High School Stereotypes

We did a podcast over media tropes that we are airing next week so before that we wanted to do a brief explanation of it.

In high school what group did you fit in with, was it the jocks, nerds, band geeks, theatre kids, stoners?

It has always been common knowledge that in high school you have to be part of a clique. Cliques are portrayed by the media and children's TV channels, making tropes common knowledge at a very young age.

The number one example that people think of when they hear about media tropes is The Breakfast Club. Five kids from different cliques all get detention and are locked in the same room for a whole weekend: The spoiled girl, the geek, the jock, the Delinquent, and the outcast. The movie then shows that in the end, despite their differences, they all have things in common.

Tropes can be very deceiving especially if you are young and going into high school. This idea has been put into your head that you have to find a specific group to fit in. This has been a main cause of bullying as well. Different cliques bullying each other, thinking there has to be a superior clique when there doesn’t have to be.

Another great example of media tropes is High School Musical. This movie shows you a variety of different cliques the jocks, nerds, preps, etc. But then it ties them all together into the high school musical. All these kids either signed up for the musical or are being punished and forced to help with it.

The problems really start happening when Troy the main boy starts to think about becoming a singer instead of playing basketball, two completely different worlds combining.

Tropes have definitely changed over the years, it’s not like grease or the outsiders anymore.

They have evolved to show a lot more cliques but we are still putting the idea into kids’ minds that they need a clique to survive high school.

When in reality it’s not that simple, people are a lot more complicated than one clique. So you don’t need a clique, you can be a floater and just get to know people and connect.

If you wanna learn more check out these links:

https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/modern-high-school-cliques-study?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/the-science-of-cliques/382570/