Girls who eat their feelings, girls who don't eat anything...

December 29, 2008 8:28 PM

What movies have high school clique introduction scenes?

I'm watching Disturbing Behaviour (shuddup) and it has a fairly lengthy scene in the cafeteria, where the new kid is told all about the various factions in the student body.

What other movies/tv shows have used this scene? I know Mean Girls is a fairly well known recent example, but I'm sure it's happened in countless teen films. These are usually set in the cafeteria, but if you can think of such a scene in another location that's cool too.

posted by yellowbinder to media & arts (33 comments total)

Heathers.
posted by longsleeves at 8:30 PM on December 29, 2008

High School Musical.
posted by jschu at 8:32 PM on December 29, 2008

Clueless.
posted by itchie at 8:33 PM on December 29, 2008

Mean Girls (which is a really great movie by the way.)
posted by dearest at 8:33 PM on December 29, 2008

Clueless.
posted by Night_owl at 8:34 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Aw damn, I didn't even read your question.
Sheesh. Many apologies.
posted by dearest at 8:35 PM on December 29, 2008

Oh, I forgot. Also, 10 Things I Hate About You. Which was brilliant.
posted by Night_owl at 8:35 PM on December 29, 2008

Save the Last Dance.
posted by twiki at 8:38 PM on December 29, 2008

The Breakfast Club.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:40 PM on December 29, 2008

A lot of John Hughes movies, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club...
posted by cestmoi15 at 8:42 PM on December 29, 2008

Can't Buy Me Love
posted by i love cheese at 8:44 PM on December 29, 2008

I think Fast Times At Ridgemont High has a scene of this sort....
posted by supermedusa at 8:53 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Based on the trailer, Bratz: The Movie also has a scene like this.
posted by pluckemin at 9:06 PM on December 29, 2008

Election, which is superficially about high school but meant neither for a high school audience nor for those nostalgic about high school...and is probably the best high school movie I've ever seen.
posted by randomstriker at 9:07 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Twilight?
posted by lifeaskew at 9:11 PM on December 29, 2008

In Ferris Bueller's Day Off there is no "introduction" of the cliques, but Ed Rooney's secretary, Grace lists a bunch of them: "The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. "
posted by Rock Steady at 9:17 PM on December 29, 2008

The Craft, for a variation on the theme.
posted by dws at 10:12 PM on December 29, 2008

Freedom Writers
posted by gursky at 10:15 PM on December 29, 2008

I'm pretty sure 16 Candles has a specific scene like that.

+1 for Heathers, too.
posted by kdern at 10:22 PM on December 29, 2008

The Babysitters. You will not be disappointed.
posted by incessant at 11:38 PM on December 29, 2008

Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis

Disturbing Behavior with Katie Holmes
posted by pixxie at 12:01 AM on December 30, 2008

Okay, tons of stuff missing here:

In Ten Things I Hate About You, a new kid is being shown around and there is a fairly comprehensive lunchroom clique scene. This, in my opinion, is one of the best modern clique movies out there.

Never Been Kissed focuses on breaking into the "popular" clique; there aren't enough groups to give the audience much insight beyond popular/nerdy, but there is some exploration of the concept. In the same vein, Election portrays a jock, an overachiever, and a loner in a high school setting.

John Tucker Must Die is an absolutely awful movie, but it revolves around four girls from completely different social circles coming together to get revenge on one guy who has been dating girls from every clique in school.

Lucas (early Winona Ryder!) is a great movie that explores cliques, nerdiness, and revolves around a tiny little dorky kid who goes out for football.

There are also end-of-the-year films, including Say Anything and Can't Hardly Wait, in which the audience gets to know various characters by their "types."

Of these, I'd say Heathers, Ten Things, Can't Hardly Wait and Mean Girls get into the greatest variety of cliques in the most depth. ... And of course, The Breakfast Club definitely explores that issue, but with only a few categories.

... Wait. Did no one specifically mention Sixteen Candles? Great party scene.
posted by brina at 12:40 AM on December 30, 2008

The Head Over Heels scene in Donnie Darko.
posted by prinado at 12:46 AM on December 30, 2008

The unaired Buffy pilot does an outdoor one, along the steps and the lawn outside school.

Veronica Mars does it for the one pertinent clique in the pilot - it picks through that clique in the cafeteria as Veronica sits alone nearby.
posted by carbide at 2:15 AM on December 30, 2008

Why the one in the unaired Buffy pilot was left out of the final product was beyond me. "Dirty girls?" "They have issues with hygiene."

Yes, the one in Disturbing Behavior is so fantastic, it's practically lyrical. Plus, it blows apart all of the preconceived notions of having a group of druggies by assigning each and every clique a "drug of choice" and then redefining each as freaks (freaks who squeak, freaks so chic, etc).

Alex: There (he points to a table of greasy looking guys) you got your motorheads. Car jocks. All the world’s a gasket and a lube job and a pack of Luckys. Music of choice: posi-traction overdrive. Drug of choice: beer, Miller Genuine Draft. Keggers can’t be choosers.

Michael: Freaks who fix leaks.
posted by adipocere at 2:47 AM on December 30, 2008

Three O'Clock High
Great movie BTW.
posted by bleucube at 4:24 AM on December 30, 2008

Did The Faculty include such a scene? Seems like it must have, but it's been so long since I've seen it.
posted by kimota at 5:28 AM on December 30, 2008

Grease.
posted by iviken at 7:00 AM on December 30, 2008

Thanks so far! Great answers, keep 'em coming. I'm mostly interested in these scenes, not so much with movies that deal with cliques in general. The nebulous idea is to get a hold of a bunch of them and edit them together for lulz.

Good call on the Buffy unaired pilot! I could vaguely remember something from Buffy, but I've seen the aired pilot enough times to know it's not there if I didn't have a fairly solid memory of it. The unaired pilot on the other hand I've only seen once or twice.

Yeah, Disturbing Behaviour is what prompted the question. It's a good one, with a pretty hilarious movie attached to it. I love how Katie Holmes is trying to look tough, and I remembered from when I saw it in the theatre that she wasn't selling it even back in 1998.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:19 AM on December 30, 2008

Jawbreaker does, i believe
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 8:28 AM on December 30, 2008

SLC Punk has a good monologue about different cliques.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 8:58 AM on December 30, 2008

Brick. Kind of.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:45 PM on December 30, 2008

The Chocolate War - but it might just be the theme, not a specific scene, can't remember.
posted by hypersloth at 7:47 PM on December 30, 2008