# What is the seminal teen movie of the 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207 "2011-02-04T22:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/21 "2011-02-05T00:41:16Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Up The Creek He knew then and there that the friendship that they had had since youth had died a sudden and tragic death. Destroyed for the love of a woman. https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGyXqqCVfew?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/22 "2011-02-05T00:52:02Z")
I’m curious as to why some of these are even on the list. _Stand By Me, Porky’s, & Dirty Dancing_ were all set in earlier decades. It seems like they would be more appropriately described as nostalgia flicks. _American Graffiti_ isn’t considered a defining 70s teen movie is it? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/23 "2011-02-05T01:22:27Z")
This is not the top but needs to be mentioned. Chopping Mall ---
**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:** [February 5, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/24 "2011-02-05T01:32:15Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > If anything, _Heathers_ is a dark satire of the 80s teen movie. I still relate to it more than any of the movies listed. Stand By Me is great and entertaining, but it feels weird saying it’s a seminal '80s teen movie because it’s not set in the '80s (and the boys are barely in their teens, if that). Ferris Bueller is probably my favorite movie of the bunch, but even with his sweaters it feels timeless. Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink fit the bill best, IMHO. I chose the latter because I think it’s a stronger movie, overall. That and the amazing clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/25 "2011-02-05T01:42:21Z")
I guess if you’re talking about “teen movies” as a fictional genre divorced from reality that influenced other fluff movies, I would say the breakfast club. However, if you are talking about the 80’s culture, i would say The Warriors reflected the alienation and loneliness better, while [Breakin’](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086998/) reflected teen life and culture. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/26 "2011-02-05T02:05:45Z")
I would vote for Phoebe Cat… I mean, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That movie _nailed_ what it was like to be a teenager in high school in the 1980’s - at least, so long as you were middle class and living in a nice suburb. Extra points for it having Sean Penn’s best character. And for Phoebe Cates, Moving in Stereo. Ferris Buehler’s Day off was a great movie, but it wasn’t really an accurate portrayal of teen life back then. The characters weren’t normal enough, and you didn’t get to see enough of how the other kids lived. Extra points for Charlie Sheen’s typecasting. “Are you in for drugs?” “No! What are you in for?” “Drugs.” Extra bonus points for the shot of the Ferrari flying over that hill in slow motion like a Star Destroyer while the music to Star Wars played. Is there any question though that the king of the 80’s teen comedy was John Cusack? ‘Say Anything’ and "Better off Dead’ together would probably give him the title, but he was also in ‘Sixteen Candles’, ‘The Sure Thing’ and ‘Stand By Me’. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/27 "2011-02-05T02:32:06Z")
It was Pretty in Pink for me. Not that I related all that much, but I loves me some Duckie. I dated a guy who was a LOT like him. Good memories. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/28 "2011-02-05T02:58:31Z")
The Breakfast Club, because it WAS like my high school. I wasn’t like any of them but we had every stereotypical teen, and one power-tripping teacher (actually a coach). Never a Saturday detention though. I loved Pretty in Pink best though. I think I may have been crushing on Molly Ringwald at the time. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/29 "2011-02-05T03:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=Hello Again;13430994I] voted “Pretty in Pink” because of what the music adds. The movie had everything “Sixteen Candles” had, plus OMD and Echo and the Bunnymen. I wore out the soundtrack. On cassette, natch. Of personal significance, “Say Anything” and “Real Genius” beat it my a mile. But as seminal 80s movies…nah, that dog just don’t hunt. "Say Anything came out in 1989! It was practically the 90s by then (and in fact, the soundtrack signals the arrival of grunge) [/QUOTE] I could pretty much say the same exact thing. Not only did I wear out the Pretty in Pink soundtrack and bought it again and again over the years, but I admit, over 25 years after I heard it for the first time, I still have it completely loaded on my MP3 player. I’m almost embarrassed to add that I wore pink ALOT after watching PIP, like for a year after that. God help me, I was 13. I would just have to say “pick almost any John Hughes movie”. I grew up in a small, mostly upper middle class town and most of the popular crowd were only a few notches below Blane and his buddies on the wealth meter. My family was not poor, but we were dysfunctional and with three other siblings, my parents couldn’t afford trendy clothes and we all bought our own cars, worked jobs, etc to buy what we wanted. My high school certainly had very steep divisions between jocks, geeks, stoners, etc. So although I knew that the kids in these characters in these movies were exaggerated, I identified with the geek, the girl whose parents large family forgot her birthday, and especially, Andi from Pretty in Pink - even if I would have chosen the Duck Man. Ferris was just fun and yes, I identified most with Cameron (He’ll keep bugging me…I’ll go…I’ll go. Shit.) I picked Breakfast Club for this poll because it’s the one that has the broadest brush as far as the 80s goes and seems like the one most of my friends identified with as well. ---
**Author:** ![poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dc4da7/32.png) [@poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poker_in_the_rear)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/30 "2011-02-05T03:22:30Z")
Fast Times ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/31 "2011-02-05T03:41:33Z")
I voted for Ferris, but I would’ve gone for **The Lost Boys** if it was on the list. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/32 "2011-02-05T03:56:13Z")
I’m wondering if Revenge of the Nerds would fit in? Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/33 "2011-02-05T04:04:57Z")
**Fast Times at Ridgemont High** gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/34 "2011-02-05T04:22:15Z")
Say Anything & Stand By Me are the best movies in the poll, but I wouldn’t call them seminal. Heathers is great, but more “satire” than “seminal”. I love the John Hughes movies, but I would go vote Fast Times. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/35 "2011-02-05T04:49:58Z")
I voted for Say Anything but then realized I’d made a mistake. It was really released too late in the decade to be considered “seminal” (1989) and would be better listed in a poll of the most “quintessential” teen movies of the '80s. My real vote is for Fast Times. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/36 "2011-02-05T08:12:52Z")
I have to say **Fast Times** and **Heathers** book-end the decade very nicely. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/37 "2011-02-05T09:08:59Z")
Fast Times or Last American Virgin ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/38 "2011-02-05T10:08:06Z")
**Fast Times at Ridgemont High** ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/39 "2011-02-05T10:21:24Z")
There were no seminal movies before _There’s Something About Mary_, were there? ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207/40 "2011-02-05T11:35:08Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > There were no seminal movies before _There’s Something About Mary_, were there? There were, but they weren’t quite as hair raising. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-seminal-teen-movie-of-the-80s/570207.md?page=3)