Teen Movies

If there’s one thing that teens throughout the centuries have had in common, it’s...Everything! Whether the source of their angst revolves around obsessions about their looks, clashes with their parents, competition from their peers, unbidden zits, or the first fragile steps toward a romantic relationship, teenagers have always awkwardly hovered in a zone that expects them to be old enough to know better and yet not mature enough to handle adult responsibilities.

Here’s a sampling of popular flicks that the teenager in each of us can relate to.

Coming of Age

The clash between family values and peer pressures has always made for good fodder in teen movies. Among some of our favorites are:

• American Graffiti
• Bend It Like Beckham
• Breaking Away
• Little Women
• Sixteen Candles
• Freaky Friday
• 13 Going on 30
• Cider House Rules

Family relationships are also popular fare for television:

• Happy Days
• Family Ties
• Seventh Heaven
• Dawson’s Creek
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Gilmore Girls
• The Cosby Show
• The Wonder Years

Rebellions Wild and Mild

During the 1950’s, mainstream America’s expectations of its youth were their sons and daughters would dutifully follow in their footsteps and lead quiet, buttoned-down lives with perfect spouses and perfect children in the cookie-cutter pastel houses of post-war suburbia. Even if their fates seemed sealed, however, it didn’t stop a generation of pre-adults from daydreaming about alternative lifestyles. Being “bad”—if only through the vicarious portal of a movie—was a welcome respite from the pressures of keeping up grades, keeping one’s virginity and keeping out of trouble.

A sullen expression, a black leather jacket and a loner persona made actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando the quintessential poster boys for youthful rebellion. Rebel Without a Cause, The Delinquents, High School Confidential, Blackboard Jungle and The Wild One gave audiences a look at life on the wrong side of the tracks, tracks which parents hoped their impressionable teens would never try to cross.

Common to these plots was a mindset best exemplified by Marlon Brando in The Wild One. When asked what he was rebelling against, his blunt reply was, “Whatever you’ve got.” To live on the wild side just for the sake of being different can be found in later fare such as:

• The Lords of Flatbush (which honed Henry Winkler’s “Fonzie” persona for Happy Days)
• Cooley High
• The Outsiders
• Bad Boys
• Cry-Baby
• Grease
• Mean Girls
• Heathers
• Odd Girl Out
• Deuces Wild

Life is a Beach

Gidget was a teen comedy that found the perky blond Sandra Dee trying to decide whether her summertime affections should go to a hunky beach bum (Cliff Robertson) or to her beloved Moondoggie (James Darren). The surfer themes and idyllic settings in its two sequels, Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome, scored such a hit with teen fans that it was adapted to a television sitcom starring Sally Field.

The beach also proved to be a popular dating ground for former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello and crooner Frankie Avalon in giggle fests like Beach Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Beach Blanket Bingo and Muscle Beach Party. Surfers, of course, can relate to Ride the Wild Surf, Blue Hawaii, The Endless Summer, Aloha Summer and Blue Crush.

Though the earlier flicks tend to look a little cheesy in terms of the acting and cinematography, they nevertheless are consistent with the issues that still plague even the most modern teens decades later; specifically, (1) how can I show off my buff bod and (2) how can I show off my athleticism?

First Crush Teen Movies

You just never know where Cupid’s arrow is going to strike next and when it comes to first love, a teenager’s heart can be inconsolable when things don’t quite come out to a happily ever after. The following teen movies are no exception to illustrating that cosmic mystery of finding The One.

• Liberty Heights
• Save the Last Dance
• Flash Dance
• She’s All That
• Say Anything
• The Way We Were
• Here on Earth
• Before Sunrise
• 10 Things I Hate About You
• Bride and Prejudice
• The Sure Thing

School Daze

School, of course, occupies a large part of a teen’s life. Teachers, for better or worse, also have a major influence on where they go after graduation. If only in real life, we’d had instructors like those in the following teen movies:

• Dead Poets Society
• Mona Lisa Smile
• Raise Your Voice
• Mr. Holland’s Opus
• To Sir, With Love

Do You Know What Your Teens Are Watching?

Once a teen has the mobility accorded by a driver’s license, parents often feel that they lose control of monitoring what their offspring are seeing at the neighborhood Cineplex. To that end, a number of Internet resources exist that can intelligently guide moms and dads through the maze of movie mania by pre-evaluating content based on factors such as language, sex, violence and substance abuse. Websites worth a bookmark include Motion Picture Association of America, Parent Previews, PauseParentPlay, and Movie Mom. Parents Television Counsel is also of assistance to parents and guardians who want to assess the age-appropriate nature of prime time and cable television programs for teens and tweens living under their roof.

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