Answer for question 4533.

[author_by_night]

[Error: unknown template qotd]I... honestly don't remember. I think it pretty much just was. I remember it being a bigger deal in movies and on TV than it ever was in real life, honestly. You went in, maybe dressed up a bit more than usual if you were normally casual (which I was), and that was it.


Although now that I think about it, we MAY have had a picture day during spirit week, which was awkward because spirit week usually meant wearing costumes and stuff. But I don't remember there being any weird pictures or anything, so it may not have been spirit week, just a similarly bad time for pictures.

(My senior portrait was a whole other story. That was a big deal, I even got a haircut for it. I probably looked better in my senior picture than I ever did all four years of high school. Ha.)

So to ask a question within a question: Is there anything you felt (schoolwise) was made a bigger deal in movies and shows (etc.) than IRL? Culture/regional differences also count, of course.

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do make it a big deal on TV and movies than it really was in real life.

Yes, I do remember that senior Portraits were such a huge deal!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, picture day honestly wasn't that big of a deal. Granted I didn't pay attention or care during elementary school, and I don't even remember there being anything for junior high or high school except for your student I.D. picture. I didn't get a senior portrait, it wasn't important where I was, tbh.

So to ask a question within a question: Is there anything you felt (schoolwise) was made a bigger deal in movies and shows (etc.) than IRL? Culture/regional differences also count, of course.

Prom, or any school dance really. Those aren't nearly as a big of a deal as movies and television make them out to be, where if you didn't go you would be "missing out" or be seen as a "social loser". At least where I went to school, most of the dances and proms weren't that great as reported by many of the student populace, and they were mostly privileges anyway (as in if you didn't have enough credits or high grades you couldn't go). I was never interested in them and I don't regret never attending one.

I also think the concept of "cliques" is highly exaggerated in movies and television. While you do form your own circle of friends it isn't as divided into what you usually see in media, especially with the stereotype that cheerleaders and jocks were the popular ones and therefore mean and horrible to everyone else. I mean, I'm sure people had experiences where their individual bullies happened to have been either cheerleaders or the jock types, but the common trope that all cheerleaders want to be popular and were nasty to others and all jocks were mean to nerds is just a horrible misconception. I honestly don't know where this trope came about, but from my experiences most kids in junior high and high school were nasty in general, no matter who they were. Those who were mean to me and bullied my in school were just random students who just decided they didn't like me for whatever reason.

The concept that detention is the worst thing ever. If you're trying to get a perfect record, I can understand that it would be the worst thing. But in my experience (having gotten detentions a lot during those days), it wasn't that big of a deal. It was just one extra hour after school let out where you just had to sit quietly doing work. It wasn't hell and it wasn't where all the "no good, bad kids" went. Anyone could get detention for the smallest, stupidest reasons.

This is more regional and depending on the school: some schools are indoor while others are outdoor (mine were outdoor), and lockers aren't always a thing. I went to a junior high and high school(s) were there were absolutely no lockers, so we had to carry all our books in our backpacks. There was a school I went to for summer school that did have lockers, but we were told that the students weren't allowed to use them. I guess in movies and shows the default setting for high school are kids using lockers and being in an indoor school, but that isn't always the case because, again, regional and it depends on the building structure of the school you are attending.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

My mom stopped buying pictures pretty early on because they were always so bad. I honestly did not know how to smile correctly, I would distort my features so much with a faux grin.

We did by my senior photos which are awful. I have bangs for some reason. We had two photos, one in the "formal wear" and the other in my band uniform, posed with my flute LOL.

I think movies/tv make LUNCH look better, especially all the shows where people just wander off campus or go outside. And I would say they make prom look a lot classier too.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

It seemed like a much bigger deal for my parents than it was for me. They're the ones who carry the pictures around in their wallets/purses/whatever and show them to people.

Seconding (thirding) the opinion that PROM was a much bigger deal on TV/movies than it was in real life--specifically, needing a *date* to attend prom. Nobody cared. Unless you were a Sophomore, because you had to be invited, but otherwise--yeah, nobody cared if you went stag or just with a bunch of people.

[mollywheezy.livejournal.com]

In elementary school, my mom would always dress me up for picture day and buy tons of pictures (although I think they sat in a drawer after she bought them), but by junior high/high school I usually forgot to tell her when picture day was, and was wearing whatever. Although some times those pictures were better than the planned outfit ones, lol. I agree with other comments that some things are worse on TV like cliques, and some are better like lunch. ;)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Yeah we never had lockers at my school either, kids in my class were always complaining and saying they wanted them because of what they saw on tv lol, but our school wasn't that same set-up I see in American tv shows of just walking down a corridor to your classes in a single building. We had a VERY spread-out campus where you'd be walking for several minutes to get to different buildings

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Same here with cliques. My only thought is that it might depend on school size; there were 400 kids in my graduating class, so we all had different class times and lunches - only having one small group of friends meant you basically had no one to sit next to or eat lunch with. (I only had a few friends, so that was me most of the time.) Whereas I imagine it's a bit easier to be selective if you have the same classes and lunch period as all of your friends.

So maybe that's also filmwriters are coming from, or maybe it's just an easier formula. (Especially if it's an hour and a half long teen comedy like Mean Girls. I don't think there was much time to go into the more realistic dynamics of the high school socialsphere, so we got a three-four girl posse who, IRL, would've mostly been ignored.) I do sort of hate that even though kids see it's unrealistic, they often still have that mentality because they've been told that's what middle/high school would be since kindergarten. :/

The other thing with detention is that sometimes it wasn't even really detention. I had to go to what was technically a detention room (we called it something else, I forget what), but that was because I needed extra time on tests.

I forgot about the locker thing! We did have indoor lockers, but they weren't all in one place. Your locker tended to be wherever your homeroom was.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I always looked unhappy, because I never wanted to grin wide! Ironically my grandfather was similar - there's pictures where if you squint you can see he's smiling, but at first glance he does not look happy. I actually think he had my "real" smile though, and TBH I think it looks goofy on me - maybe he had the same insecurity, even though naturally I love his smile, just not mine, despite it being the same smile. (My cousin also has it; again, it's adorable when she smiles, silly and childish when I do.)

I believe the seniors were allowed to eat outside at my school, but just in a small garden area. There really wasn't anywhere for us to go anyway - actually, I think some of the schools in my area do let kids go out for lunch, but that's because those schools are right across the street fast food places and 7-11s. It wasn't like at my school where the lunch period (which was only twenty minutes) would be over by the time we actually got to a McDonald's.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

It seemed like a much bigger deal for my parents than it was for me. They're the ones who carry the pictures around in their wallets/purses/whatever and show them to people.


That actually rings a bell, now that you mention it; I think someone else pointed it out to me before. And you're right; they were also mailed to grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc.

Honestly, half the kids I knew went with their dates in groups anyway. It's not like you went just the two of you in a limo. Or you just didn't go. I don't regret missing mine.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

We had a VERY spread-out campus where you'd be walking for several minutes to get to different buildings

Same, it was awful during lunch if your class was on the opposite side of the campus. You basically had to run in order to get in line in the cafeteria in order to get your lunch (which would be gone if you were near to the last batch in the line ass line), never mind having to race in order to eat because lunch was always so short. It was even worse when we had something called "bell drills" where you had five minutes to get to your next class, and sometimes if you didn't get there in time when the next bell rang you were locked out of the classroom (depending on the teacher) and you'd either be written as "late" or sent to OCS (on campus suspension). This was done to ensure that nobody would linger to talk with their friends and be late to class, but it was rather ridiculous if your class was, again, all the way across campus. You had to RUN so you wouldn't be written down as tardy.

It certainly wasn't like television or the movies where you could hang out next to your locker before your next class. You either had to move it or lose it, and it wasn't easy with an overcrowded school.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Yep, I remember always dreading if I had a class at the 'old house' as we called it before lunch period, that basically meant that by the time you made it to the cafeteria there would only be a few chips, burnt pizza, and other dregs left over. We didn't have anything like bell drills though thankfully!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I think it's an easier formula for filmmakers and creators to deal with, which is unfortunate since it creates the "I'm not one of those people" kinds of characters that is so overused in pop culture. I don't know, it's something I wish media would stop enforcing these stereotypes because it doesn't do anyone any favors. It does create a false perspective for young people that can be quite damaging, even if they know it's unrealistic as you mentioned. Particularly the tropes that cheerleaders and jocks and other "pretty" people are mean and intellectually stupid. That is just not true, not at all.

Another thing I forgot to add was the fashion. Now, I understand that in media there is a presentation needed to represent different clothing lines and labels, that is how things are marketed within the business. At the same time though, those items of clothing are highly expensive and unless someone comes from a well-off family then there's no way they'll actually be able to afford wearing those kinds of brands. I guess it's because nowadays teenagers in movies and TV dress more like runway models than in real life in order to promote those brands, whereas in reality, depending on how strict the rules were, schools often impose dress codes. More often on girls than on guys, unfortunately.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I think movies/tv make LUNCH look better, especially all the shows where people just wander off campus or go outside. And I would say they make prom look a lot classier too.

Because we were an outside campus and our school was incredibly overcrowded as it was, we were allowed to eat anywhere on campus as long as we cleaned up after ourselves, which was often enforced from authorities walking about making sure we didn't create a mess. Most kids ended up eating around the quad area. But yeah, TV and movies often make lunch seem much nicer and more of a leisure time than it actually is in real life, where you literally had to snarf down your food because lunch wasn't that long anyway (I think 45 minutes, if you brought your own lunch you could enjoy it but as I mentioned before that if you were in line to buy lunch, lol good luck).

Proms and dances in movies often are such a fantasy fulfillment, since I'm sure most dances are hardly ever that elaborate unless the school got amazing funding to go elsewhere, you know?