# Name a movie which most accurately captures teen life from when you were a teen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887 "2017-08-17T18:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/81 "2017-08-23T01:03:26Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The thing about Freaks and Geeks that works for me is that lots of popular media makes a big deal about separation into cliques. There’s the stoners, and the jocks, and the nerds. Except those separations don’t really exist as walled cliques. There were plenty of stoner jocks, nerd stoners, and jock nerds and stoner jock nerds. You can turn from one to another just by hanging out with a slightly different group of friends. Yeah, I feel like that’s the thing that all 80s movies get wrong. The way that all the cliques are so homogenous and sharply defined. The Breakfast Club made it like those kids were total strangers to each other. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/82 "2017-08-23T01:14:04Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > speaking honestly, I’d have to say none of the ones I’ve seen. it’s a big part of the reason I really dislike this genre of movies/TV; the characters and situations depicted don’t resemble anything I actually experienced. > [@RickJay](#): > > I have to admit there’s a lot of truth to this. Yes and yes. John Hughes was so wrong in just about everything he did that his whole career is basically just one long, tedious insult. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/83 "2017-08-23T06:12:50Z")
Something like Heaven Help Us (1985) but set in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/84 "2017-08-23T14:16:16Z")
I graduated in 1979 in Minnesota. Dazed & Confused Freaks & Geeks ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/85 "2017-08-23T14:26:11Z")
The Road. Things were a little tough. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/86 "2017-08-23T15:01:41Z")
^ Ha, we had to sleep in a shoe box in the _middle_ of The Road. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/87 "2017-08-23T16:00:32Z")
I should contribute something “useful”: I think “That '70s Show” was only slightly exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/88 "2017-08-23T16:08:26Z")
_Remember the Titans_ Eerily similar to my experience. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/89 "2017-08-23T16:17:25Z")
Dazed and Confused. I grew up in Austin where the movie was filmed during the time the move was set. I recognized everyone and everything in that movie. I played baseball on the same field where Mitch’s game was in the movie. I attended games at the same stadium where the part of the movie was set. I had friends at the same school. The cars were the same as those in the parking lot at my high school. The tower that the characters climb? Those are called “Moonlight” towers and still exist all over Austin. The “Club” where the characters hang out was never really a club but it is right across the street from a skating rink where we did hang out (The skating rink is now closed but the building where the “club” was is still there and has a plaque about the movie). ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/90 "2017-08-23T17:35:39Z")
It would have to be some combination of “Hjartasteinur”, “Fucking Åmål” and the first episode of “Buzz Aldrin, hvor ble det av deg i alt mylderet?”. I know they’re all set in different decades. That makes absolutely no difference. ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/91 "2017-08-23T21:52:00Z")
Sorry its a TV show instead of a movie, but I have to vote **Roseanne**. In my mind that’s the only show ever made about real families (meaning my family). Lots of little things about that show rang true for me. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/92 "2017-08-24T14:22:08Z")
> [@jools](#): > > For me its’ not a movie, but the tv show **Freaks and Geeks**. When I first saw it I recognized myself and my friends from high school, it looked more real to me. Same here; I was in junior high at that time, and those scenes felt like being back there. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/93 "2017-08-25T02:50:54Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Yeah, I feel like that’s the thing that all 80s movies get wrong. The way that all the cliques are so homogenous and sharply defined. The Breakfast Club made it like those kids were total strangers to each other. Exactly. I was some kind of nerd-jock hybrid, without being some kind of super Type A resume-padder type, which made me a little bit on the odd side. I always found it odd that the movies always made it out like if you were on the football team, there was no chance that you knew the nerds or theater people. I can’t think of any movies that portrayed high school very accurately; there aren’t any movies about a late 80s/early 90s all-boys private school that I can think of. But… that crop of late 80s/early 90s teen movies (Heathers, Pump up the Volume, Encino Man, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) gets a lot right in terms of the rather oppressive nature of a lot of schools’ administrations, and the way that people just sort of hung out at malls and other places. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/94 "2017-08-25T11:11:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I can’t think of any movies that portrayed high school very accurately; there aren’t any movies about a late 80s/early 90s all-boys private school that I can think of. Not _Dead Poets Society_, nor much of _Scent of a Woman_? These were boarding schools, but if you went to a day school, many similarities, I think. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/95 "2017-08-25T12:10:33Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Ditto. The TV show “My So-Called Life” was pretty close, plus a healthy smattering of “Clueless,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Pump up the Volume,” and “Napoleon Dynamite.” I was going to also suggest “My So-Called Life”. The show came out when I was in college, but damn, the themes are so similar to my high school experience. And “Heathers” and, sorry…“The Breakfast Club”. It still has the 80s vibe for me. Also, I want Molly Ringwald’s boots from the movie. And tiny bit of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/96 "2017-08-25T13:19:55Z")
A combination of _Fast Times_ and _Sixteen Candles_. I graduated in 84. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/97 "2017-08-25T14:31:33Z")
Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/98 "2017-08-25T15:26:49Z")
Gregory’s Girl Being a teen in 1981 in a large Scottish High School. Teenage angst. All the boys lusting after one or two incredibly popular girls, who of course had boyfriends who’d left school and had cars. The boys didn’t stand a chance with them; the rest of us girls didn’t have a chance with the boys. Social awkwardness. Wandering the streets of a housing estate because there’s nothing else to do. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/99 "2017-08-25T15:47:55Z")
Teen Wolf Too was uncanny at how close it mirrored my experience. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887/100 "2017-08-25T16:04:06Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Yeah, I feel like that’s the thing that all 80s movies get wrong. The way that all the cliques are so homogenous and sharply defined. The Breakfast Club made it like those kids were total strangers to each other. TBC gets my vote because that is the way it was at my school. There were the rich kids and they never spoke to my group of friends, and other similar cliquey dynamics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-which-most-accurately-captures-teen-life-from-when-you-were-a-teen/793887.md?page=6)