The 7 Most Unrealistic Moments in Teen Rom-Com History
IT ALMOST goes without saying that our generation has been blessed with a collection of amazing teen movies that punctuated our adolescence. Our lockers were adorned with ripped out magazine pictures of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. We hoped high school would be as fun as it seemed in Clueless, and that our significant others would be as cute as Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Julia Stiles. HOWEVER, AS we grew up with these movies as our backdrop, we gained some seriously insane relationship expectations along the way. Despite their awesomeness, these films filled our brains with legitimately crazy ideas of what our first boyfriends and girlfriends would be like. For us, Prince Charming wasn't from a fairy tale; rather, he was a character played by Leonardo DiCaprio or Andrew Keegan. Here are seven of the most iconic moments in teen movie history that gave us wildly unattainable #relationshipgoals:
1/7The ending airport scene in Can't Hardly Wait...and the Pop-Tarts.
If you believe that everything is a "sign," then you probably have this movie to thank. Preston hinges his entire 4-year crush on Amanda on the fact that they had packed the same Pop-Tart flavor on the first day of school. He thinks that this, along with the fact that they were in the same class, is a sign that they are destined to be together. He harbors these feelings for their entire time in high school, and then decides to reveal his love at the end of their senior year.
And the crazy part is that it actually works out. Preston writes Amanda a novella of a love letter, gives it to her after graduation, and she shows up at the airport right before he's about to leave for the summer. She's like, "Sure! Let's try dating, even though we've never spoken, like, ever." Let's be honest, a multiple page love letter from a stranger is a little creepy, even if he is as cute as Ethan Embry. But we all somehow think our crush will storm the airport gates every time we fly, right?
Probability of this happening IRL: 3 out of 10. (I mean, there's like a million flavors of Pop-Tarts these days.)
2/7The kiss on the baseball field in Never Been Kissed.
After essentially lying to a guy for months and tricking him into thinking he was attracted to a student (c'mon, this isn't Pretty Little Liars) Josie publicly asks Sam to meet her on the baseball field to give her her very first kiss.
We have a lot of questions about this.
Number one, if you hadn't been kissed by age 20-something, would you advertise it? Number two, how humiliating would it be if he didn't show up? Of course, because this is a movie, he does show up, and they kiss in front of a baseball stadium full of people. This movie did a great job of teaching us that we could hide our identity for months and still have a relationship with the person later. (Pro tip: don’t actually do this.)
Probability of this happening IRL: 2 out of 10. (Think of how often guys ghost after just a Tinder match. You really think he's going to show up to the center of a baseball field after being lied to?)
3/7The boom box scene in Say Anything.
Ah, grand romantic gestures. We were falsely led to believe that the only way to apologize is through a huge display of romance, like when Lloyd stood outside Diane's bedroom window with a boom box on his shoulders, proclaiming his love through the lyrics of “In Your Eyes.” Truth be told, when you fight with your significant other nowadays, you're more likely to get a "sorry babe" text message. Even flowers are becoming a rarity.
Thanks to this movie, when we're in the midst of a cold war with the bf or gf, there's a little part of us that hopes for this cinematic moment. It's hard not to be disappointed when all we get is a vibration in our pocket and an emoji. And p.s.: even if someone does attempt this, it probably won’t elicit the reaction you think it will. (Remember when Mr. Schu tried it in (Glee?)
Probability of this happening IRL: 3.5 out of 10. (Unless someone invents an app for convenient delivery of grand romantic gestures.)
4/7Pretty much everything about Titanic.
Okay, so technically, Titanic isn't a rom-com, but it certainly highlighted our teen lives. We all came away from this movie wanting a love like Jack and Rose, hoping to find someone who would remind us to "make it count." Basically, we wanted Leonardo DiCaprio a.k.a. Jack Dawson to take us to the prom and do Irish step dancing with us atop tables. Was that too much to ask?
The moment when Rose jumps back on the ship to be with Jack perfectly summed up our ideas of romance: if it's love, you'd get on sinking ship just to be with that person, because how could life matter if they weren’t there? Le. Sigh.
Probability of this happening IRL: 2.5 out of 10. (True, the events surrounding the film did happen, but the Jack Dawsons of the world might be mythical.)
5/7The plot twist of the bet in She's All That...and the entire bet in general.
Let's be honest: most guys would not even care enough to make the bet that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Paul Walker make in She's All That. Think of all the effort that Zach had to go through in order to "court" Laney. Guys don't even make this much effort when they actually want a relationship. But Zack starts to fall for Laney after her makeover, when she takes off her glasses, cuts her hair in a stylish bob, and learns how to tweeze her eyebrows. Or maybe because he gets to know her personality. It's hard to tell.
No judgment, but raise your hand if you thought that a Rachael Leigh Cook-esque makeover would attract the attention of the most popular guy in school. (Raise your other hand if you thought that hacky sack scene was the greatest thing to ever happen to film.)
Probability of this happening IRL: 1.5 out of 10. (I mean, do high school boys even care who wins Prom King and Queen? Do they even know the difference between a tiara and a crown?)
6/7The detention romance of John & Claire in The Breakfast Club.
One of the biggest dating myths we all bought into was that we could "rescue" the bad boy. The Breakfast Club didn't do much to convince us otherwise, considering the most unlikely pair in the Saturday detention end up flirting with one another. This movie just reinforced that false idea that we might have a chance with the guy from the wrong side of the tracks wearing the leather jacket.
That final scene of the movie with John Bender crossing the football field while fist-pumping lived on in our hearts for years as we searched for our own "bad boy." We continued to perpetuate the idea that we could "fix" our significant others, when in actuality, some people don't need fixing. And, let's be honest, some of us might have even tried to get detention in hopes of meeting our very own Bender.
Probability of this happening IRL: 4 out of 10. (Most teachers won't even let you talk to one another in detention, let alone flirt.)
7/7The serenade on the soccer field in 10 Things I Hate About You.
There are very few moments in teen movie history that are nearly as great as Heath Ledger singing and dancing from the bleachers. This film is another example of a guy who is fake-courting a girl (what is it with teen movies and this theme?) and going to extreme lengths to do it.
In this case, Patrick is being paid by Joey to date Kat, and he eventually falls in love with her, thus nulling the arrangement with Joey. I guess we all have Shakespeare to thank for this particularly unrealistic storyline. While we’re at it, we might as well tip our hats to Shakespeare for our starry-eyed hopes that someone might sing to us at sports practice, with the marching band as backup.
Probability of this happening IRL: 1 out of 10. (Karaoke night, maybe. Full band symphony? No way.)
