Here are a couple of scenarios I've noticed in a vast number of TV/movie depiction of teenage life, and I was just wondering if anyone's ever been a part of any real-life analogue:
1. In cinema high school, every Homecoming involves two narcissistic girls campaigning for queen like they were running for president of the United States. I've never heard of anyone in real life caring about such an obviously worthless title, but movie Homecoming is always a time of banners, flyers, candy and intense feminine rivalry.
2. In high school and college, every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house, and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
If this were just the product of one or two filmmakers who were clearly out of touch with the high school scene, I'd maybe be able to suspend my disbelief. But it seems that these activities are integral parts of every cinematic American teenager's life experience since the dawn of film. It almost makes me wonder if I missed something growing up.
So, has anyone ever witnessed or heard legend of anything like this happening in real life? Or is it just an inexplicable part of the filmmakers' guide to adolescence?
Posted by Zhil (Member # 10504) on :
quote: 2. In high school and college,
Yes.
quote:every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house,
Yes.
quote:and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo
Yes.
quote: and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
Wait. Whu??
You mean dancing, right? With the lights off, raver lights on, everyone half naked and possibly drunk, and dancing? Then yes.
I have no clue about the first one.
Another cliche that I have never seen: jock type bullying nerd type. I've honestly never experienced or seen this. It could be because the high school I went to had a huge nerd population, the school favored music/education over athletics, and most of the jocks were nerds as well, but... whenever I see that cliche, I roll my eyes. WHATEVER.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I've experienced it - the jock on nerd bullying. Of course, I was the nerd. I had jocks threaten to kill me (for no reason other than that I was not the same as them), and another time, one tried to run over me with his very expensive car. I'd just had my hair dyed bright pink. I can think of no other reason for it. He didn't know me from Adam.
Posted by Zhil (Member # 10504) on :
Holy dung beetles. That's not bullying, that's freaking assault and battery. Attempted murder, Jesus christ.
... compared to that, cliche bullying in TV shows seems pretty mild. Almost insulting, really. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Well, sure. Love your "holy dung beetles", btw. Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :
2. It happens all the time. I've been once or twice. Its much more alcohol fueled than your thinking. Actually thats probably all its fueled by.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Granted that I haven't seen many movies in the last year or so . . . but could you give an example of a scene with "all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other"? All the rest of your post I agree are high school cinema cliches, but that one I don't think I've ever seen.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
How are homecoming queens chosen?
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
quote:2. In high school and college, every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house, and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
I went to plenty of house parties in high school. I don't know that any of them involved "all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other." but I can't think of any movies that have this either.
Posted by Foust (Member # 3043) on :
Yeah, I haven't seen that two stepping thing in movies or in real life. Where are you getting this cliche from, Speed?
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: 2. It happens all the time. I've been once or twice. Its much more alcohol fueled than your thinking. Actually thats probably all its fueled by.
Hormones...don't forget hormones.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
No clue about homecoming--we didn't have it, and we didn't have a prom court, either--but...
quote:2. In high school and college, every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house, and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
I was rarely present for the beginning of a party (and couldn't tell you if they begin with the sudden flood of people), but they eventually ended up looking exactly like a lot of the party scenes in movies.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
At my high school homecoming queen was chosen by having one nominee from each homeroom in the senior class. Then the senior class picked five of those to be the court. Then the whole school voted for one queen, all of this was on paper. There were a few fliers by the time of the final election, but that was expected because the election was just a month into school, how could the freshmen know the seniors otherwise. Only once did I see candy passed out for queen (our class presidents bribed quite frequently, including flashlights with their names printed on them). In the instance with bribery for queen, her brother had been king, and she should have been queen, but did not win.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I've seen both of those 'movie cliches' in real life a handful of times.
I had a good friend of mine campaign for homecoming court, all the while claiming he was doing it 'as a joke'. I was actually pretty relieved that he beat me by a handful of votes (I would've hated to miss the halftime adjustments during the game because of some b.s. celebration).
Posted by ladyday (Member # 1069) on :
When I took off my glasses in high school, I instantly became hot and popular even though moments ago I was an ugly duckling that guys would only ask out as part of a bet *nods*.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I played a song that I wrote at a concert, afterwards I hooked up with a girl who could finally like me outwardly as my display of awesomeness had shattered the barriers between our cliques.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by ladyday: When I took off my glasses in high school, I instantly became hot and popular even though moments ago I was an ugly duckling that guys would only ask out as part of a bet *nods*.
Bull. You wore your hair down and cut it, too.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:Originally posted by ladyday: When I took off my glasses in high school, I instantly became hot and popular even though moments ago I was an ugly duckling that guys would only ask out as part of a bet *nods*.
Everyone knows that only works if you also take your hair out of its ponytail.
Edit: Rats! Beaten by 1 lousy minute.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
You're so unoriginal, Dag. Posted by Feer (Member # 9846) on :
I am still in high school, and the only parties I have tried to go to end in gun shots before I could get through the door. So I don't really know if they match the cliches.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I can't ever remember anyone in my high school having house parties on the scale that they do in those movies. There might be small groups of friends that got together, but rarely more than a dozen unless a parent was hosting some sort of club or after prom/homecoming/play/musical/concert party. But there'd be zero drinking.
The only kids in my school who would have gotten together to do those kinds of things was the class Senate, who were the most popular and most irresponsible kids in the school. So it might have gone on more than I realized, since, while not unpopular, I never would have been popular enough to get invited to one of those. I'd have been the band kid in American Pie that Stifler turned away (except, as you find out in subsequent movies, the band kids had parties just as wild, so I can maybe support some of the wilder band geek cliches, but none of the band geeks as total loser nerd ones).
I don't think anyone at my school even really cared about homecoming queen. A small minority was actually involved in the voting, the losers didn't care, and the winner didn't gloat about it. Actually the winner my senior year was a band geek.
But then I've never though my high school experience was normal. We didn't have cliques. Cliques were rampant at the school across town (our archrival), but it was something we just laughed about because we couldn't imagine what life would be like if we were all cliquey. Over 50% of the school was involved in either music or drama club, and those were the popular kids, not the jocks, except for the jocks (a lot of them) who were involved in those programs, and then they were popular. By and large the percentage of kids who smoked or got together and drank I suspect was extremely small.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
And I had the hottest foreign exchange student living at our house who loved to walk around in skimpy clothing. She didn't understand why we were excited by it. I think she was an exchange student from some foriegn country like Tampa or somewhere equally exotic.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Feer: I am still in high school, and the only parties I have tried to go to end in gun shots before I could get through the door. So I don't really know if they match the cliches.
Jimminy cricket...where do you live?
Posted by Feer (Member # 9846) on :
Little town called Laveen right out of South West Phoenix.
(Az)
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
While many of my high school parties were pretty large, the largest parties were always the ones that we had out on golf courses or at "the satellite". Those usually had a minimum of 40 or 50 people sometimes upwards of double that number.
We also had woods parties, but those were usually smaller affairs.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Zhil:
Another cliche that I have never seen: jock type bullying nerd type. I've honestly never experienced or seen this. It could be because the high school I went to had a huge nerd population, the school favored music/education over athletics, and most of the jocks were nerds as well, but... whenever I see that cliche, I roll my eyes. WHATEVER.
This is not a cliche. This is actual and factual. I nearly needed surgery more than once due to just this sort of thing. And I was definitely left with emotional scars.
Oh, and the thing they say: "If you ignore a bully, they'll get bored and leave you alone."
Total lie.
If you ignore a bully, they'll keep increasing and increasing the bullying until you're sick and scared to even get on the school bus.
[ October 22, 2007, 06:28 PM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Bullys are like stalkers. If you don't stick to the ignoring factor, they'll just learn to escalate the situation until they get the attention they crave.
If you ignore them 50 times, and then finally cave, they'll learn that it takes 50 attempts to get under your skin. The next time, they'll rush through those 50 attempts to get to you. You have to completely and utterly ignore them for it to work.
Or you can just beat the crap out of them. That worked for me.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
It also helps if you're Asian since all Asians know kung-fu. Stereotypes aren't always a bad thing Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
I don't like the high school movies where everyone is insanely rich. That was one aspect of Napoleon Dynamite/Freaks and Geeks that I liked.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Primal Curve:
If you ignore them 50 times, and then finally cave, they'll learn that it takes 50 attempts to get under your skin. The next time, they'll rush through those 50 attempts to get to you. You have to completely and utterly ignore them for it to work
It's hard to ignore abuse when it escalates to physical harm.
And I was not a good or skilled fighter. I just ended up getting beaten up.
But hey, kids don't go to school to learn...they go to it to re-enact Lord of the Flies. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
My high school was the anti-cinema high school:
I never went to a high school party even remotely like the one described above and we did have a prom king and queen but it was a very, very small deal. We had groups of friends, but not cliques. People were cooler and less cool but no one was really beaten up or more than mildly teased about it except maybe the most dislikeable people (as opposed to the most nerdy) and they certainly weren't beaten up about it. The band contained some of the coolest kids in school, as did the drama dept. Being smart was a bonus and common.
Someday I'm going to write a school like mine into something, just for kicks.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
It was at High School Parties that I learned Drinking Alcohol to Excess was the worlds greatest spectator sport.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
It seemed to me that the "ignore bullies" advice worked better in grade school than in high school. They have more patience when they're older.
And, as Puffy pointed out, ignoring abuse could actually be physically dangerous by that time.
Posted by TheBlueShadow (Member # 9718) on :
For homecoming, underclassmen voted in three girls for each grade during homeroom through a two day process. There were no guys at all for the underclassmen court. I have no idea why.
Senior class voted for four girls, four guys.
For prom, we did the same thing. Everyone voted for their grade's court. Then everyone voted for king/queen out of the senior's choice of court.
Neither one of these events were noteworthy. It was just something to pass the time while waiting for announcements.
quote: 2. In high school and college, every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house, and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
I went to parties like that. Though I'd have to agree with Zhil. It's more of a mob of people dancing than partnered dancing. While there were paired off people, it wasn't uncommon to get groups of people dancing together.
In my experience, high school parties had more noticeable drug abuse, college parties have more noticeable alcohol abuse. I guess it depends on what is easier for the group to get a hold of. Not that it's never the other way around.
That being said, I went to a party where a guy broke his leg doing something stupid without any type of substance abuse and with parents chaperoning.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Primal Curve: Bullys are like stalkers. If you don't stick to the ignoring factor, they'll just learn to escalate the situation until they get the attention they crave.
If you ignore them 50 times, and then finally cave, they'll learn that it takes 50 attempts to get under your skin. The next time, they'll rush through those 50 attempts to get to you. You have to completely and utterly ignore them for it to work.
Or you can just beat the crap out of them. That worked for me.
I had a bully and ignoring him only seemed to encourage him. I ignored him for weeks and he kept going. The only way I think I could have truly got him to stop was to actually not care what he was saying. Unfortunately he mercilessly prodded me and anyone who associated with me until my friends grew embarrassed and eventually joined in the taunting. It's harder then hell to pretend sticks and stones wont break your bones when it's your former best friend saying the words.
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
quote:Originally posted by Zhil:
quote: 2. In high school and college,
Yes.
quote:every movie teenager experience includes several parties. At these parties, swarms of kids gather at someone's house,
Yes.
quote:and the main activity that draws the crowd seems to be someone turning on their stereo
Yes.
quote: and all the kids pairing up in the living room to awkwardly two-step in front of each other.
Wait. Whu??
You mean dancing, right? With the lights off, raver lights on, everyone half naked and possibly drunk, and dancing? Then yes.
I have no clue about the first one.
Another cliche that I have never seen: jock type bullying nerd type. I've honestly never experienced or seen this. It could be because the high school I went to had a huge nerd population, the school favored music/education over athletics, and most of the jocks were nerds as well, but... whenever I see that cliche, I roll my eyes. WHATEVER.
This pretty much nails my answers, although for the homecoming one I didn't see any until I got to college.
As far as bullying goes, there definitely was bullying going on, but there wasn't really any huge jock/nerd divide. At least at my school, there was a reasonably large overlap between the two. From what I can remember, there tended to be a lot more bullying going on within people who played sports than there was between jocks/other people, although this may have just been because I was more exposed to that sort of thing since I played three different sports.
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
I think there were parties like that in my high school, in fact I know there were, but I wasn't into that thing at the time. As far as homecoming/prom courts went, no one cared. My freshman year we actually had a fake candidate on the ballot, but he didn't win.
Regarding jocks and nerds- maybe I was just lucky, but I never saw any bullying. Not that the jocks were the most popular kids in my school; those were the partiers. Of course my school was fairly large (2000+ students my senior year), so that probably helped. Everyone could find someone to be friends with, which may not be the case at a smaller school.
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