2008 Woodie Awards
Teen movies fall short of classics
Nate Knife
Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Is it possible that the American public is losing interest in teen movies? Universal's latest foray into the genre entitled "Sydney White," starring Amanda Bynes, bombed its opening weekend at the end of September. It was sixth overall at the box office. The top movie that weekend was "Resident Evil: Extinction."
There is certainly no lack of new releases in the genre, but so few have made their mark on the landscape of pop culture. The exception, of course, is "High School Musical," but beyond that there are few teen movies in recent memory that have truly had an impact.
Instead, the past several years have been peppered with such downers as "Raise Your Voice," starring Hillary Duff as an unsure teen who learns to believe in herself, and "John Tucker Must Die," starring Brittany Snow as a self-conscious teen who learns to believe in herself. One would think that the troubled teen demographic alone would boost ticket sales.
"Sydney White" is unique as far as teen movies go. The story starts off with Sydney (Amanda Bynes), a tomboyish teen, going off to college and attempting to join her mother's extremely prissy sorority as an ill-fated attempt to make friends and discover a sense of sisterhood. Unsurprisingly, this attempt goes poorly, and Sydney soon finds herself friendless and homeless. She's taken in by a group of seven outcasts, whom she soon inspires to rise up and make a stand against the Greek system, which monopolizes campus resources for themselves.
"Sydney White" actually manages to explore some relatively deep political themes. The queen bee of the Greek life system, Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton), bases her campaign for campus president on maintaining the status quo, wherein 20 percent of the students control 80 percent of campus resources.
It may not be the most subtle of allegories for our own socio-economic system, but it is an effective one. Naturally, Sydney defeats her in the election by rallying every misfit on campus to her cause at the last minute.
There is certainly no lack of new releases in the genre, but so few have made their mark on the landscape of pop culture. The exception, of course, is "High School Musical," but beyond that there are few teen movies in recent memory that have truly had an impact.
Instead, the past several years have been peppered with such downers as "Raise Your Voice," starring Hillary Duff as an unsure teen who learns to believe in herself, and "John Tucker Must Die," starring Brittany Snow as a self-conscious teen who learns to believe in herself. One would think that the troubled teen demographic alone would boost ticket sales.
"Sydney White" is unique as far as teen movies go. The story starts off with Sydney (Amanda Bynes), a tomboyish teen, going off to college and attempting to join her mother's extremely prissy sorority as an ill-fated attempt to make friends and discover a sense of sisterhood. Unsurprisingly, this attempt goes poorly, and Sydney soon finds herself friendless and homeless. She's taken in by a group of seven outcasts, whom she soon inspires to rise up and make a stand against the Greek system, which monopolizes campus resources for themselves.
"Sydney White" actually manages to explore some relatively deep political themes. The queen bee of the Greek life system, Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton), bases her campaign for campus president on maintaining the status quo, wherein 20 percent of the students control 80 percent of campus resources.
It may not be the most subtle of allegories for our own socio-economic system, but it is an effective one. Naturally, Sydney defeats her in the election by rallying every misfit on campus to her cause at the last minute.
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