one liners, that it was more of a teen sex romp than a high school movie.
I know the cast can’t cover everything, but Can’t Hardly Wait deserves a mention. When’s it from – '98, '99? It’s primarily a comedy, but it well worth checking out. Features Seth Green and Claire from Six Feet Under. Real ensemble piece. Plenty of geek humor, too.
I just have to recommend Not Another Teen Movie which is both a homage and spoof of all the teen movies that came before it! It’s played out in the same genre as the Scary movie, Date movie, etc spoofs.
The fun part is catching all the movie references in the movie (and there are many!) as well as the multiple cameos from actual teen movie stars from the 80’s (i.e. The Original Brat Pack)
Also, I’d like to add, as a huge fan of The Breakfast Club how much it struck a chord with teens growing up in the 80’s & 90’s (i.e. my generation :o ) It also broke new ground as a new sort of genre - the teenage angst movie. One of my favourite scenes is Judd Nelson starting a fire on his boot and using it to light his cigarette - I tried it once before (being 14 and dumb) and I gotta say you’d need a lot of shoe polish to pull that one off…
I absolutely loved this movie - especially with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it - and Seth Green and his iconic scuba mask (what was that about?) I think the movie was the springboard that launched the career for the bandBlink 182.
One thing that irked me - the characters were only 2yrs younger than me but they couldn’t relate to that Guns ‘n’ Roses song, Paradise City, which was the rock anthem of late 80’s-early 90’s, and still played in most retro-themed nightspots over here. Surely, the characters must have heard it before somewhere.
I think we should do a community Frak for that one. It is amazing. I love the kid who steals everything. I love Breckin Meyer!
You know, I was too young for the Breakfast Club but watched it in high school on VHS. It resonated so strongly with me, 10 years after release. And 7 years later, my little bro discovered it (he’s 19 now) and loved it, too. I think the Breakfast Club is just the Ur HS movie. I defy you to find anyone with whom it did not resonate (doesn’t count if it was a home schooled kid).
I just watched The Breakfast Club through for the first time (or at least that I remember :o). I can see how it would have been unique and memorable at the time, but for me this topic has been done so much it didn’t really “resonate” as much. Also for me, movies like Can’t Hardly Wait and American Pie remind me more of High School then the four in the arc. Don’t get me wrong, TBC was a great movie along with the other three which I have always loved. For me High School was the best years of growing up. I know growing up in Utah (and as Mormon) my experience was different then most but it would be interesting to hear the spectrum of GWCers experiences.
I was in every band except Orchestra and I was in the Choir. Jocks were popular but far from the kings of the school. We has Seminary as a class and many of the student leaders there were also SBO’s and set a great example for most of the school. Music (mostly singing) is well promoted by the church so the majority of popular people were also in Choir. As a result, most of my friends were in the church and “geeky”. I was never offered drugs or alcohol through all of K-12 (not that it didn’t happen I’m sure, just wasn’t in my world). Any bullying I had was in elementary school (K-6) and (7-8) kids are all…uh…less then well behaved. For me (9-12) High School was a great social experience which has only been surpassed by GWC.
I think that is why my favorite movies are the comedies about the end of school party. Everyone can relate to the teenage angst because that is just part of being that age. For me the bigger message about TBC is just how important it is to be a good parent. Their behaviors were instilled by the parents and reinforced by friends. Why do we teach things like Trigonometry but important things like sex ed and parenthood are deemed a threat or unnecessary?
I think the great thing about The Breakfast Club is the dialogue. Like some of the real classics (I’m not that old :mad:) you take characters who normally wouldn’t give each other the time of day and put them in a confined space, like a life boat, or a jury room, and watch them mix it up.
Also, here’s some Breakfast Club awesomeness from io9: Artist Cliff Chiang adapted a couple John Hughes movie posters with superheroes. Check 'em out here:
These are great experiences you’re posting here re: Breakfast Club and your high school experiences in general. If you’d call some of them in I could include them in the podcast. <hint>
Cheeky answer: 1 in 1000 kids would figure trigonometry out on her own, but 999 in 1000 would figure out sex without a teacher’s assistance.
I never went to parties like that, either, Daisuke. We also didn’t have nerds, goths, and chess club types, because I went to a public magnet HS. I also never had a detention. The Breakfast Club still resonates, though, because we all still formed cliques, even though they were more fluid. And every now and again circumstances would conspire to throw me together with someone my polar opposite, and we’d find common ground.
Ex: after I gave a presentation on dream interpretation in my 9th grade Inquiry Skills class, my arch enemy Bree raised her hand to ask a question. I called on her and she said, “Ummm… aren’t your backless shoes against the dress code?” The stickler teacher sent me to the office to get a dress code demerit. In senior year, she and I were the only two people whose schedules made it impossible to take a first or less period community service class (thus enabling late entry or early exit) so we were stuck hanging out together in the community service office. We discovered that we both hated having our sibs at the school as freshmen and bonded. We did match homework together and talked about our love lives like we were buddies. Who’d have thought?
My middle- and high-school BFF and my high-school boyfriend (I know, I know) shared August 17 as a birthday, so between this arc and the date, I’ve been feeling extra nostalgic today.
When I think of quintessential HS misbehavior, I think of driving down the beach road after the legal curfew while singing, making out on the sand and furiously brushing sand out of my cuffs and toes and hair before my mom noticed, and staging civil disobedience demonstrations using a dozen pairs of dollar store handcuffs, the athletic department’s short bus, and the wacky French teacher with a bus license and a good sense of adventure.
