11. The Prolificacy of the Teen Movie
Action films got there due, but if you were a more sensitive soul, there was something for you too. The 80s and early 90s produced one teen movie after another, and they were good too (for the most part). Broadly, the period went from the 70s fallout of 1982s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to the instigation of the brat pack and the yuppie-centric movies starting with 1983s Valley Girl then the John Hughes period of the mid to late 80s that went from 1984s Sixteen Candles through The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Buellers Day Off, culminating with 1987s Some Kind of Wonderful. Say Anything in 1989 saw an end to the schmaltzier teen movie and simultaneously started Cameron Crowes career. Dark comedy Heathers came the same year, shortly followed in the early 90s by Richard Linklaters Slacker in 1991, Cameron Crowes Singles in 1992, Linklaters Dazed and Confused in 1993, the Ben Stiller-directed Reality Bites in 1994 though to Empire Records and Clueless in 1995, seeing us though Gen X and safely into the subcultural divide of the mid 90s. Not a bad run of films. Not only is there something in there for everyone, but if youre the right age there could be quite a lot in there for you. Whats more, they were written and directed by people like Amy Heckerling, Cameron Crowe, Richard Linklater and John Hughes, people who understood their audience and spoke directly to them. It could reasonably be argued that neither before nor since this period have teens quite had it so good when it comes to teen-orientated films. In terms of prolificacy, the odd American Pie here and Easy-A there dont quite cut it in comparison.
David Howland
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David is a film critic, writer and blogger for WhatCulture and a few other sites including his own, www.yakfilm.com
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