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July 22, 2009
Coming of Age at the Movies: Where's the Brat Pack for Today's Teens?
I wasn't worried about them hearing the Ringwald F-bombs, or even about explaining the guys wearing the jockstraps on their heads; I'd somehow forgotten, however, that naked shower scene featuring Caroline (Haviland Morris), Sam's rival for the affections of handsome Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling). Oops. So they had to cover their eyes for a minute (I'm pretty sure they peeked anyhow, but I had to assert my parental censorship authority nonetheless).
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Posted by kvoynar at July 22, 2009 10:19 PM
Comments
It's interesting because I moved into adolescence in the late 90s, and didn't experience the Brat Pack films until the end of my high school years. For me growing up I would say the closest thing we had to a "brat pack" was the group of actors who appeared on various weird, subversive Nickelodeon shows throughout the 90s, from The Adventures of Pete and Pete to All that and Are you Afraid of the Dark. I think a lot of today's hipsters evolved from the experience of growing up in that time period.
The two characters who defined my state of mind in adolescence were probably Julia Stiles's character Kat from 10 Things I Hate About You and the title character from MTV's cartoon series Daria. Daria in particular presented an unapologetically smart, subversive role model who was defined by her biting wit and not her fashion sense. I also related a lot to Linda Cardellini's character on Freaks and Geeks and Larisa Oleynick from The Secret World of Alex Mack. I related to these characters because they looked like normal people--their hair wasn't perfectly styled, they didn't keep up with clothing trends.
I feel like girls today don't have role models who aren't well-manicured. You look at the lead characters on pretty much every Disney Channel or Nickelodeon show today and they all look exactly the same. With the exception of Juno (who brought to mind Linda Cardellini in Freaks and Geeks), we don't really see female characters who lack makeup and wear baggy clothes that fail to show off their figures.
Posted by: RedheadedWonder
at July 22, 2009 11:12 PM
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