To Love, To Understand, and to Appreciate: Teen Movies

Teen movies have faded in and out of popular culture since James Dean became the pinnacle of all things cool in Rebel Without a Cause. Fast-forward to 2015, and teen movies are still splashed on the silver screen. Just this year we've seen The Duff, Dope, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and most recently, Paper Towns. Perhaps they are not as big of a deal as they were in the John Hughes era  of the mid-'80s, but everything comes back eventually. Things died down after John Hughes' reign, but made a comeback with Clueless in 1995. I believe that teen movies have stood the test of time because they depict the awkward, exciting, and at times, terrifying things we are all forced to go through in high school. That's not to say, however, that they're always realistic. I mean, I seriously doubt that anyone at you high school looked like Freddie Prinze Jr. or Johnny Depp. You'll very seldom see actual awkward sixteen-year-olds in teen movies, more like, ridiculously attractive almost-thirty-year-olds. These movies are full of scandal, betrayal, love, lust, temptation, humor, and new experiences. These coming-of-age movies help us to grow up and mature. Seeing these beautiful actors play teenagers makes adolescence seem so much less terrifying. They remind us that there is always humor in even the most angst-y situations. Even though teen movies aren't always terribly realistic, they have so many other great qualities. While some may  seem trite, others are classics of their genres. There are teen comedies, slasher flicks, action movies, comic book movies, dramas, and just about every genre in between. They're special and they comfort us in our confusing formative years. These movies present to us in a typically more glamorous light what we must face the day our lives begin: we all have to grow up eventually.