Off Beat: Youthful Nonconformity in Film

While following the pack is common, not all young people strive to fit in. These movies and television programs depict those who dare to be unique.

DVD Bend
Bend it Like Beckham
Jesminder, a teenaged girl in London, spends her free time playing soccer with boys in the park, but her strict parents believe she should be learning to cook instead (and landing a nice Indian husband while she’s at it). Jules (Keira Knightly) plays for a local girls soccer team and encourages Jesminder to join the squad. It’s just a matter of time before her parents notice her rebellion.

DVD Billy
Billy Elliott
Set in mid-1980s northern England, this film shows eleven-year-old Billy Elliott discovering an unlikely passion-ballet dance. Of course this isn’t well-received in his coal mining family where boxing is seen as a more suitable activity. Billy’s determination to follow his dream despite obstacles is uplifting.

DVD Breakfast
The Breakfast Club
Members of different high school subcultures set aside their differences and find common ground during a weekend detention. The late director John Hughes, who spent his teenaged years in a Chicago suburb, was a master at creating believable teen characters. According to many, this is his masterpiece.

DVD Dead
Dead Poets Society
Robin Williams portrays an inspirational English teacher at a private school in 1950s New England. The teenaged boys under his tutelage are encouraged to think independently and question tradition. Their rebellion causes a stir in a straight-laced culture where conformity is expected.

DVD Dogtown
Dogtown and Z-Boys
This documentary film shows how teenaged surfers in a seedy beachfront Los Angeles neighborhood known as Dogtown revolutionized skateboarding. The Z-Boys (members of the local Zephyr surfing team) brought surfing’s low-slung posture and its counter-culture attitude to the streets of L.A. These disaffected young people dared to be different and ended up influencing generations of skaters to follow.

TV Freak
Freaks and Geeks
This affectionate look at two groups of teenaged outsiders growing up in the 1980s brings us an early peek at Lisa Cardellini (ER), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother.) If you’re nostalgic for 1980s pop culture or had a bumpy ride in high school, you’ll find a lot to like in this one-season comic series.

DVD Girlfight
Girlfight
Michelle Rodriguez has become known for playing tough-as-nails female characters through movies like The Fast and the Furious and Avatar, but the film that put her on the map was Girlfight. She plays a young outsider named Diana constantly in trouble at school. At her local gym she finds that boxing can serve to vent her anger and resentment. Needless to say, she takes verbal abuse from sexist male boxers who question her femininity. Through it all, she remains determined and focused.

DVD Good
Good Will Hunting
A young mathematics whiz from South Boston working as a janitor confronts the derision of arrogant college students and his own self-destructive streak to excel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote the screenplay for this breakout film, which also starred Robin Williams.

DVD Heathers
Heathers
Teen comedies don’t come much darker than this film, which teams Winona Ryder and Christian Slater with pre-Beverly Hills 90210-era Shannen Doherty. The Heathers in the movie title are an all-powerful clique of snobby girls who sit atop the Westerburg High School social ladder and gleefully terrorize their classmates. Enter disdainful rebel J.D. (portrayed by Slater) who takes Veronica’s disaffection for the Heathers a bit too far with a violent scheme.

DVD Juno
Juno
Ellen Page garnered a best actress Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Juno MacGuff, a witty and offbeat high school student trying to decide what to do with her unborn baby. Teen pregnancy is a difficult subject to approach gracefully, but the clever screenplay makes it work. Juno’s boyfriend, played with sweet naiveté by Michael Cera, matures on screen as his feelings for Juno crystallize.

TV My So
My So-Called Life
This one-season-TV-wonder follows introspective high school sophomore Angela Chase and her motley crew of friends, including wild-child Rayanne and bisexual Rickie. Claire Danes’ emotive portrayal of Angela propelled her toward film stardom, perhaps at the expense of a second season of the program. Slant Magazine calls it “the best teen drama of all time.”

DVD Say
Say Anything
Cameron Crowe directed and wrote this teen drama in which a quirky teenage kickboxing devotee pursues a beautiful and brainy girl on the path to great things after graduation. Ione Skye and John Cusak are very believable as the improbable pair.

DVD Sixteen
Sixteen Candles
This teen comedy classic is John Hughes’ directorial debut. Sixteen Candles introduced America to curly redhead Molly Ringwald, who is more than a little perturbed that her sixteenth birthday arrived without anyone in her family noticing. Meanwhile, she’s infatuated by a senior hunk who won’t give her the time of day. In fact the only person paying attention to her is a talkative and geeky freshman (portrayed with great verve by Anthony Michael Hall.) Ringwald and Hall reunite in The Breakfast Club.

J VIDEO 787.2 Small
Small Wonders
Unlike most of the films described here, this documentary doesn’t focus on individuals who stand out from their peers. Instead, it depicts a music teacher who inspires public school kids in Harlem to play classical music (for more information on this ongoing program, visit www.opus118.org). After a rocky start, she ultimately touches the lives of scores of young people over several years, who find meaning in what their friends may consider an unusual pursuit. The teacher’s dedication and tenacity attract pay off as she stages a Carnegie Hall performance featuring classical music luminaries Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern. This documentary led to the arguably less-engaging drama Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep.