Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Your Ideas of American High Schools Are Probably Dead On

I know Europeans get most of their ideas about American culture from our movies. (and MTV and our fabulous reality tv shows). Great. Thanks for representing, freaks of our nation.

I had to laugh when I read my sister's most recent post on her high school happenings. I mean...real American high schools are pretty dang close to what you see on the big screen. I know our obsession with football is seen as a little weird, but definitely a large part of American high schools...especially in Texas. And our activities that surround it can seem downright silly to an outsider. (or possibly to insiders as well...I mean, they are a bit ridic. But, it's a big part of the high school I know and remember...and it looks like things haven't changed too much.)

These are some of the movies that depict American high school culture that come to mind:

Varsity Blues


Gymnasium pep rally in movie
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In real life at Memorial High School (where I attended high school and so does my Senior sister)?

Check.
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We dressed up every Friday during football season in the fall. A different theme every Friday: camouflage, hippy, nerd, red and white, etc. After lunch a pep rally was held in the gymnasium to fire everyone up for that night's game. I have to say, it made Fridays so much more fun.

Big bronco trucks raised on ridiculously high massive wheels with a boatload of douchebags inside? (this movie takes place in a small Texas town)
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Don't have a pic (get me one, Molly), but trust me, mega check. The big truck phenomenon is prob. just unique to Texas.

Dazed and Confused:


The scene where the senior girls harass the freshman and have shaving cream parties in the school parking lot and wear senior shirts.
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Check.
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{thank you, Molly, for being modest and hiding yourself behind people.}

Bring It On


Spirited up cheerleaders.
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Check.
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Cheerleading camp in the summer.
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Check.


Sue Sylvester. (Glee)


A huge and unfortunate no. Sue cracks me up...I wish she was trolling the halls of our high school.

Was I a cheerleader? (my friends are laughing.) Hell nein.

I do have several high school pics easily accessible thanks to a great printed book of memories my sister put together for a wedding gift.

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freshman year at a Western party. We ALL shopped at The Gap. I love this because jean vests, jackets and dresses are back in style now. This was 1994. 15 year trend turnaround.

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Camo day with Kristen.

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Long live high school. See you later. College was SO much better.
(Look, no crows feet. Going to Oil of Olaz it up tonight.)

*thanks to Molly for providing my Euro readers with a taste of American teenage life.

5 comments:

Juliette said...

ROFL! awesome, so true! My high school experiences were very similar even though split between two very different towns: hippy/academic Northern California town and 'big city' in North Carolina. Yep, totally similar activities. Pep rallies were a great way to waste time on Fridays, and even the nerds went to the football games, LOL!

Ruth said...

oh yeah. see it all the time on facebook and at our house with my son (senior in h.s.) and his friends..:)

Christi Bennett @ pisforparty said...

Hilarious post and oh so true! =)

Kimberly said...

Marc and I are sitting here in Oz laughing! I just wished you had dressed as Sue under her pic. I wish I could be reincarnated as Molly in my next life. :)
She's a cutie!

Unknown said...

I can understand the similarities but I still think that high school films are far from truth. Take High School Musical for example. Honestly where on Earth are you going to find a genuine school like that aside from Hollywood's studios? Either that or on senior shirts worn by fans. Anyways, this was a really interesting post to read. Great pictures and content. Thank you for sharing!

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