Every movie has to be somewhat different in terms of style, because no audience wants to watch what is basically the same film until the end of time. However, some themes consistently appear throughout the same genre, especially when the niche market is narrowed even further to contain a certain age group. This can sometimes result in the message being delivered in an unintentionally ironic manner. The high school movie genre is a particularly good example of this phenomenon, with films such as Mean Girls, Dead Poets Society, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off all displaying the characters’ need to prioritize their individuality but accidentally diminishing the theme’s importance in the process by making it commonplace and even cliché. Throughout the high school movie genre, conflicting messages are given regarding the importance of expressive and utilitarian individualism and rebelling against conformity, older films highlight the use of dominant narratives and single stories by looking through the lens of a single character, and newer motion pictures focus on counter narratives and finding a way to reconcile the seemingly contrasting individualisms through exploring the gray areas in the human psyche.
Expressive individualism is typically pitted against utilitarian individualism within teenage movies, with the two often being depicted as incompatible. In Hollywood Goes to High School, Robert Bulman states that expressive individualism stemmed from “criticism of an American culture dominated by materialistic values.” The origin of this ideal being a criticism of the other makes it difficult to find common ground between the two types of growth, thus resulting in scarce media appearances in tandem. In most suburban and elite high school films, the kids embody expressive individualism, fighting to find their place in the world and pursue their dreams, while the adults embody utilitarian individualism, standing as constant reminders of reality and pushing for academic and economic success rather than personal happiness. They often portray individualism as a fight against conformity, relying on fun-loving protagonists committing grand gestures of rebellion.
In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the titular character follows a carpe diem lifestyle and does everything in his power to avoid an over-the-top Principal Rooney, describing faking sickness to stay home, “a little childish and stupid, but so is high school.” For the characters in Dead Poets Society, their version of expressive individualism comes in the form of Neil Perry pursuing acting against his father’s wishes and the other boys standing up to the headmaster, Mr. Nolan, usurping his authority and hailing Mr. Keating with the iconic, “O. Captain! My Captain! In contrast, urban films like Freedom Writers and Stand and Deliver contain protagonists that already have a strong sense of self and are instead encouraged to succeed academically through hard work and perseverance. While the pupils in urban flicks are encouraged to pursue utilitarian individualism, their teacher is the one who pursues their expressive individualism by being the only faculty member to openly support the teens. For example, Freedom Writers’ Mrs. Gruwell works two side jobs and gives up her relationship with her husband in order to fully back the kids, especially in her battle against the other faculty members’ conformity, saying, “You can’t teach them. You don’t even like them.” Requiring lower-income students to focus on both individual and utilitarian individualism while higher-class students need only concern themselves with one reflects the more difficult situation that urban teenagers are in, needing to find safety and security by escaping poverty before being fully able to focus on leisure.
In older films, the audience is encouraged to view the film through the eyes of a singular protagonist via narration or selective camera angles, resulting in single stories and dominant narratives being introduced due to the lack of multiple viewpoints. For example, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is mainly focused on and through the perspective of the titular character even though Cameron, Sloane, and Jeannie all get rather large chunks of the runtime. His fourth wall breaks and larger-than-life personality create a shadow over the other characters and can result in an unconscious audience bias. When Ferris describes Cameron as “so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you’d have a diamond,” his statement affects all subsequent audience perceptions without allowing Cameron his own opportunity to question Ferris’ role as an unreliable narrator. The popularity of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off inspired other filmmakers to replicate its style in the pursuit of similar success, with films like Clueless, Dazed and Confused, and Napoleon Dynamite, creating a dominant narrative of dynamic characters that only portrayed the extremes of morality. By mainly focusing on visual environments where characters were rewarded for pursuing their expressive individualism, rebellion and snark became the new normal and undermined the purpose of the messages being conveyed by making being different not special anymore.
With modern audiences preferring realism in media, modern teenage entertainment expanded the camera lens in order to capture varying perspectives and include counter narratives. Mean Girls, Lady Bird, and Booksmart all provided a glimpse into multiple social circles while also exploring the nuance and subtleties of the human psyche. In Mean Girls, Janis Ian tries to convey her own piety, stating, “There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don’t try to stop it.” However, Janis really wants to maintain the social hierarchy, but with herself on top instead of Regina George. By being obsessed with attempting to get rid of the structure she’s really displaying that she’s the one that cares about the social normalities most of all.
In Lady Bird, self-proclaimed loner rebel Kyle is in the same group as pretty and popular Jenna, an abnormality in a genre that tends to rely on cliques. Modern films creating slightly dislikable characters with numerous flaws also demonstrates the evolution of film towards a more realistic, nuanced portrayal of good and evil, placing less emphasis on teachers as villains but rather the restrictive rules of the institution itself as well as the personal biases of films’ protagonists. Booksmart’s premise is about two high school students, Amy and Molly, who learn that the popular and seemingly lazy students also got into top colleges while maintaining a social life, upending the stereotype that only the nerds of high school will eventually become successful and proving that both expressive and utilitarian individualism can be achieved simultaneously. Annabelle, nicknamed “Triple A,” confronts Molly’s bragging about going to Yale by saying that she’s going there too, stating, “I’m incredible at hand jobs, but I also got a 1560 on the SATs” and “We just don’t only care about school.” In a subsequent heart to heart with Molly, she also describes how hurt she is at girls making assumptions about her and calling her a slut, just wanting to be called by her real name. Providing the perspective of, and thus redeeming, the popular girl creates a strong counter narrative and encourages audiences to look at everyone by the same label: human.
Throughout the high school movie genre, expressive and utilitarian individualism are constantly, older films use dynamic protagonists to uphold dominant narratives and single stories, and newer motion pictures focus on counter narratives and balancing fiction with realism. Studying high school movies has reminded me of the importance of media literacy and never accepting anything at face value. It has reminded me that, even if everyone has a story, not everyone gets to tell it. It’s important to find balance in one’s life, of being able to dream while also understanding the limitations of one’s reality.