Pick Or Pass On These Teen Movies And We'll Reveal Which Protagonist Is Your Alter Ego
- by Michelle_Sanders
- – on
- in Movies and TV
As former teens and avid movie lovers, can we just take a minute to talk about teen movies? Because as much as we, as a society, talk about these flicks, and as much as we obsess over them and quote them and use them as a point of reference in order to help our teenaged and adult selves cope with life's many struggles, we still feel like there's not enough love for teen movies. And, today? Well, today, we're going to change that. At least, we'll change it for a little while. Wouldn't want to change it forever. Talking about nothing but teen movies is fun for about an hour, but any longer than that, and it gets kinda dull.
Unlike movies made for grownups, which often stick to one, maybe two genres tops, young adult movies aren't afraid to take on three, four, sometimes five or more genres. Heck, some young adult films have their own worlds, they're just that creative! Teen flicks are always chock full of interesting, conflicted characters, whirlwind romances, significant and insignificant drama alike. These films often become classics because they have so much to offer. So take a minute to pick or pass on these teen movies, and we'll reveal a teen movie character protagonist in return.
Paper Towns
Margo Spiegelman lives just across the street from Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, and he is in love with her. After spending a night together on a spontaneous adventure that involved playing pranks on Margo's boyfriend who cheated on her with one of her friends, Margo goes missing, leaving a trail of clues in her wake for Q and his friends to follow.
The Fault in Our Stars
Hazel Lancaster has thyroid cancer, which has spread to her lungs. After joining a support group for cancer patients, she meets and falls in love with Gus Waters, a boy whose cancer went into remission after having his leg amputated. After reading Hazel's favorite books, Gus is frustrated with the ending, so the two embark on a trip to Amsterdam to try to track down the author.
Juno
After learning she's pregnant by her best friend, Paulie (who, oh, yeah, also has a major crush on her), Juno MacGuff is faced with all of the social complications that come with teenaged pregnancy. After deciding to give her baby up for adoption, she begins to bond with the adoptive parents, and fall in love with Paulie.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
While on a shopping trip, best friends Carmen, Tibby, Bridget and Lena find a pair of jeans that fit each of them perfectly, in spite of their differences in height and size. The next day they part for the summer, and send the jeans to each other to wear on their travels.
Back to the Future
Seventeen-year-old Marty McFly and drops in on his old pal, mad scientist/wacky inventor Doc Brown, to find that Doc has modified a DeLorean and transformed it into a time machine. When a group of angry bad guys ambushes the pair, Marty is hurled back into the past and, as the title of the film suggests, is forced to find a way BACK TO THE FUTURE!
The First Time
At a party, a high school senior named Dave rehearses a speech he plans to make to his crush, Jane, declaring his love for her. On his way to tell her how he really feels, he bumps into a girl named Aubrey who listens to his speech and tells him it's crap. Eventually, Dave realizes he'd rather be with Aubrey.
Freaky Friday
Coping with the stress of her widowed mother's upcoming wedding, school and just teenage life in general, is starting to take a toll on Anna Coleman. To make matters worse, her mother refuses to let her attend an important audition with her band. Things take an interesting turn when a trip to a Chinese restaurant ends in Anna and her mother switching bodies.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
In 1992, high school student Charlie has just been discharged from a mental institution—an attempt to treat his clinical depression. Shy and introverted, Charlie has trouble socializing, but after sitting with two seniors (Sam and her stepbrother, Patrick) during a football game, the three become friends, which ultimately enables Charlie to face his dark past.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick O'Leary is a bass player for his band. He also recently broke up with his girlfriend, Tris, who he attempts to win back by making "breakup" mix tapes for her, and, yeah, he is still not over it. After playing a gig, Nick meets fellow high school student, Norah Silverberg, and though they initially dislike each other, they soon bond over their similar taste in music.
Napoleon Dynamite
A teenager in rural Idaho, Napoleon Dynamite spends his days going to school and bickering with his older brother, Kip. When their grandmother ends up in the hospital, the brothers' Uncle Rico comes to stay with them, bringing trouble along with him. Meanwhile, back at school, Napoleon helps his best friend, Pedro, campaign for student body president.
The Breakfast Club
Five very different students, including a jock, a rich girl, a nerd, a burn out and a social outcast, are thrust together when they're all forced to attend weekend detention. Even though they've been ordered not to talk to each other during their punishment, the kids slowly forge a bond and begin to realize they're more alike than they previously thought.
13 Going On 30
Jenna Rink is determined to impress queen bee, Lucy "Tom-Tom" Wyman, and secure a spot in the exclusive popular girl clique. When things don't go as planned during her birthday party, Jenna locks herself in the closet and cries herself to sleep. When she wakes up, she finds herself all grown up, and makes her way through adult life, only to discover things aren't as amazing as she'd hoped.
Clueless
Based on Jane Austen's novel, Emma, Clueless follows the life of Cher, a teenaged girl who has a good heart, but is too vain and superficial for her own good. A self-appointed matchmaker, Cher takes immense pleasure in pairing people up and trying to control her friends' love lives. Things eventually back fire, but with a little guidance from her ex-stepbrother, Cher sees the error of her ways and tries to make amends.
Moonrise Kingdom
Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop are pen pals. Both clever, intelligent and mature for their age, the two are determined to run away from their respective homes in order to be together. Their disappearance causes the whole town to go into a frenzy, launching a massive search to track them down and bring them home again.
Mean Girls
After returning from Africa with her parents, 16-year-old homeschooler, Cady Heron, is about to attend a public school for the very first time. Naive and accepting, Cady soon becomes friends with a couple of social outcasts, who persuade her to infiltrate the popular girl clique in an attempt to sabotage them and take them down.
Lady Bird
In 2002, Christine McPherson, who insists on being called "Lady Bird", is a senior student at a Catholic high school. Though she knows her family is struggling financially and can't possibly afford it, Lady Bird still longs to attend a college in "a city with culture". When she's accepted into an expensive New York university, her relationship with her mother enters into a tailspin.
Easy A
Things quickly get out of hand when Olive Penderghast, a 17-year-old high school student, lies to her best friend about making out with a college guy. Another student overhears, and all kinds of rumors begin spreading throughout the school. Instead of dismissing or denying them, Olive embraces them, but when things start to get blown way out of proportion, she's forced to come clean.
High School Musical
After meeting at a New Year's Eve party, and singing karaoke together, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez exchange digits and go their separate ways. On the first day back at school after the break, they discover they share classes. Through song, dance and plenty of teenaged drama, the two eventually end up together, but that doesn't put an end to the song, dance or teenaged drama.
Speech & Debate
Frustrated with the insincerity and deceit displayed by their parents and teachers, three students team up and attempt to revive an extinct club: the Speech and Debate club. They hope the newly re-founded group will give them a voice with the school board and help them influence their education for the better.
She's The Man
After she gets cut from her school's soccer team, Viola Hastings agrees to switch places with her twin brother A) so he can sneak off to London with his band, and B) so she can continue to play soccer for school, beat an all-boy's team and prove her ex coach and boyfriend wrong. Plenty of antics and shenanigans ensue.
The Princess Diaries
At 16-years-old, Mia Thermopolis's life with her widowed mother, and her beloved cat, Fat Louie, is far from perfect—especially at school, where she's awkward and unpopular. But when Mia meets her paternal grandmother and discovers she is heir to the throne of a small country in Europe called Genovia, Mia's life changes forever as she is forced to grapple with her new role as princess.
Superbad
Best friends Seth and Evan are socially inept outcasts, and they know it. Fortunately, they soon get a chance to climb a few rungs higher on the social ladder when Seth is paired with Jules, a popular girl in his Home-Ec class. She invites the two to a party and, well, we'd tell you the rest, but we don't want to spoil it.
Adventureland
Instead of going to Europe after his graduation, James Brennan's parents advise him to get a part-time job instead—which, kinda isn't even the same thing, but it's whatevs, we guess. He takes a job at a local amusement park called Adventureland, where he meets and develops a crush on his coworker, Em, played by Bella from Twilight, AKA Kristen Stewart.
Warm Bodies
When a teenaged zombie, simply referred to as "R", goes against his zombie instincts in order to save a living girl named Julie, the two begin to forge an unlikely friendship. Though Julie is suspicious of him, R is determined to prove himself to her, and Julie slowly begins to trust him.
The Hunger Games
In a dystopian, post-apocalyptic United States, now known as Panem, a girl named Katniss Everdeen volunteers to go in her sister Prim's place when she is chosen as a tribute for the title Hunger Games. With nothing but her wits to protect herself, Katniss attempts to survive the competition, and inadvertently sparks a revolution in the process.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
At the end of the school year, Ferris Bueller decides to fake an illness in order to play hooky and spend the day with his best friend, Cameron Frye, and his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson. While he and his friends get into all kinds of mischief, the Dean of the high school, Edward Rooney, is determined to prove Bueller isn't really sick, and to sabotage Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Youth in Revolt
Nick Twisp sells a crappy car to some sailors and gets enough money to take his mother, Estelle, and her boyfriend, Jerry, to a trailer park in Oakland, California. Once there, Nick meets a girl around his age, who has a similar taste in music. The two become friends and get to work living up to this film's title.
17 Again
After learning that his girlfriend is pregnant, 17-year-old Mike O'Donnell walks out of a basketball game to follow her, thereby ruining his chances of going pro. Now 37, Mike's life hasn't gone as planned. After visiting a mystic, he gets a chance to redo things. Will he take it? *Shrugs* We don't know, we just read a plot summary from a local TV guide and regurgitated it. Watch the movie, if you want to find out what happens so bad. Gosh.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
At 15, Lola Steppe desperately wants her family to move to New York, where she has dreams of pursuing a career as a broadway actress, but she's disappointed when they move to a suburb in New Jersey. At her new school, she befriends an unpopular girl and takes an interest in theater, but soon, Lola's lies about her past put her in a pickle.
A Cinderella Story
Based on the classic fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood—LOL! Nah, just kidding. This movies is based on Cinderella, and focuses on Sam Montgomery, a beautiful high schooler who is mistreated and not appreciated by her step mother and step sisters. Of course, this Cinderella finds her Prince Charming, and every thing ends happily ever after, in true fairytale fashion.
The Outcasts
Besties Mindy and Jodi are tired of living in the shadow of the popular girls at school, but they decide to deal until the end of the school year. However, when they find themselves the butt of a humiliating joke, they decide to get revenge on their tormentors and put a stop to the suffering once and for all.
Candy Jar
Lona and Bennett are a couple of high school students who are a lot alike. They're both intelligent, they're both ambitious,they're both overachievers and they're both determined to out-perform each other on their school's debate team. But, much to their displeasure, the two are forced to team up in order to achieve their dreams of getting into college.
New York Minute
Jane and Roxy Ryan are twins (who look a lot like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, but maybe it's just us) who are in New York City for the day while Jane tries out for an overseas college program and Roxy sets out to meet her favorite band members. Thing go sour quick, and the two sisters team up to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way.
Sky High
Will Stronghold is a normal teenaged high school student except for one thing. He's also a superhero. Oh, and, there is just one more thing. See, his high school is exclusively for superheroes. But other than that, he's completely normal. Or, at least, he tries to be, but he has trouble balancing normal teenage-dom with superhero-ness. Look, it's complicated.
The Maze Runner
After waking up in an underground elevator with no memory of his past, a boy named Thomas (except he doesn't know his name is Thomas yet because, again, he can't remember his past), must adjust to his new life in "the Glade" with his fellow "Gladers". The group of teens, under Thomas's leadership, decide to venture into the neighboring maze in an effort to escape.
