In High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies, Denby talked about stereotypical male and female villains common in teen movies. The author describes a stereotypical female villain in teen movies as a blonde girl. She is beautiful, tall, and skinny yet, she dresses awful. She is also mean to everyone, and has two or more friends that look just like her. The three other friends would be considered as the villain’s “side kick.” Their job is usually to follow her and agree to whatever she says. Though she is a villain, she is also popular because everyone is afraid of her. Denby goes on to describe a typical male villain as follows: a counterpart of the female villain; the male is usually a football player, he is build up physically, but he is dumb or stupid, and has only two ways of speaking, “in a conspiratorial whisper, to a friend; or in a drill sergeants sudden bellow.” He sits with one of his limbs spread out and he is dull in class. But he becomes alive and has total control over everyone in the halls and in the cafeteria. He can choose any good looking girl for himself, but he chooses to bring an awkward girl to a prom and sets her up for humiliation. This is a mere example of how high school movies portray beauty as a way to gain popularity and succeed in life especially in relationships, a mere myth to everyday life. Ultimately, it is not beauty or popularity that brings success, it is working hard at what you like best and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In Denby’s view, the teens who cannot be the beautiful ones or who cannot avoid being insulted, teased, or made fun of would be considered heroes of the teen movies. A typical female hero “is usually an intellectual or an artist (she scribbles in a diary, she draws or paints). She is physically awkward, the non-beautiful, walks in a weird way, and very prone to drop her books and dither in terror when she stand before a handsome boy but yet cannot hide her desire to be accepted. If the outsider was male, the storyline would be different. Not all high school movies have all the personality characters but in most movies they are well known and common. Denby continues to talk about how logos and pathos reflect everyday American High Schools. Pathos refers to how characters feel in the movie, such as snobby cheerleaders picking on the "nerds" in these films. The nerds then in high school relate to being picked on and being bullied. Denby also uses logos to give reason and facts about these kinds of movies. . He gives examples of movies that portray the typical high school life. He uses Clueless, Never Been Kissed, Disturbing Behavior; she’s All That, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Another example of a movie that portrays this kind of behavior in high school kids is the movie. Not Another Teen movie is one of the interesting teen movies that fit into this category. The villain in this movie was in fact a football player, you could say he is muscular, and he doesn’t quite look like a dumb student. He does have a few friends, he is not a bully. The villain (girl) in this movie is not quite blonde and she is slender. In the movie though she shows more skin to show off here “femininity,” and she has two more friends that looks just like her. The whole movie was based on a bet that this guy would be able to turn a “nerdy” student into the most popular girl in class. Denby is trying to persuade readers to believe that this is the typical high school scenario. But, this isn't how high school actually is. It's just a perception of it. The movies basically tell you "this is what it's like" but it's really not. There is some truth to Denby’s argument, but for the most part, high school is not about achieving popularity or beauty, it is about finding yourself, making mistakes to finding your winnings or strengths. Denby goes on to blame that teen movies are reflections of the high school lives of writers and
