The movie Can't Hardly Wait is based on a group of high school seniors who are all a few months away from shipping themselves off to college. Between the relationships and the cliques this movie can be very easily be related to real life high school. However there are some misconceptions and exaggerations about the general high school class. Other examples that can be shown through the movie The Breakfast Club and Mean Girls. .
One thing all these movies have in common with each other and real life is cliques. In each movie there is the group of popular kids, the jocks, the nerds, and the burnouts. Although high school in reality does have these cliques they are slightly over exaggerated throughout these films. For example in the movie i can't hardly wait all the popular kids were good looking, dressed well, everyone wants to be them, and they treats others below them in the social hierarchy harshly. In almost all high school related movies the "populars " seem to see themselves as better than everyone else. When being compared to real life high school, the kids that are considered popular aren't so harsh or cruel to others. However there is a clear separation. The burnouts in movies are seen as disconnected, "druggies ", or even dirty. The nerds or geeks wear their big glasses, pants up high on their waists, sweaters, and of course their backpacks. All of these groupings of kids are mostly separated by stereotypes. In the Breakfast club each kid in the detention group is from a different end of the food chain. By the end they all become closer than ever and realize they aren't quite so different. But each know that following Monday everything will go back to normal. This can be relate to real life because a single person is easier to talk to then to approach a group. Its also easier to go outside our comfort zone when you know that no one will judge you for it. Mean girls has a similar ending whereas the nears the girls who were once so catty at each other for being in a different social group come together, civil, and friends, and now look down as the freshman start the cycle all over again just to learn they aren't so different and coming together is an option they do have.