Seven Elements of Teen Flicks of the Last Decade

I have always been fascinated with the teen movie. I watch them now, even though I look somewhat ridiculous doing so at my age. "Who's the old broad?" I hear them whisper. Why can't people make their rude comments more quietly? Anyway, adolescence is such an interesting time period. The afflicted is undergoing chemical changes, odd and frightening hair styles, growth spurts, and more.

I will never forget the awesomeness or the hilarity of Sixteen Candles (1984) or Revenge of the Nerds (1984). My mother and sister held hands in front of the television set after having watched this one. It was a very tender moment in living room nerd comedy. In spite of a couple of decades' worth of teen movies, I decided to focus on some of the elements common to teen flicks of the last ten years. And while we're at it, I've never noticed the similarities between these two films until just now. They both involve nerds who use their status to eventually hang with the popular crowd. This is an element which also manifested itself in The Breakfast Club (1985) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001).

The first common element is the use of a number in the title, such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). Even though I wasn't enthralled with this particular film, I do believe in its basic arithmetic skill utilization (which most teens can handle) to include a number with the title. Other number films include Thirteen (2003) and 13 Going on 30 (2004), both of which were terrible at best.

A second element involves satirizing the genre itself. It's the one where the movie is actually a parody of other movies. This approach can be a slippery, mossy slope. If the movie isn't done well, then the result is bad hamburger meat at its absolute rarest. An example of one done mostly well is Not Another Teen Movie (2001). It had it all as far as elements are concerned. It had a country-speaking dude, two girls who shared a giant ear, a cameo appearance by the still smoking hot Molly Ringwald, incest, romance sans the incest, a school mascot, spitting coaches, and a token African American who acknowledges his status as such during the movie. I still watch this movie when nothing else is on. Now, that's almost some sort of devotion! Other parodies include all four installments of the Scary Movie franchise (2000-2006), Epic Movie (2007), and Meet The Spartans (2008).

Article Author: Ginae B. McDonald

Ms. McDonald has been published in the Taj Mahal Review. She is an avid blogger.

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