# Is there one single damn movie or show that shows high school in a realistic way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007 "2009-11-10T04:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/21 "2009-11-10T08:15:07Z")
I’d say _My So-Called Life_ was fairly accurate to high school (except in my case, it reflected my middle school experience) at the time (90s) - not so sure about how it would fare now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/22 "2009-11-10T12:50:42Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Is there one single damn movie or show that shows [any field of human endeavor in a realistic way?](http://www.brunching.com/mylaws.html) (And would we really [want](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) [to](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfDrama) [watch](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny) [it](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfRomantic) [if](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfScary) [it](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfSexy) did?) That was my first response. We’re talking about TV shows here. They’re not supposed to be the historical record. But I agree with **Argent Towers** point that the hostility between high school cliques is exaggerated on TV. My experience is that mostly, kids in different groups avoided each other. But there was plenty of general hostility. You did sometimes see jocks harrass someone, and people talked about each other all the time. Mostly at a remove but people were definitely nasty to each other at times for no particular reason. I’d like to add that I also never saw anyone get locked inside a locker, although people who make TV shows seem think this happens all the time, or that it’s so hilarious it doesn’t matter it’s cliche as all hell. It must’ve happened to someone at some point in human history, but if it was that common, there would be more human-body sized lockers. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/23 "2009-11-10T13:05:30Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > If a show wanted to show real “freaks” in high school, or more properly, show the kids who are actually the social zeroes, they would show dour, uninteresting, badly-dressed, and unattractive losers. This tells us a lot about you. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/24 "2009-11-10T13:43:16Z")
I submit _Napoleon Dynamite_. The kids in that film basically stumbled through High School with no clue what the fuck they were doing. That’s pretty much how I remember it. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/25 "2009-11-10T14:30:06Z")
I thought the movie ‘Election’ was pretty realistic. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/26 "2009-11-10T14:45:08Z")
I was thrown out of high school for _being_ beaten up on a regular basis. My staying there would potentially endangered the careers of some of Southwest High Schools most promising athletes, had they been punished for their behavior. So I had to go. Luckily, my parents found an alternative school for me, and the psychopathic bullies were able to complete their high school careers. So there was a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/27 "2009-11-10T14:46:36Z")
Unless you lived a life in high school where “unrealistic” things happened to you (spit on, stuffed in lockers, etc) you probably had a high school career which would make a pretty uninteresting show no one would watch anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/28 "2009-11-10T14:53:54Z")
_Freaks and Geeks_ was for me ultra-realistic, but I guess YMVs. _Better Luck Tomorrow_ was one of the only movies I’ve ever seen that portrays the “popular nerds” - the smart kids in Academic Decathlon who were also popular. If not for the drugs, I’d say it was a very accurate movie about my high school, only I wasn’t one of the _popular_ smart kids. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/29 "2009-11-10T15:00:47Z")
I thought the documentary “American Teen” was a pretty good portrayal of high school life. Yes, there were many moments when the kids were obviously hamming it up for the cameras. But it did a good job of depicting the sort of stratification, cliqueshness and petty cruelty that high school kids regularly engage in, while also presenting the students as complex beings. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/30 "2009-11-10T15:01:32Z")
I saw bullying, locker stuffing, heads flushed in toilets, all that stuff. I think _Dazed and Confused_ is pretty realistic. _Napolean Dynamite_ is too, mostly, though some of the kids looked a little old for high school. One of the best, most realistic portraits of teenagers ever is the 1979 movie, _Over the Edge_, which was so spot on, it was almost eerie at times. One thing that helped with the realism is that the kids were real kids, not only in terms of age (no 22 year olds playing high school juniors), but many of of them were non-actors. The director had gone around to real high schools picking out real delinquents hanging around outside smoking. One of the young delinquents he found and cast was a 14 year old Matt Dillon. Anyway, in terms of how the kids looked, acted and talked, _Over the Edge_ was closest to my own experience of being a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/31 "2009-11-10T15:05:34Z")
I agree with **Viridiana** that _My So-Called Life_ was pretty spot-on. That awkwardness. That being stuck between your old reliable friends and the cool new ones. That awkwardness. Oh lord, the awkwardness. And the horrible clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/32 "2009-11-10T15:28:38Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > _Napolean Dynamite_ is too, mostly, though some of the kids looked a little old for high school. I found the movie boring, but I found Napoleon’s attitude and total lack of social skills realistic. Not all geeks are like that - and **Argent Towers** isn’t going to win any friends by saying it around here 😉 - but I knew some people like that. In school, some kids are unpopular because they like the wrong kind of music or clothes, but some just can’t deal with other people, find them annoying and treat them disdainfully. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/33 "2009-11-10T15:36:45Z")
**Welcome to the Dollhouse** although Jr High. Poor Dawn, an excellent example of what the unpopular kids go through. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/34 "2009-11-10T16:10:19Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I’m gonna say [Dazed and Confused](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106677/), which seemed to me a pretty accurate portrayal of high school in the 70s. > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I will second this since it is what I came in to say. In many ways it was spot on with my experience going to high school in Texas in the late 70’s/early 80’s. I will third it. When my kids asked me what high school was like when I was a kid, this is the movie I pointed them to. Although I went to high school in Maine, not Texas. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/35 "2009-11-10T16:10:23Z")
Most of the cliches I saw or personally experienced in high school at some point. But part of it isn’t so much about depicting what high school reality **is** but rather what it **felt like** to many people. It is amazing to find out that someone you thought was popular and on top of the heap felt like they were on the outside and persecuted. Or that two assholes being rude to them was perceived as the entire school being against them. While I’d say the stereotypical high school groupings exist, the thing I think movies/TV most consistently get wrong is just how fluid membership in those cliques is and that most people belonged to several, whether sequentially or simultaneously. Also, the National Honors Society kids could be as horrible to others as the cheerleaders as the drama geeks as the stoners, etc. It wasn’t so much that shit flowed downhill but it seemed to flow in a circle most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/36 "2009-11-10T16:15:47Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > **Welcome to the Dollhouse** although Jr High. Poor Dawn, an excellent example of what the unpopular kids go through. The only kid in my high school that got it worse than me had the same last name as Dawn. I was shocked to find out recently that he was still alive (and living with his mother). I really thought that he would have killed himself before the end of high school. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/37 "2009-11-10T16:24:03Z")
I think the movies also greatly exaggerate the universality of what kids are “popular.” Movies always show jocks and cheerleaders at the top of the pyramid, with everybody else longing to be like them. It isn’t like that. In my high school experience, no one gave a shit who the jocks and the cheerleaders were, and their social status didn’t really extend beyond their own clique. There was never one ruling clique that everybody aspired to. One of the most obnoxious high school movie tropes is that everyone wants to be “popular,” and that no one who isn’t in Hollywood’s version of the popular clique is really happy or satisfied. Most kids are exactly where they want to be. One of the things I liked about _Napoleon Dynamite_ is that it showed a high school geek who was completely comfortable being a high school geek, had no self-esteem issues and no desire to be anything different. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/38 "2009-11-10T16:31:56Z")
Although its scenes of high school life are brief, I submit “River’s Edge”. It’s based on a true story, and it shows. One student murders another, and nobody gives a shit. I found it appallingly true to life, based on my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/39 "2009-11-10T16:32:16Z")
The geeks in _Freaks and Geeks_ were fine with being geeks, they just wanted to be geeks with girlfriends. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/40 "2009-11-10T16:33:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think the movies also greatly exaggerate the universality of what kids are “popular.” Movies always show jocks and cheerleaders at the top of the pyramid, with everybody else longing to be like them. It isn’t like that. In my high school experience, no one gave a shit who the jocks and the cheerleaders were, and their social status didn’t really extend beyond their own clique. There was never one ruling clique that everybody aspired to. > > One of the most obnoxious high school movie tropes is that everyone wants to be “popular,” and that no one who isn’t in Hollywood’s version of the popular clique is really happy or satisfied. Most kids are exactly where they want to be. > > One of the things I liked about _Napoleon Dynamite_ is that it showed a high school geek who was completely comfortable being a high school geek, had no self-esteem issues and no desire to be anything different. That was my experience at least. There were any number of cliques and they all considered themselves to be “the best”. There were the punks, the jocks, the stoners, the south doors smoking crew, the science geeks, the arts geeks, the theatre geeks … One feature of the HS I went to was that there was little if any animosity between the various cliques. They just did different things. I’ve heard enough from others though to realize many had a quite different experience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007.md?page=3)