Are Teen Movies a Thing of the Past?
Defining Teen Movies and Solving the Mystery of Where They Have Gone
The world is no stranger to teen movies. They’ve been around for decades, first appearing in the 1950s. Over time, teen movies have gone through revisions and resurgences, but they seem to have disappeared from theaters in the last few years. The genre was initially made to capitalize off of teenagers, but the movies became more popular than ever and now serve as a time capsule of pop culture. Although teen movies seem to be disappearing, the opposite is true. However, the genre’s influence on teens has been diminishing due to all the options the internet brings.
Teen Movies as a Genre
Teen movies are often defined by their audience being primarily adolescents, but there is more to these films. The plot of a teen movie revolves around putting a teenager through a normal situation. Michael Bauman from The Ringer expands upon this concept by explaining that “[t]eenagers feel provocative life experiences — love and heartbreak, success or failure — more keenly than adults, and frequently express those emotions more openly and unapologetically.” This plays out on screen as teens run away from home, go through a transformation, stand up to their bully, or shout at an authority figure. Other themes revolve around friendship, growing up, love, angst, finding who they are, and rebellion. Coraline Pettine, an editor for Loquitur Media, acknowledges that these themes taught the younger generation what it’s like to discover who they are and how to deal with problems that seem like no one understands. The themes were brought to life by different stereotypes described by Brett Lamb, like the “plastics,” the rebel, jock, nerd, parents, and teacher. The other essential part of teen movies is the setting; they usually take place in a high school with social cliques, detentions, dance parties, graduation, and cafeteria scenes.
The teenage lens gives the audience bright colors and nostalgia, while the soundtrack pushes the plot forward when the script is lacking. Music enhances a film without deviating from the original story. In an article published by Current Musicology, Theo Cateforis explains that music shows character transformations. An example is when a rebellious girl listens to hard rock in the film’s beginning but doesn’t by the end because she found love. Songs can gain popularity from being in iconic teen movies like Grease, The Breakfast Club, and more.
The Rise of Teen Movies
Due to rock’n’roll and the post-war economy, teen movies had their first big wave in the 1950s. Early teen films attempted to deal with serious topics, but they were very conservative and came off as shallow. Teen movies never lost their audience, but they hit their golden age in the late 1980s to early 2000s because of the emergence of malls. Films from this era have had a massive impact on society as people still get excited when they see these actors, and the movies are still referenced. So many movies got made during this era because, as Brian Johnson quotes Tom Rothman in an article published by Maclean’s, “Hollywood always follows where the business dollars go.” Teen movies are cheap to produce and almost always make double or more than what they cost. An example of this, explained by Katie Baker from The Ringer, is that Varsity Blues, She’s All That, and American Pie as a trio cost $37 million to make, but they made a total of $393 million.
The Supposed Fall of Teen Movies
While there seems to be a lack of teen movies nowadays, there is an abundance on streaming services. Movie theaters used to be the hangout spot for teens, so Hollywood invested in producing teen movies. However, as addressed in Regal Reel, teen movies evolved to include many R-rated films, causing the industry to lose money as teens could not go to theaters alone. Some, like Elissa H. Nelson in Cinema Journal, argue that teen movies are still being released in theaters, though they overlap with other genres like superhero movies or movies based on young adult books. Another reason teen movies are not in theaters is fewer people are going to theaters. Maggie Livingston from The State News provides evidence by stating that as of 2020, 62% of adults had at least one streaming service.
The decline of theaters weakened the hold movies had on pop culture, but so has a shift in the genre. Writing for the National Review, Ross Douthat claims teen movies are now boring because they’ve shifted from relying on drama and stereotypes to a therapeutic style. Another change is the central conflict of teen movies; it’s now a more significant societal problem, like the environment or equality, instead of an authority figure. The themes covered in movies are now more real, featuring things such as suicide, mental illness, diseases, drug use, and sexuality. Teen movies became R-rated to explore these themes more fully, leading to teens staying home and watching movies on streaming services. R-rated films lead to what Collider’s Douglas Laman described: that releasing teen movies to theaters causes studios to lose money. For example, The Road Within made $15,031 at the box office and then moved to streaming services, according to The Numbers. This is not the first time teen movies have struggled with ratings. In the late 1980s, teen horror movies moved to home videos because they were R-rated; this is described further in Teen Films. Yet these teen movies led to the genre’s golden age because of increased interest.
The experience of being a teenager is so relatable that teen movies will never disappear, despite what it seems. Furthermore, teen movies have been immortalized by streaming services providing all the classics a place to reach new audiences. Streaming services also make teen movies, allowing for remakes and films inspired by the classics. A remake on Netflix is He’s All That, which takes the original She’s All That and swaps the lead’s genders. Another movie inspired by the classics is Do Revenge; as Renaldo Matadeen notes, the film hints at Cruel Intentions, Heathers, Clueless, Mean Girls, and others.
Social Media’s Influence and Portrayal
Adults write teen movies to create a connection between each generation, but that was before social media. Teens have directly impacted the genre by using social media to create stereotypes. As described by The Take, these new stereotypes, taken straight from TikTok include the e-girl, e-boy, soft girl, soft boy, vsco girl, fan girl, gamer, theater kid, the rebel with a cause, and the new nerds. The original formula of teen movies did include some of these stereotypes, but they’re now painted in a different light to include more visibility, acceptance, and diversity. The way these groups interact has also changed, as now teens are not put in a single clique but span multiple social groups.
Social media impacts the genre and the box office, but it’s rarely portrayed in movies for many reasons. The first reason is that it’s expensive to name-drop platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, which David Crewe explains in Screen Education. Another reason is movies take a lot of time, so if a studio includes social media trends, they risk producing a movie that is outdated before it’s released. The Ringer’s Rob Mahoney uses Heathers as an example of how studios combat this issue. In the film, teens don’t speak like anyone would typically because it’s easier to exaggerate speech than to analyze teen speech that would be outdated in weeks.
Teen movies tackle social media in such different ways that they can be deemed as cringe and disconnected or they could be celebrated. One reason social media is incorporated is to comment on society. To quote David Crewe, “The incorporation of social media elevates these films, allowing them to operate (intentionally or otherwise) as contemporary social commentary.” Another reason studios use social media is as a plot device, like leaking an embarrassing video; others have to avoid it, like teen horror movies that include dead zones. Teen movies with social media are not always successful, as teens want to see relatable experiences instead of exaggerated scenes showcasing media. As Douglas Laman explains, scenes are exaggerated because it’s more engaging than having a teen in front of a screen. A successful example of implementing social media is The Social Network; its primary focus is friendships rather than social media.
The future of teen movies is up to teens because of the power of social media. Adolescents want to be able to contribute to social media, so they watch what others do and comment on it, giving popularity to different aspects of the genre. On the Social Media Club blog, Mordecai Holtz mentions teens trust people their age on social platforms more than old professional critics. So the teen movie genre has changed from films by adults for teens to see in theaters to movies that are best seen at home and are heavily influenced by teens.
Additional Sources Used in this Article
Brian D. Johnson. “COOL INTENTIONS: Today’s teen flicks have come a long way from ’60s fare like Beach Blanket Bingo.” Maclean’s. 1999. Found on Gale In Context Opposing Viewpoints.
David Crewe. “Following trending topics: social media in modern teen movies.” Screen Education. 2015. Found On Gale Academic OneFile.
Elissa H. Nelson. “The New Old Face of a Genre: The Franchise Teen Film as Industry Strategy.” Cinema Journal. 2017. Found on Project MUSE.
Ross Douthat. “What Killed The Teen Movie?.” National Review. 2019. Found on Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
Theo Cateforis. “Rebel Girls and Singing Boys: Performing Music and Gender in the Teen Movie. ”Current Musicology. 2009. Found on Gale Academic Onefile.
