Teenage girls. You're annoyed by them, you used to be one of them, you still are one. No matter in which category you belong to, we all must agree they have influenced the course of pop culture history. Without them Twilight would be where it belongs, Justin Bieber would still be living in Canada and High School Musical would have never been made. But they have also inspired stories that now-days we like to consider Teenage Girl Cult Movies or as I call it - Girl, Get Ur Popcorn, We're Having A Sleepover. Oh and don't worry. It's a Twilight free zone.
Mean Girls (2005)
Probably one of the best ones out there of its kind. I can't even joke about it because I watch it again and again hence the fact that it's f*cking epic. It's a satire and fully aware of it's ridicule. Even if you're a grown man and have never seen it, then listen to me - YOU ARE MISSING OUT! It has fan bases knowing e v e r y line from the movie and making constant references to it. Mean Girls IS the ultimate cult movie.
Pretty In Pink (1986)
Story about an unpopular girl who gets the interest of a popular guy while her always-there friend has a crush on her. Yep, sounds like material for teenage girls to me. Written by the legendary John Hughes, it becomes a must.
The Princess Diaries 1 (2001) & 2 (2004)
The Princess Diaries... I guess both parts can be considered my soft spots. It has a story about a common girl who finds out she's royal. Huh... Make you want to ask your parents if you're adopted or if mom has screwed around on her day because then, maybe then, you have a slim chance of being royal. The Royal Family Of Monaco, I'm still waiting for my invitation to join you. And my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, which is long overdue by now.
Grease (1978)
It's a frikkin' musical and an annoying one but had teenage girls swooning over John Travolta in the late 70s. If you ask me then yuck but I'm not 40 so maybe you just have to live at that time to understand. I hope.
A Cinderella Story (2004)
Hilary Duff + Chad Michael Murray=screaming teenage girls. Though it does hold some memories to me as Cinderella also having been my favorite fairy tale from childhood.
Clueless (1995)
Clueless triggered massive make-over wave amongst teenage girls in 90s. Everybody wanted to be Cher. Cult? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. Think of how many mean girl clones there will be running around with their newfound confidence. *shudders*
Easy A (2010)
It may not be at the cult status yet, but has the potential of Mean Girls. Though in this movie there is no classical mean girl/Paris Hilton replicate, instead there is an evangelic girl who wants everyone just to be decent. But she's hilarious. Oh and Penn Badgley is in it. And shirtless. We think he's hot and plays a major role in making one of us watch Gossip Girl. On a regular basis.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
What girl in the 90s didn't want their own Patrick Verona with that grin? This is a serious question. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
PS. Twilight isn't included here because it's not just a cult anymore. It's considered as a new religion. Yes, I believe in sparkling vampires too. Smell sarcasm?
PPS. Had to add this.
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Nice list! I had to cover Cinderella Story for an old critic job I had, and found it was truly underrated. Sure its predictable, it's a freakin' fairy tale. And Murray has more grace and gravitas than we generally expect from the himbos in these things.
ReplyDeleteDumb as sparkly vampires are, I give Twilight a lot of credit - where else can the lead character be a Goth chick who wants, more than anything else, to die and become an undead thing? And it's made uber romantic rather than 'a cry for help'. They're all worth watching at least once, like Buffy's glum Mormon cousin
Sir, I admire your wit and insight on movies mostly about teenage hormones but Twilight is a disgrace to our generation. True, only Twilight can pull off the Bella character but I don't see her as a "goth chick." I see her as a whiny little girl who has a lack of ambition and truthfully brains to actually make something out of her life. I do resent her for that and Stephanie Meyer for ever thinking of creating a character like her. Twilight is an unexplainable phenomenon and a huge influence on still young and easily influenced girls. Imagine hordes of mini depressed Bellas running around in 3-5 years. And no equally depressed sparkling vampires to give a meaning to their life. That would just be horrible.
ReplyDeleteSo, you know we write for young people and for the sake of their brain capacity we can't be pro-Twilight. We need to be a balancing force, trying to give young girls other ideas about life.
But we do cherish your opinion dearly and are grateful for it.