Each Generation’s High School Movie

[F250 28781]

6 minutes ago, Don Johnson said:

I don't see a fucking thing different between 2013 and 2023.....

Either do I but we are both old. Recently my 13 year old daughter was talking about the clothing style from the 2000's being vintage. The entire time I was thinking everything looked the same for the last 20 years.

 

[DixonHur 11340]

1 minute ago, Al_4_ISU said:

You're joking, right?

Hey, we're olds...you'll get here one day.  

Outside of politics (no CR) and changes in technology I can't distinguish any year past 2000.

[Don Johnson 4754]

1 minute ago, Al_4_ISU said:

You're joking, right?

Not really.  Seems like pretty similar high school experiences to me.  Music seems the same.  Video games seem the same.  Kids just on their smart phones posting on social media the same.

[F250 28781]

30 minutes ago, Deej said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

I never heard of this. This is my older siblings era. I just always considered them the in between generation.

[F250 28781]

6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

You're joking, right?

It's an old thing. Shit starts to blend together as more time passes by.

[Al_4_ISU 12464]

5 minutes ago, Don Johnson said:

Not really.  Seems like pretty similar high school experiences to me.  Music seems the same.  Video games seem the same.  Kids just on their smart phones posting on social media the same.

I guess I'm just thinking about the world at large.  2013 seems like a completely different place and time from 2023, although I'd concede (I'm just getting old enough) that all popular music after like 2007 sounds fucking identical to me, and very different from anything I listened to in HS.

I think kids in 2013 were still having primarily real-life interactions with their friend group.  The shut in-ness/screen addiction kicked in much harder during COVID.  My guess is that 30 years from now, we'll look back and view 2020 as a demarcation of the end of one experience and beginning of another.

[Don Johnson 4754]

8 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I guess I'm just thinking about the world at large.  2013 seems like a completely different place and time from 2023, although I'd concede (I'm just getting old enough) that all popular music after like 2007 sounds fucking identical to me, and very different from anything I listened to in HS.

I think kids in 2013 were still having primarily real-life interactions with their friend group.  The shut in-ness/screen addiction kicked in much harder during COVID.  My guess is that 30 years from now, we'll look back and view 2020 as a demarcation of the end of one experience and beginning of another.

Hard to disagree that a lot of issues in 2013 have gotten worse in 10 years.  Just doesn't seem all that different to me. But again, I started that post acknowledging that I'm probably old man yelling at clouds.

Could probably take this thread down into the gutter talking about how today's kids have such mental health issues.

[Guest]

nm

Edited January 17 by slorch

[C-Man 27230]

2 hours ago, 66BUFF said:

15 when they filmed the movie.  Seth Green was Ronalds little brother.

Ah, yes. Thanks for clarification on Seth as Dempsey's little brother. He was awesome in that.

Peterson was nice and, um, "developed" for a 15-year-old. (This isn't weird or creepy because I was a year younger than her.)

[956 Worldwide 34715]

2 hours ago, DixonHur said:

Hey, we're olds...you'll get here one day.  

Outside of politics (no CR) and changes in technology I can't distinguish any year past 2000.

To me though the technology is earth shattering, especially when it comes to being a kid and interacting. 
 

Take 1985-1995: Toss aside the superficial stuff like clothes and music and haircuts.  Kids were doing the same shit: Hanging out at malls or movie theaters, house parties, culture spread by TV and physical media (renting a DVD or VHS is the same thing), social circles largely defined by geography, communications were by the same methods.  The biggest obstacle to socialization and engagement remained mobility so getting a DL was the goal to work towards. 
 

The trappings were different, but your way of existing was the same. The biggest difference might be the rise of video games as a hobby but that was still physical media that required in-person interaction beyond the single player mode. 
 

The shift to an online smartphone is paradigm changing in an entire different way.  A HS junior in 1985 or 1995 or 2000 would be bewildered at the idea of having thousands of peers from across the country or beyond following their own activities and photographs or the idea you could see a cute girl in her swimsuit from across the state and just shoot her a compliment at that moment from your phone. That completely changes the way you socialize and what you value and pursue. 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

4 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

I don't see a fucking thing different between 2013 and 2023.....

i marvel at this too.  this photo is 20 years old.

 

 

i see cargo shorts that look out of place today and the cheap polos that were everywhere.  green shirt girl has one of those 2000s chokers on.  generally looser fitting clothes.  other than that, nothing defines this era.  i think it would be real hard to make a Dazed and Confused right now, capturing all the stereotypes and trends of two decades ago.  

1965 to 1975 to 1985 to 1995 are four different worlds.  now what?

[Rimbo 25976]

11 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

i marvel at this too.  this photo is 20 years old.

 

 

i see cargo shorts that look out of place today and the cheap polos that were everywhere.  green shirt girl has one of those 2000s chokers on.  generally looser fitting clothes.  other than that, nothing defines this era.  i think it would be real hard to make a Dazed and Confused right now, capturing all the stereotypes and trends of two decades ago.  

1965 to 1975 to 1985 to 1995 are four different worlds.  now what?

I assure you that very few of those outfits look like something a high schooler would wear today. The girls in sweats, basically.

You know what became huge between '04 and today? Yoga pants. Yoga pants everywhere.

Edited January 17 by Rimbo

[Don Johnson 4754]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

To me though the technology is earth shattering, especially when it comes to being a kid and interacting. 

True but in 2013, kids were on their iPhones, posting on instagram and Twitter and facebook. Same as 2023. 

[Rimbo 25976]

5 minutes ago, Don Johnson said:

True but in 2013, kids were on their iPhones, posting on instagram and Twitter and facebook. Same as 2023. 

Nobody in high school in 2023 uses Twitter or Facebook.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

Believe me.  I've tried.

[Dutchrudder 11141]

I forgot to mention another movie that came out when I was high school and had a profound impact on me as a teenage boy: Wild Things (1998).  I know I never turned it off when I saw it on HBO, Denise Richards was right up there with Shannon Elizabeth on the list of iconic hot chicks of the late 90s. 

[locodos 5387]

8 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

I forgot to mention another movie that came out when I was high school and had a profound impact on me as a teenage boy: Wild Things (1998).  I know I never turned it off when I saw it on HBO, Denise Richards was right up there with Shannon Elizabeth on the list of iconic hot chicks of the late 90s. 

oh man, that one scene. Pretty sure that impacted just about everyone.

[South Austin 52519]

I once saw a movie in high school.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

 

The shift to an online smartphone is paradigm changing in an entire different way.  A HS junior in 1985 or 1995 or 2000 would be bewildered at the idea of having thousands of peers from across the country or beyond following their own activities and photographs or the idea you could see a cute girl in her swimsuit from across the state and just shoot her a compliment at that moment from your phone. That completely changes the way you socialize and what you value and pursue. 

So, if 17 YO me were in a small town by Lubbock, and I saw that girl online in say...Longview or Corpus Christi, just how the fuck am I getting to date her?  That seems the the pursuit itself isn't the only thing that changed.  Granted, dating isn't the only objective, but you said she was cute...and I know what that meant for me.  It damned sure wasn't about being pen-pals.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

9 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Denise Richards

the renowned nuclear physicist?

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

16 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

To me though the technology is earth shattering, especially when it comes to being a kid and interacting. 
 

Take 1985-1995: Toss aside the superficial stuff like clothes and music and haircuts.  Kids were doing the same shit: Hanging out at malls or movie theaters, house parties, culture spread by TV and physical media (renting a DVD or VHS is the same thing), social circles largely defined by geography, communications were by the same methods.  The biggest obstacle to socialization and engagement remained mobility so getting a DL was the goal to work towards. 
 

The trappings were different, but your way of existing was the same. The biggest difference might be the rise of video games as a hobby but that was still physical media that required in-person interaction beyond the single player mode. 
 

The shift to an online smartphone is paradigm changing in an entire different way.  A HS junior in 1985 or 1995 or 2000 would be bewildered at the idea of having thousands of peers from across the country or beyond following their own activities and photographs or the idea you could see a cute girl in her swimsuit from across the state and just shoot her a compliment at that moment from your phone. That completely changes the way you socialize and what you value and pursue. 

Yeah, being a teenager now vs even 2010 is a different universe and I'm not sure why this is even a debate.  Smart phones changed everything, for better or for worse and there is a mountain of sociological evidence to back this up.

[DixonHur 11340]

19 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Yeah, being a teenager now vs even 2010 is a different universe and I'm not sure why this is even a debate.  Smart phones changed everything, for better or for worse and there is a mountain of sociological evidence to back this up.

Maybe at a micro level, but I'd bet the "human experience" of being in HS today is the same as it's been for the past 60+ years.

Kids are still going to parties, having sex, drinking, doing drugs, feeling awkward, and full of angst...basically trying to figure out who they are.

I think that's why the Breakfast Club is such an iconic movie.  It's plausible that even today, if kids were in detention and had their technology taken away from them that they would talk about similar things to what they did in the movie.

Edited January 18 by DixonHur

[Celery Man 20968]

I’m curious about the rise of the geek since the early 1980s and if that has changed the nerd experience. I mean, there are obviously still nerds regardless of what they are into, but I don’t know how possible it was to be “cool” while being into nerd stuff back in the day. I went to a giant high school so it was kinda easy to disappear into your own group regardless - I was with the band and the AP people, we had our own social structure mostly independent from jocks/cheerleaders/whatever, nobody was getting their butt glued together because we didn’t interact.

 

 Also I see that 2004 picture and it looks obviously different to me than my nieces/nephews or the teenagers I see around my neighborhood.

Edited January 18 by Celery Man

[DixonHur 11340]

3 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I’m curious about the rise of the geek since the early 1980s and if that has changed the nerd experience. I mean, there are obviously still nerds regardless of what they are into, but I don’t know how possible it was to be “cool” while being into nerd stuff back in the day. I went to a giant high school so it was kinda easy to disappear into your own group regardless - I was with the band and the AP people, we had our own social structure mostly independent from jocks/cheerleaders/whatever, nobody was getting their butt glued together because we didn’t interact.

 

 Also I see that 2004 picture and it looks obviously different to me than my nieces/nephews or the teenagers I see around my neighborhood.

The 2004 pic is basically how I dress now, so I suppose I stopped developing, fashion wise, in the early aughts.

As far as "modern" teens, I still go to HS football games, and the cliques seem the same to me.  Still jocks, cheerleaders, band geeks, goths, stoners, etc.

The only real differences I've noticed are that gay kids are freer to be themselves, and there's more racial integration within the groups. 

 

[nolongerU2horn 767]

Interestingly I asked my fiancee this question (she graduated in 1994) and her almost immediate answer was one that nobody else has mentioned in this thread

[Celery Man 20968]

My first thought of course is if she’s black. Although it’s interesting if I think back to the most memorable music videos from that time, nuthin but a g thang is one of the first ones that pops up for me

[nolongerU2horn 767]

she is white but grew up in Albuquerque

[Texzilla58 4738]

Grad HS in 77 Memphis. My class was the same as the seniors in Dazed and Confused. It was very much like our high school life except for the hazing.

The cliques all intermingled a bit. Life was different then because with drinking age at 18 beer and booze was plentiful and easy to get. The Schlitz brewery was 2 miles from campus and we’d go at lunch and they’d let us skip the tour and go straight to the tap room. Self serve. Chug a few cups of Schlitz and head back to school.

Cars were also part of the culture. Muscle cars were cheap so all us poor kids had them. Rich kids had conversion vans, Bricklins, Vettes, or new wheezy TransAms.

That parking lot would go for a few mil at Mecum. I had a 70 Olds 442. There were 67-72 Camaros, TransAms, Mustangs, Cudas, Challengers, etc. A buddy had a 64 Dodge Dart that he inherited. Took out the slant six and put in a Hemi. He won lots of money.

So if you weren’t dating a chick we all hung out at a set of places. There was a burger place we hung out at. Pizza inn and Shakeys allowed us to take over dining rooms and drink pitchers of beer. It was very cool. There wasn’t as much weed as in the movie. Memphis was very tough on it and beer was cheaper. That was more a college thing for us.

[Neonmoon 38129]

2 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Yeah, being a teenager now vs even 2010 is a different universe and I'm not sure why this is even a debate.  Smart phones changed everything, for better or for worse and there is a mountain of sociological evidence to back this up.

Correct. It’s not even in the same universe as when most people on this board grew up

Every message you send can be screenshot and shared among friends. Not to mention any pictures, good, bad, or naked (which is also a crime depending on age)

Every person is posting videos, creating content for an audience of none

It’s pure insanity 

but yeah, it’s similar in that they still drink, have sex, and go to parties feeling angst and awkwardness

[Pokoloco 1281]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:10 PM, C-Man said:

This is a good take.

I'd also argue that while Gen X is the smallest of the generations in existence today we've got an inordinate number of the "classic" HS-era, coming-of-age films because the 80's was jam-packed with them. It was movie upon movie upon movie. John Hughes was a big part of that.

• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Sixteen Candles
• The Breakfast Club
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Pretty In Pink
• Weird Science
• Less Than Zero
• Heathers
• Porky's
• Better Off Dead
• Risky Business
• Can't Buy Me Love
• Back to the Future (though I guess you could give this one to Boomers)
• Teen Wolf
• Private School
• Valley Girl
• Some Kind of Wonderful
• Footloose
• Summer School
• Dead Poet's Society
• Red Dawn
• The Outsiders (see Back to the Future note)
• Just One of the Guys
• Three O'Clock High

Add Secret Admirer and a young hot Kelly Preston to the list.

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

Correct. It’s not even in the same universe as when most people on this board grew up

Every message you send can be screenshot and shared among friends. Not to mention any pictures, good, bad, or naked (which is also a crime depending on age)

Every person is posting videos, creating content for an audience of none

It’s pure insanity 

but yeah, it’s similar in that they still drink, have sex, and go to parties feeling angst and awkwardness

Yeah, smart phones and social media really changed everything (for the worse, in my opinion).  A good example I've read about is body image issues with teenage boys.  They're basically at the level girls used to be and the dads don't know how to deal with it because that wasn't a thing back then and they have no point of reference.

It's very different now and I'm glad I was young back when I was young.

[Pokoloco 1281]

Jesus the 80's had all of the damn HS movies. Say Anything is another one.

[Pig Bellmont 8719]

23 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

Not really.  Seems like pretty similar high school experiences to me.  Music seems the same.  Video games seem the same.  Kids just on their smart phones posting on social media the same.

Just like the 80s and the early aughts are the same. Or the 70s and the 90s. You’re crazy 

[Da Fino 2783]

56 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Every message you send can be screenshot and shared among friends.

I'm so glad I never had to worry about this at that age. I can't imagine how many times I would feel like my life was ruined. 

56 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

but yeah, it’s similar in that they still drink, have sex, and go to parties feeling angst and awkwardness

I thought they weren't doing these nearly as much these days?

[Pig Bellmont 8719]

19 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Nobody in high school in 2023 uses Twitter or Facebook.

My work issued phone in 2010 was a blackberry

[Don Johnson 4754]

17 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Just like the 80s and the early aughts are the same. Or the 70s and the 90s. You’re crazy 

2003 to 2013 seems like a big jump, specifically due to technology.  2013 to 2023 just doesn't to me.  Maybe I am actually crazy (and getting old).

 

14 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

My work issued phone in 2010 was a blackberry

By 2013, most people were on the 7th generation of iphone.  

[HouTex 1878]

1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:

Grad HS in 77 Memphis. My class was the same as the seniors in Dazed and Confused. It was very much like our high school life except for the hazing.

The cliques all intermingled a bit. Life was different then because with drinking age at 18 beer and booze was plentiful and easy to get. The Schlitz brewery was 2 miles from campus and we’d go at lunch and they’d let us skip the tour and go straight to the tap room. Self serve. Chug a few cups of Schlitz and head back to school.

Cars were also part of the culture. Muscle cars were cheap so all us poor kids had them. Rich kids had conversion vans, Bricklins, Vettes, or new wheezy TransAms.

That parking lot would go for a few mil at Mecum. I had a 70 Olds 442. There were 67-72 Camaros, TransAms, Mustangs, Cudas, Challengers, etc. A buddy had a 64 Dodge Dart that he inherited. Took out the slant six and put in a Hemi. He won lots of money.

So if you weren’t dating a chick we all hung out at a set of places. There was a burger place we hung out at. Pizza inn and Shakeys allowed us to take over dining rooms and drink pitchers of beer. It was very cool. There wasn’t as much weed as in the movie. Memphis was very tough on it and beer was cheaper. That was more a college thing for us.

I had the same HS experience except that weed (as well as beer) was everywhere.  Most of my HS friends smoked pot every day.

As for HS movies in the late 70’s I mentioned Breaking Away but it’s more of a post-HS movie about finding yourself.  I don’t really recall any HS focused movies during the late 70’s.  It was 20 years old, but Rebel Without a Cause was on network TV from time to time and it was somewhat still relevant to me.  

[seven 1367]

Iphones were still exclusive to one carrier in 2010

[Al_4_ISU 12464]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Correct. It’s not even in the same universe as when most people on this board grew up

Every message you send can be screenshot and shared among friends. Not to mention any pictures, good, bad, or naked (which is also a crime depending on age)

Every person is posting videos, creating content for an audience of none

It’s pure insanity 

but yeah, it’s similar in that they still drink, have sex, and go to parties feeling angst and awkwardness

Kids are quite sober and celibate compared to basically all previous generations.

Sex requires real life contact and communication.  Drinking without socializing is pointless and boring.  Modern kids are relatively terrified of real life socializing.

[Al_4_ISU 12464]

You could absolutely peg early to mid aughts fashion as different from today.

Guys constantly wore polo shirts, puka shell necklaces, and cargo shorts.  If it was colder it was untucked button down shirts and jeans that were flared at the base.  Sandals with no socks.  Shaggy hair was popular.  Girls wore tight, low rise jeans that let their thongs breathe, and there were hairstyles that I can't describe that are 100% traceable to that time.

Nowadays guys wear basically gym clothes everywhere, do sandals and socks, and often have skinny jeans.   Way less of the unkempt shaggy hair.  If a guy has longer hair, it's a manicured Morgan Wallen mullet. Girls wear much baggier high waisted jeans.  Yoga pants, IMO, are less worn by kids and more by Millennial women.

Here's Lindsay Lohan and the Hilton Sisters in 2005.  I'd go to a party in college and every chick was wearing something like this with a similar cut.  You wouldn't see that now.

 

 

[Celery Man 20968]

 

[Beau Vine 54254]

On 1/17/2024 at 9:13 AM, ztejas said:

The way that's presented in the movie isn't "rapey" at all though. It's basically implied that she took advantage of him when he was blackout drunk, he's then horrified to learn that she's in high school, and then she apologizes about it. I mean I guess if she's 17 then it's technically rape, but if anyone's being rapey it's the high school girl at a college party taking advantage of a 30-something man. 

 

[Beau Vine 54254]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:51 AM, Gordon Shumway said:

Gen X here, born in 72 graduated high school in 90.  I agree that Breakfast Club is probably the defining HS movie, but when I watch it now, I root for the adults.  Those kids deserved to lose one Saturday for detention.  If my son duct taped some kids butt cheeks together he probably would have been in detention for the rest of the year.  And, they would have come back the nest week and write another paper if they thought they could get away with forcing the nerdy kid to write one for everybody. 

I guess it goes without saying that you root for Mr Hand in Fast Times, too.

 

[Texzilla58 4738]

Kids are quite sober and celibate compared to basically all previous generations.
Sex requires real life contact and communication.  Drinking without socializing is pointless and boring.  Modern kids are relatively terrified of real life socializing.

We were raised to be out of the house from very young. In the summer it was get up and get out of the house except lunch and supper until dark or later. In high school it was an unofficial policy that getting your drivers license was excused. It was expected you got it the day you turn 16. Alcohol was easy to get and we were drinking outside from 14. Going to bars from 16. All guys were chasing the muff. Might not be getting it but you were in the game. And everyone knew everyone.

Nowadays it’s so different. It’s global. Japan is going to navelgaze itself into extinction. Europeans are having kids. Japanese aren’t fucking.

[Beau Vine 54254]

21 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Nobody in high school in 2023 uses Twitter or Facebook.

 

21 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Believe me.  I've tried.

[DixonHur 11340]

2 hours ago, HouTex said:

 I don’t really recall any HS focused movies during the late 70’s.

[South Austin 52519]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I guess it goes without saying that you root for Mr Hand in Fast Times, too.

I mean, Mr. Spicoli was on dangerous ground. He was causing a major disturbance on his time.

[Deej 76830]

4 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Drinking without socializing is pointless and boring. 

Posting on Surly while drinking counts as socializing...

[HouTex 1878]

1 hour ago, DixonHur said:

Ok, good one.  But I don’t consider Grease as a HS movie in the same vein as the late 80’s-90’s HS movies by Hughes.  Other than boy meets girl it doesn’t really get into the issues facing teens in HS in the late 70’s.  Basically, it’s a feel good musical.  

[Neonmoon 38129]

4 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Drinking without socializing is pointless and boring.