# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/61 "2009-11-10T21:19:27Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > Another vote here for My So-Called Life. > Most tv/movie high schools have suicides, shootings, huge blow-out keg parties full of impossibly colorful drunk characters, and everyone getting laid except of course some characters who are on a quest to lose their virginity. > MSCL had people up in arms because one kid brought a gun to school without intent to actually use it and it went off in the bathroom, injuring nobody. Yup. Though technically, it wasn’t in the bathroom–it was outside a locker. The only thing that got injured was a girl’s soda. Brian Krakow was in the bathroom when it happened, though, and he came out and saw Ricky running away. Memories! I also found Daria realistic. Well, not real exactly–my own fellow students weren’t even that (inadvertently) funny, and it’s obviously parody…but that whole feeling of being the only smart ones there and everyone else being so willfully dumb is very familiar. Esp. that episode where Daria and her friend Jane make that poster with the bulimia poem and the administration wants them to change it. It’s one of the only shows that really had truly cynical characters. The “cynical and smart” characters in 90210 and Dawson’s Creek were so boring and plastic and it was scary that they though themselves such edgy outsiders. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/62 "2009-11-10T21:28:39Z")
HS in a suburb of Chicago, circa 1976-1980. I’d say mine was a cross between _Breakfast Club_ and _Mean Girls_(both films were set and filmed in Chicago suburbs). The social ostracizing was there, as were the rigid cliques (socialites, nerds, burnouts and complete nonentities like me), some fist fighting, but mostly fire alarm pulling and cherry bombs in stairwells. Plenty of verbal abuse from either gender, and lovely sexist crap from boys who thought they were men. I was once threatened by another girl (a “burnout”) after I told her to leave another girl alone. My only show of courage, however small. Other than that, it was fairly non-eventful. IMO, movies take all the likely or possible happenings and throw them all together, which can make the show or film seem implausible. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/63 "2009-11-10T21:30:46Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Other than that, it was fairly non-eventful. IMO, movies take all the likely or possible happenings and throw them all together, which can make the show or film seem implausible. My dad who was a doctor would say the same thing about E.R. You take all the things that happen in maybe a month or more and stuff them all in to make it more action packed and exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/64 "2009-11-10T21:55:14Z")
> [@mack](#): > > There’s Gus Van Sant’s [Elephant](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363589/). I haven’t seen seen it in years, but the HS didn’t strike me as being so ridiculously phony. It even succeeded in giving me a lousy feeling in my stomach. Yeah, I was going to suggest this. Yuppie, undramatic, and kids mostly just going about their day (with two notable exceptions, of course). Social awkwardness, but not exaggerated, and mundane from the camera’s point of view (though probably not from the kid’s POV). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/65 "2009-11-10T22:05:02Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > Yeah, I was going to suggest this. Yuppie, undramatic, and kids mostly just going about their day (with two notable exceptions, of course). Social awkwardness, but not exaggerated, and mundane from the camera’s point of view (though probably not from the kid’s POV). I’ve heard about this one. It’s basically Columbine? Or is it totally unrelated? ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/66 "2009-11-10T22:24:51Z")
Columbine, yes, though I think it’s technically fiction, or at least vaguely fictionalized. It is pretty good. Van Zandt wisely avoids trying to ascribe any clear motives to the killers. he just kind of observes them. If I recall correctly, he does make them gay, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/67 "2009-11-10T22:28:37Z")
If you can handle its earnest Canadianess, I suggest the various [_Degrassi_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrassi) shows. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/68 "2009-11-10T22:31:20Z")
I thought _Elephant_ was pretentious, melodramatic, and boring crap, with one-dimensional (or zero-dimensional, actually) characters and awful pacing and plot. Gus Van Sant is truly a hack; I can’t stand anything he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/69 "2009-11-10T22:32:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Columbine, yes, though I think it’s technically fiction, or at least vaguely fictionalized. It is pretty good. Van Zandt wisely avoids trying to ascribe any clear motives to the killers. he just kind of observes them. > > If I recall correctly, he does make them gay, though. I think I read about this–I remember hearing things about it when it came out and then I just never got around to seeing it. Netflixing it! ---
**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, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/70 "2009-11-10T22:33:49Z")
Van Zandt is great, and _Elephant_ is quite well done. Sorry if it doesn’t have enough children being forced to suck cock to suit your taste. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/71 "2009-11-10T22:40:37Z")
Van Sant (not Van Zandt) bores the shit out of me. His films, if I can stay awake from them, provide me with nothing more than the desire to watch something else, preferably with Elias Koteas in it. But, of course, everyone’s taste in movies is different. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/72 "2009-11-10T22:41:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > If you can handle its earnest Canadianess, I suggest the various [_Degrassi_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrassi) shows. YES! Especially since the old ones cast ‘real’ kids from the area. They may not have been the greatest actors and they had some silly lines, but they did have bad hair, lisps, braces and acne and were believably awkward. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/73 "2009-11-10T22:51:31Z")
"West Side Story "without the music. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/74 "2009-11-10T23:17:03Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > 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. I couldn’t agree more. **Over the edge** is on of the better ones. I believe the whole movie is on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/75 "2009-11-11T02:23:24Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I teach in a school that has huge problems with poverty, drug abuse, crime, illiteracy, etc. and most of \*our \*days are quietly routine. Yours was no different. Of course. When you squeeze a year of high school into a three-hour movie, you’re not going to focus on the quiet, boring moments. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > Speaking of lockerrooms; was tossing a naked boy out of the lockerroom and locking the door behind him ever a common prank? Never happened in my school – at least not that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/76 "2009-11-11T02:46:10Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Of course. When you squeeze a year of high school into a three-hour movie, you’re not going to focus on the quiet, boring moments. Not a movie, but a book–Prep, actually really focuses on those quiet, boring moments and makes a novel out of them. It’s the only truly “real” adolescent experience I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/77 "2009-11-11T03:14:49Z")
I always thought that \*\*Welcome Back Kotter \*\*was highly realistic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/78 "2009-11-11T04:18:28Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > Another vote here for My So-Called Life. > > [snip] > > This is how real teenage life is - nothing as exciting as what’s in the movies, but to the kids it’s happening to, it’s serious enough. > > Plus bonus points to MSCL for taking the tired cliche plot line of the protagonist ending up with 2 dates to a school dance, and depicting it the way it would REALLY play out. Yes! That scene with Brian is why I love MSCL so much. Also the scene where he is determined to ask out a girl who works at a fast food place, go in, buys a burger from her, and then leaves. Another great thing about the show is that it shows causal teen drinking and cutting class. Everyone accepted it and none of the kids thought it was anything special. Just because Freaks and Geeks doesn’t measure up with the experience of the OP doesn’t mean it’s not realistic. It doesn’t depict my high school experience either but I can recognize that it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of what might happen in a suburban high school. The school that I went to, my junior high school at least, was probably most fatefully depicted by **The Wire**. There are very few movies or TV shows about inner city schools so my experience doesn’t get shown a lot. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/79 "2009-11-11T06:16:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-one-single-damn-movie-or-show-that-shows-high-school-in-a-realistic-way/517007/80 "2009-11-11T13:01:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > My dad who was a doctor would say the same thing about E.R. You take all the things that happen in maybe a month or more and stuff them all in to make it more action packed and exciting. I was actually going to use that analogy! (and most of what happens in ER on TV actually happens in ICU or OB or OR, but that’s another thread…) [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=3) [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=5)