Teen Movies Of The Millenium
What’s up Internet? Day 29 of #WeblogPoMo2024, can you feel it?
As a millennial in the late 90s, I grew up watching teen movies, dreaming of moving to America to attend college and party. I saw many of these in the theatre and then repeatedly on DVD.
My favourite teen movies from the late 90s and early 2000s were:
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Comedy: Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), American Pie (1999), Road Trip (2000), Van Wilder (2002), Euro Trip (2004) (Scotty doesn’t know!)
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Thriller: Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Final Destination (2000), The Craft (1996)
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RomCom/Drama: Empire Records (1995), She’s All That (1999), Drive Me Crazy, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Clueless (1995), Cruel Intentions (1999).
Was the teen experience of the '90s/2000s different to the experience of teens in the 2010s? What happened to them? ‘Superbad’ (2007), the last of this type I saw in the theatre, seems to have bridged the gap.
The 2010s saw a resurgence in teen movies, but they followed a different path. They took on a more serious tone, exploring deeper themes and emotions. Films like Lady Bird (2017), Adventureland (2009), The Way Way Back (2013), The Fault In Our Stars (what a tear jerker), Me, Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), Paper Towns (2015), The Edge of 17 (2016), mid90s (2018) solidified this shift. However, some light-hearted, funny ones, like Dope (2015) and Book Smart (2019), brought the hilarious hijinx back.
The change in teen movies from the 2000s to the 2010s shows a shift in society and culture. Someone smarter than me could probably dive in and better understand what caused this change and how broader cultural changes influenced teen movies.
Did moving from the cinema experience to the world of streaming opened up more avenues for audiences to explore rather than what was shown at the theatre, similar to how music seems less huge these days. Like back in the day there were mega stars that you don’t see these days outside of a few that really get pushed by the labels.
Whatever happened, I’m glad I got to experience this period of movies in the late 90s.
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