Speak nailed several aspects of high school quite accurately.
Naaahh. We were too busy working on our pact to get laid by prom.
What about the dreaded Rear Admiral?
Speaking as a person who went to a large suburban public high school during the mid to late 1960’s, I saw the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High School when it first came out, and, on thinking back on that film, while there were certain realistic portrayals of how many kids that age act, think and socialize, I agree that “Fast Times”, like most other movies, was quite exaggerated. Hollywood often does that.
Being a woman, I was frequently shunned and made fun of for being different from most of the other kids, but I was never, ever physically abused in any way or form at any time during my four years of high school. At that time, guys never hit girls, lest they get into trouble, and girls never beat each other up, either. One day, in the girls’ room, however, I overheard a conversation between two girls over in the next toilet cubicle who were discussing plans to beat the s**t out of another girl. Whether or not that ever materialized, I don’t know, but that kind of physical abuse generally occurred among the boys at our high school, and I once saw an obviously weaker kid get beat up by several other boys, while one boy on our bus was cheering “Kill that kid!”
I later learned that several girls did get jumped by boys, and I even saw one instance of several girls getting dunked in the snow by boys, too, while waiting to board the buses to go home.
Did you try taking off your glasses, getting a stylish haircut and some new sexy clothes? If movies have taught me anything, that usually does the trick.
I have a theory that movies and shows about high school have to be a bit over-dramatized because they are showing the world as the high school kids perceive it at the time, not how it is. The girls (or guys) seem a bit hotter. The drama seems oh so much more important. Their world of the high school, their house and the occassional weekend party seem so much larger at the time than it really is.
If you were to watch a realistic high school show or movie as an adult, it would mostly consist of long tedious stretches of kids hanging out doing nothing punctuated by brief periods of with all the excitement and maturity of a home made YouTube clip. It would seem dull, stupid, immature, childish and petty.
Applying my management consulting skilz here, the basic movie or tv high school consists of six quandrants (sextants?) of social status:
Preps | Jocks | Hoods
Brains | Dorks | Freaks
First the definition (note that these are terms we used when I went to high school in the late 80s. The kids might call them something different now):
Preps - These are the “cool kids”. They dress well, have nice cars, affluent (for the local community) families. They are typically smart or at least connected enough that they will be going to the good colleges after graduation. They like sports and may play some but it doesn’t define them. Ferris Bueller, Brandon Walsh (90210) or Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl) are “Preps”. So would Claire (Breakfast Club).
Jocks - The varsity jacket wearing football and basketball players. They are typically the good looking guys all the girls want to date or the cheerleaders. They are one dimensional, typically defined by their sport and beer drinking. Steve Stifler (American Pie), Steve Sanders (90210), Andrew Clark (Breakfast Club), Luke (O.C) and Mike (Can’t Hardly Wait) are typical “Jocks”. The cheerleaders
Hoods - Hoods are the bad boys of the school. They usually come from broken families. They are often petty criminals and involved in drugs (or give off the appearance of being so). John Bender (Breakfast Club), Dylan McKay (90210) are examples.
Brains - tend to come from the same socioeconomic background as the Preps. However they lack charisma, charm or confidence and are not popular. Brian Johnson (Breakfast Club) and Wyatt & Gary (Weird Science) are examples.
Dorks - There is nothing particularly wrong socially with this group. They look and act normal and have normal mainstream interests. Really they are just sort of likeable and relatable “everypeople” are just by default not part of the “cool” cliques. Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything) is a classic example. Breakfast Club did not have a “Dork” character among the 5 students. 90210 did in the form of David Silver.
Freaks - Freaks tend to come from the same socioeconomic background as the Hoods and are even more disconnected from society high school society. They dress in unusal clothes and have eclectic tastes in music. Allison (Breakfast Club) would be a freak as well as most of the cast of Freaks and Geeks and My So Called Life.
Each vertical is a continum - P-B, J-D, H-F. Characters fall primarily on one of the continuums depending on whethere they are defined by economic status and potential (P-B), athletics and mainstream interests (J-D), or angry rebellion (H-F). Obviously the higher zones indicate increasing social acceptance.
Characters can also skew to the left or right. For example, Jocks might skew towards Preppy tendencies or towards angry Hood tendencies. Freaks might skew towards the Brains or the Dorks and so on.
Anyhow, that’s my “High School Movie Behavioral Framework” for you.
I agree, probably the second most realistic High School TV Show after Saved By The Bell.
Or how about the movie, Grease?
For all kinds of undisclosed reasons that’re far too complicated to elaborate on, this:
would not have made a bit of difference, especially because I did try, in all kinds of ways to fit into the mold, but absolutely nothing worked. That being said, I derived my own lesson from that; No matter what one who happens to be different in some way or other does to try to fit into the mold, this person will not be accepted, because people can see that one is different and is trying to force him/herself to be like others, when in fact, they’re not. That being said, I believe that acceptance comes later (as it did for me), when I stuck to my guns and stopped trying so hard to fit in and be accepted. Attempting to fit in and be accepted will only cause people to shun and make fun of someone who’s different all the more. It’s not worth it. There are other things more important than styllish clothes, haircuts, etc., imho. Oh, and btw, I didn’t even wear glasses, so that was irrelevant, and I was too much into wearing my hair long. Hey, if others don’t like differences, well…too bad for them.