In the glittering and glamorous world of Hollywood, high school is treated like some mythic concept. Perhaps it’s because most of the writers are too far past their adolescent years to recall what it was really like, or maybe their biased memories loom too large to give their films a dose of reality.
While TV is no angel when it comes to depicting the lives of real teenagers (just look at any show aired on The CW), movies are notable for the timeworn tropes they seem to use again and again, without bothering to ask a real teenager for any accurate insight! Outdated slang, absentee parents, and misplaced values are just some of the things movies get so wrong about high school, but we have 15 other grievances to file with them.
15 Everyone Gets Dressed Up For 8AM Classes
Unlike movies, real life teenagers are often prioritizing those precious hours of sleep over getting up an hour early to do a full face of makeup, curl their hair, and don skyscraper heels and mini skirts before an early morning class. Running down the hall in between periods in stilettos is just an accident waiting to happen!
14 Getting Into An Ivy League College Is Easy – And Expected
Movies like She’s All That and shows like Gossip Girl show their protagonists easily trying to get into an Ivy League school without breaking a sweat. Never mind the fact that Ivy Leagues (and college in general) is notoriously cutthroat, requiring stipulations like community service, extra curricular activities, and awesome grades – these kids are never shown even doing homework!
13 Everyone Has School Spirit!
High School Musical and Election gave us all the idea that students care about their school mascot and teams an awful lot. In reality, most kids have a lot more going on in their lives than who scored at the big game, and school spirit isn’t such a big deal. Also, what’s with all the pep rallies and letterman jackets?
12 Everyone Always Has Time To Hang
Despite easily sashaying into those Ivy League schools, all students have loads of free time to just hang out and gab at the coffee shop/mall/BFF’s house on any given day. Do they not have part-time jobs, homework, or hobbies that would prevent them from being on-call sidekicks 24/7? Or do they just sit around waiting for the beckoning text?
11 Gigantic House Parties Happen Every Weekend
Perhaps this is a bit of an economic thing, but it seems that in high school movies, not only are the parents never around, but they also seem blissfully oblivious to the fact that their rich kid is throwing gigantic parties every time they leave. In our experience, house parties weren’t such ragers and never occurred with such regularity.
10 Everyone Belongs To A Clique
The popular kids are always cheerleaders and football stars and they’re always mean. The artsy kids are always loners and outcasts. The nerds can be identified by their thick glasses, tucked-in shirts, and asexuality. High school isn’t nearly so cleanly divided, and many kids tend to float between friendship groups.
9 Prom Is The Most Important Thing
From teen movies in the 1980s to now, prom is where high school meets its apex. Winning Prom King or Queen is paramount and it’s usually when there’s a big dramatic showdown or declaration. In real life, prom is just a dance that you spend too much money on. The after-party is far more exciting (and fun).
8 Love Triangles Abound
In high school movies, single characters don’t exist, unless they’re there to be the BFF of the protagonist. Instead, the main character is usually torn between two loves (see: Pretty in Pink, She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, P.S. I Still Love You). While high school romances can be endgame, they’re pretty unlikely once you split off in different directions after graduation.
7 There Are King And Queen Bees
No matter how large the school, there is always a King and Queen Bee. Usually identified thanks to their gorgeous looks and presence of sports attire, these two stand out as the leaders of the whole school, not just their grade. In actuality, there are a lot of microcosms to high school and no one really reigns supreme.
6 Dress Codes Don’t Exist
Short skirts, high heels, tube tops, spaghetti straps, ripped jeans – it all goes! Even in movies where a uniform is worn (e.g. The Craft), it’s barely worn to dress code standards. While teens may try to get around their dress code at school, it’d be nice to see it enforced once in a while for a dose of realism.
