My Favorite Movies Depicting Young Adult Culture Arranged by Decade
The movies listed here have certain messages which allow one to better understand certain aspects of culture at certain points in time. Movies are placed before tv shows in each decade. I also tried to rank them in each decade in ways that reflect the list’s purpose.
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- DirectorLeslie BloomStarsWillow ShieldsMeg DeLacyTeddy Van EeTwo teen song-writers saddle up their West coast '65 Mustang convertible and head East, answering the call to Yasgur's farm, to debut their original music at the Woodstock Music Festival.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsJason LondonWiley WigginsMatthew McConaugheyThe adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsSally FieldEleanor ParkerLane BradburyAfter finding out that the hippie lifestyle isn't as glamorous as the media makes it look, Dennie comes home to find disapproval and judgment at every turn, and her sister Susie wanting to follow in her footsteps.Propaganda film from the 1970s. Alot of young Americans were running away, experimenting with drugs, disobeying authority figures, etc. They hoped to make the target audience conform to more traditional lifestyles and help in the controlling of those portions of the youth population which were marked as deviant through social and legal pressures. While many youths were harming themselves through their own actions, the film has clear bias. Interestingly, I would argue that the film painted a more sympathetic picture, in some interesting ways, of those aforementioned portions of the population the films makers marked as deviant than other examples from more recent points in time as a means of not turning away youth audiences from the film and persuading them. However, one would have to more throughly compare propaganda with the same communicative aims over time to be sure.
- DirectorDavid Lowell RichStarsPamela FranklinKate JacksonLloyd BochnerA young woman investigating her sister's suicide at a private girls' school finds herself battling a Satanic cult.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsWilliam ShatnerRuth RomanWendell BurtonA 15-year-old girl in late-1960s America is sucked into an odyssey of sex and drugs and eventually seeks help.*See Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring*
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsMatt DillonMichael Eric KramerPamela LudwigA group of bored teenagers rebel against authority in the community of New Granada after the death of one of their own.
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsBilly CrudupPatrick FugitKate HudsonA high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
- DirectorDavid GreeneStarsEli WallachJulie HarrisDeborah WintersComfortable New York suburbanites Arthur and Gerrie Mason learn that their seemingly innocent teenage daughter Maxie is a drug addict.
- DirectorJerry KramerStarsDaphne ZunigaVirginia MadsenCynthia GibbA pair of women decide to prank their roommate's nerdy blind date after she stands him up, but end up developing a friendship with him after their practical joke sends them on an all-night odyssey through the 1980s club scene.
- DirectorMichael LehmannStarsWinona RyderChristian SlaterShannen DohertyAt Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
- DirectorGreg MottolaStarsJesse EisenbergKristen StewartRyan ReynoldsIn the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
- DirectorSean S. CunninghamStarsShannon PresbyLori LoughlinJames SpaderNewly orphaned siblings Abby and Loren McWilliams arrive in a small Florida town to help their Aunt Fay and Uncle Charlie run a family-owned amusement park, and they find that the town is terrorized by a local street gang.
- DirectorDavid GreenwaltStarsC. Thomas HowellLori LoughlinKelly PrestonAn anonymous love letter left in Michael Ryan's locker on the last day of school wreaks havoc on his life and the lives of everyone who come in contact with it.
- DirectorJack BenderStarsShannen DohertyJennifer Blanc-BiehnJason LondonAn emotionally disturbed and hyper-competitive young woman schemes to land a spot as the lead singer in a local rock band while her childhood girlfriend also wants the spot.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsJames MarsdenKatie HolmesNick StahlThe new kid in Cradle Bay, Washington stumbles across something sinister about the town's method of transforming its unruly teens into upstanding citizens.
- DirectorJess BondStarsKatrina BeginCharles ChenMelonie DiazA glimpse into the teenage wasteland of suburbia 1999 that takes place over 24 hours, and the teenagers who make their way through the last day of high school.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsRichard LinklaterRudy BasquezJean CaffeineA day in the life of Austin, Texas as the camera roams from place to place and provides a brief look at the overeducated, the social misfits, the outcasts and the oddballs.Those interested in misinformation and disinformation in communication scenarios in the past might be interested in this. Some of the movie hints at how parts of the past are lost due to lack of sources or interest too.
- DirectorAllan MoyleStarsChristian SlaterSamantha MathisAnthony Luke LuceroMark runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpyAndrea EckertA young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.
- DirectorSteve CohenStarsRose McGowanAlex McArthurPeg ShirleyShe's young, sexy and dangerous. Debbie is the new girl in class with a skill for turning heads. From the moment she arrives in town following her parents' untimely death, Debbie sets her sights on her teacher, the high school heartthrob.
- DirectorLarry ClarkStarsLeo FitzpatrickJustin PierceChloë SevignyA day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.
- DirectorGregory DarkStarsWings HauserAlex CordG. Gordon LiddyJohn Miller is an politician wanting to become mayor. He founds a group called S.Q.U.A.D. whose mission is to get rid of all street scum by any means necessary.
- DirectorJonathan KahnStarsDominique SwainSean Patrick FlanerySummer PhoenixA naive, over-anxious, self-aware straight-A teen explores Portland's rock scene in search of her ideal Mr. Right. Think Clueless meets My So-called Life.
- DirectorBryan GordonStarsFrank WhaleyJennifer ConnellyDermot MulroneyJim is the dorky son of a local cement contractor who lives at home and has no direction. Josie is the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy businessman who dreams of leaving town. They find they have a lot in common.
- DirectorMary LambertStarsLori HeuringSusan WardMatthew SettleA mentally disturbed young woman takes a job at a posh country club and falls in with a clique of wealthy college kids where she's taken under the wing of the clique's twisted leader, who harbors some dark secrets too terrifying to tell.