Photo collage courtesy of reporter Addie Woods.
We’ve all seen the high school coming of age movie where a group message is sent out to the whole school and everyone’s phone rings at the same time. That is definitely not realistic.
Are any of the teen movies close to the reality of life at San Luis Obispo High School, or do they all feature the same jock, nerd, and popular girl trope?
“Movies make high school look like a fancy event. It’s really not. It’s about trying to get an education. We go to a pretty fantastic school, but I still get jealous while watching movies and seeing fictional high schools that seem to have an infinite catalog of classes and as much budget as they need,” said junior Olivia Cusick.
Some of the most unrealistic movies are “Grease”, “Mean Girls”, “She’s All That”, “10 Things I Hate About You”, and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. These are all quality movies but they just don’t portray high school life accurately.
“She’s All That” features multiple of the high school movie cliches, especially falling victim to the nerd makeover trope. Laney, the main character, is a quirky, artsy, unpopular girl who wears glasses, overalls, and a ponytail everyday. Zack, a football hotshot, bets with his friends that he can turn Laney into the next prom queen. Just like magic, she trades in her glasses for contacts, puts her hair down, and wears a dress. And voila, she almost wins prom queen.
The jock’s “No dad, it’s your dream,” line is getting old. And can somebody tell the movie producers that not every high school has an evil teacher or principal?
“It’s not fair how they portray high school so unrealistically, and it ruins it for current and future teens. Then that’s what parents think we are doing, and they don’t understand what high school is really like,” said freshman Liza Flushman.
Watching these movies at a younger age sets unrealistic expectations for high school life. The parties every weekend, no homework, and the superiority of football players and cheerleaders, isn’t very accurate for SLOHS.
Some movies that set more realistic expectations are “Perks of Being a Wallflower”, “Ladybird”, “The Edge of Seventeen”, and “Booksmart”. The coming of age movies that are deemed ‘realistic’ are usually described as ‘movies where nothing happens.’ But that is commonly the realistic plot line of high school life.
Any of these ‘unrealistic’ movies can be perfect entertainment for movie night, but remember to mix it up once in a while and check out a more accurate coming of age movie.
Source: complex.com
