Using a Source

The classic teen comedy has always been a staple in representing a generation and the films 16 Candles, Clueless, and Mean Girls are no different in their impact on the generations of the 1980’s, 1990’s, and the early 2000’s. An important factor in this discussion is what about these films stayed the same over the thirty year span of cinema and what has been left behind. Many films are referenced in the media or by individuals in order to reference specific moments in history and films can be remembered through quoting memorable lines from an iconic movie between friends or by simply rewatching a cherished film to recapture a moment in time. More often than not, the films that stay fresh in viewer's minds are the films that were viewed during important or transitional times in their lives; making the most referenced or cherished films by individual people the films that were screened during adolescence as the viewers were coming into their own as teenagers or young adults. To reinforce this point, Susannah Stern states in her article ‘Self-Absorbed, Dangerous, and Disengaged: What Popular Films Tell Us About Teenagers’ that “some of the most salient media images of youth appear in the popular cinema”(24). What young people view and absorb through watching a film can be very influential in how they conduct themselves around others or how they will envision how their teenage years are meant to be. The films that are being discussed are each influential in their relation to the generations they were created for and have even had an impact on the generations following their original premiere years. Each of the movies will continue to influence the many teens to come because there is always going to be heartbreak, there is always going to be the struggle with which all people find with fitting in, and they are going to remain topical because, overall, each of their subject matters will always remain influential because the core of what it means to be a teenager will forever remain the same.