"Even the so-called 'ugly' people in teen movies are probably what most of us would consider 'real world' attractive.
Even the EXTRAS in teen movies are flawless.
And the one fat/ugly kid used for cheap laughs? Probably what I WISH I looked like in high school."
26 Of The Most Infuriating Things That Happen In Every Teen Movie
1. First of all, let's be honest: Everyone in teen movies is way more attractive than the average teen would be IRL.
2. ...Probably because they're not actually teens at all.
"God forbid a character going through the awkwardest stage of life full of raging hormones, high school, and acne be played by someone who's actually going through that in real life"
3. And why is everyone wearing heels and a full face of makeup?! I've never seen a high school student wearing heels.
"Running shoes or sneakers, jeans, and, like, normal shirts are typical things worn in a high school.
I'm really not sure where the idea of girls wearing skirts and heels and a full face of makeup every day to school came from.
Or jocks wearing their varsity jackets everywhere."
4. High schools always seem to be completely divided by stereotypes: jocks, nerds, weirdos, popular girls...
"Cliques are a thing, but they're usually filled with fairly diverse people, not just groups of jocks and nerds.
You can be an artist but still be on the track team, or a social justice warrior who is also prom queen."
5. And the stereotypes themselves are seriously annoying – cheerleaders are always portrayed as bitchy or snobby, which is totally unrealistic.
6. The mean girl always gets her comeuppance at the end of the movie.
"What makes this girl the mean girl? You don't know her life, her story, you have no idea what she's been through because you don't even bother to ask.
The mean girl is always two-dimensional and horrible while the main girl is perfect."
7. ...While the popular guy sees the error of his ways and falls in love with the ~quirky~ girl.
"Popular girls are mean, stay mean, and hardly develop at all.
Popular guys start mean, learn something from the 'quirky' girl, and become a hero in the end when asking her to the big dance."
8. In fact, the happy couple always seems to be two people who have absolutely nothing in common.
"The most ridiculous example of this: The Breakfast Club.
Like, how? Why? Can't they just become friends or something?"
9. And, actually, the fact that all teen movies seem to involve romance is totally unrealistic in itself.
"Why does every teen movie have to have romance?! It's pretty normal to get through adolescence without meeting your soulmate!"
10. The popular guy always has a sensitive side that he's hiding from his super-popular girlfriend.
"He's deep down this artist/musician/writer/whatever, and that side can only be channeled when he's alone because he fears everyone else will mock him, but then he discovers the nerdy pretty girl who's shy and then he can finally be himself!!"
11. The fact that the main characters are almost always white – and people of colour are reduced to harmful stereotypes.
"The one black character, given that we are in the movie at all, either has an attitude, comes out with clever one-liners, or only says 'mmmhm'."
12. And representation of LGBT characters is always minimum, if it's there at all.
"LGBTQ+ people get horrible representation 90% of the time, and most of our movies have sad endings.
I just want a movie with good representation and a happy ending – is that too much to ask?"
13. For some reason, the characters always talk like fully grown, intellectual adults when they're supposed to be 16 years old.
"There's always the part toward the end where everyone suddenly starts talking like they're 20 years older than they actually are, and making major revelations about life.
Bonus points if there's a loud, dramatic outburst in which someone uses perfect adult vocabulary and articulates a full monologue while yelling and/or crying."
14. Everyone has a car – and can drive it without supervision – no matter what their age or social standing.
"I've never seen a movie where they were like, 'Oh, my dad had to take my car today, so I had to walk.'"
15. The entire concept of the Designated Ugly Fat Friend (otherwise known as the DUFF).
"There's always a chubby friend for moral support and/or comic relief, but the thin friend – who's always the main character – doesn't reciprocate too much."
16. Not to mention the insanely hot girl who, for some reason, always acts like she's "invisible".
"She acts like she's the ugliest person on the planet, but her best friend (the awkward nerdy guy) and the school bad boy are both in love with her."
17. Whenever the characters get in trouble with their parents, their punishment never lasts long.
"Whenever a kid gets in trouble/grounded, it lasts about two seconds and generally they break their grounding and never suffer the repercussions."
18. Which happens a lot, because teens in movies are apparently really good at throwing raging house parties.
19. And when they're not handing out useless punishments, the adults in these movies always seem to be totally clueless as to what's going on with their kids or students.
20. It may just be a little thing – but students hanging out in school corridors in between classes is totally unrealistic.
"They all go to their lockers and meet up with friends and it seems like they have all the time in the world between bells, while us real high schoolers are running from class to class so our grumpy math teachers won't make us go get a late pass."
21. And they never seem to have homework.
"Even the stereotypical 'nerdy' characters that take AP classes are always hanging out with friends or going to the town diner after school."
22. The movie always ends with ~the big dance~ – and everyone suddenly cares massively about the main character, even though they've ignored her for most of the movie.
"I hate when the main female walks into prom or homecoming fashionably late and EVERYONE in the room turns to look at her.
No one really cares."
23. But not before she's been through the all-important makeover montage.
"The girl always has to be transformed into a more beautiful version of herself before the guy likes her."
24. ...Which usually just consists of taking off her glasses.
"The quiet, nerdy girl who wore glasses ending up with a makeover always made me, the quiet girl who has to wear glasses, feel really awful about my self-image in high school."
25. And speaking of the big dance, it's always a way bigger deal in movies than it is in real life.
"The concept that it should be the greatest night of your life when magical, amazing things happen and you look like a princess is completely out of touch with most people's real experiences at prom."
26. Because – let's face it – in real life, things don't always turn out the way they do in movies.
"For once I want a movie where it ends and the girl still hasn't caught the attention of the boy of her dreams or realised she's in love with her best friend.
Guess what, Hollywood: Sometimes the unpopular, awkward girl doesn't end up with a boyfriend in the end!"
