Anyway, one of my favourite teen movies of recent years, 'Easy A', came up with a code or a formula that should be followed when trying to make the ultimate teen movie (edit: I just googled teen movie formula and it's rubbish, don't do it). Here's a couple of good points I've picked out:
- The main character has to be extremely dry and witty. They're an outsider in school, they don't conform to social norms, and they're thrust into the limelight somehow, or undergo a change in character (example: Mean Girls, Easy A, 10 Things I Hate About You)
- The killer soundtrack. Music is everything in a teen movie. It needs to be a mix of current chart-toppers, classic rock tunes, and bands you've probably never heard of.
- There needs to be a huge musical number for no real reason other than pure entertainment, classic examples include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A and Mean Girls.
- The script needs to be based on a classic piece of literature. This isn't the case with all teen movies, but in recent years it's definitely worked well. Good examples include Clueless, which is based on Jane Austen's 'Emma', 10 Things I Hate About You, which is based loosely on Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' and Easy A, which is jokingly based on 'The Scarlet Letter' by Nathaniel Hawke. The basis of an already existing story gives you a basic structure to work with and fill out with your own modern and contemporary ideas.
- Aside from the light-hearted core of the film, there needs to be a serious tone when the character has an epiphany and loses sight of themselves. It shouldn't change the tone of the movie, as perfectly demonstrated in The Breakfast Club, Mean Girls and Easy A.
I do plan to follow this, and even though it's been done time and time again, it never stops being fresh and exciting. Exactly why I love this genre!
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