I don't remember when/why I deemed it, say, a cultural touchstone

Mmm. Can you quote anything from it? Did it launch careers? What are your criteria for touchstone? I'd not say Can't Hardly Wait is a competitor in that regard (just that it's better -- it is, I swear!), but Clueless fills that spot a lot better.

As for comics -- if you sort the top-grossing comic book movies:

Movie YearGross 1Spider-man2002403.7 2Spider-man 22004368.2 3Batman1989251.1 4Men In Black1997250.6 5X2: X-Men United2003214.9 6Men In Black 22002190.4 7Batman Forever1995184 8Batman Returns1992162.8 9X-Men2000157.1 10Teenage Mutant Turtles1990135.2 11Superman1978134.2 12Hulk2003132.1 13The Mask1994119.9 14Superman 21981108.1 15Batman and Robin1997107.2 16Road to Perdition2002104.4 17Dick Tracy1990103.7 18Daredevil2003102.5 19Casper1995100.3 20Blade 2200282.3

by year:

Movie YearGross Superman1978134.2 Superman 21981108.1 Batman1989251.1 Teenage Mutant Turtles1990135.2 Dick Tracy1990103.7 Batman Returns1992162.8 The Mask1994119.9 Batman Forever1995184 Casper1995100.3 Men In Black1997250.6 Batman and Robin1997107.2 X-Men2000157.1 Spider-man2002403.7 Men In Black 22002190.4 Road to Perdition2002104.4 Blade 2200282.3 X2: X-Men United2003214.9 Hulk2003132.1 Daredevil2003102.5 Spider-man 22004368.2

I don't see enough of a gap or a bump in $$ to credit any of them with revitalising the market. And it's just wrong (even if technically right) to see a couple of those flicks up there.

Can you quote anything from it?

Rachel: "I'm not smart."
Freddie: "What?"
Rachel: "I'm not smart. I can't help you with your homework, if that's what you're trying to do here."
Freddie: "I have the third-highest GPA in the class."

Rachel: "I feel just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, only without the whole hooker thing."

Freddie: "I want you to help me with art."
Rachel: "You don't take art." (memorable because reprised later)

Freddie: "Don't miss, boy, don't miss. We're counting on you."....et ceterea...*plop* "Sooner or later, you have to miss." *APPLAUSE*

I can quote from it. More than I can from Can't Hardly Wait or Clueless. Even though I fully acknowledge that both of them are superior films. I think I might consider it a cultural touchstone if for no other reason than so many movies with nearly the exact same plotline have been worse (see: "Never Been Kissed") and still made money.

Okay, can anyone not admittedly obsessed with the genre do that? Do you see what I mean? You're putting more cult into cultural touchstone than I would.

It was my impression (and those are being sore tested) that Clueless was a movie that got talked about, that gave Alicia Silverstone a big leg up, spawned a TV show -- that sort of touching the stone of culture. Which makes me now realise, that when I hear "as if!" in my head, it's her voice (much like "Ew!" has been coopted by Rachel Bilson).

I think I might consider it a cultural touchstone if for no other reason than so many movies with nearly the exact same plotline have been worse (see: "Never Been Kissed") and still made money.

I think that makes Pygmalion a cultural touchstone, not She's All That.

I think that makes Pygmalion a cultural touchstone, not She's All That.

Haha. Good point.

I'm actually kind of worried that I remember so many bits from She's All That. Considering I've really only seen it once and was not that impressed. And I saw it during a week of obsessive watching of movies from that period, so I saw all kinds of other movies, some much better (Ten Things I Hate About You) and some much worse (Drive me Crazy) and don't think I have as clear a memory of the scenes in ANY of the movies as I do for that one. At least not of any of them that I haven't watched many times since.

Frankly, I don't think any movie of this genre can possibly qualify as a cultural touchstone in any outside-of-its-own-little-world sort of way. The vast majority of the audience for these movies is purely an "entertain me once and I'll forget about it" audience, not one that uses it to define their worlds.

For the people in their target demographic, I'd say the cultural touchstones for the population at large are Austin Powers, for example. And Lord of the Rings (which is one for everybody), and maybe American Pie a little. The Teen Movies that get the credit and get quoted and remembered are the gross funny ones, not the sappy cute ones. At least so far.

Sappy and cute teen movies havn't really owned an era since Molly Ringwald stopped working.

Sappy and cute teen movies havn't really owned an era since Molly Ringwald stopped working.

Hey there was plenty of gross in those movie, from the Donger in the tree, to Anthony Michael Hall's underwear hunt. Besides which American Pie (the first one anyway) is a pretty sweet movie.

I think Austin Powers pokes outside its demographic. American Pie a little, but not so much. I have absolutely no Ring-related perspective, but at the very least, everyone and their mother must have heard of it now. Hell, my father has, and Trek was a recent discovery for him.

Lessee. Thinking of teen movies -- I do wonder which ones affected people not actually teen at the time. Or sufficiently shaped the teens of the time to percolate into their adulthood (which makes most 90s movies too recent for me to really consider). I'm gonna have to go with Ferris Bueller's Day Off (which I hated) and Risky Business. I know I'm leaving out some obvious movies, but ... I haven't seen them. And I never felt the same sort of gap that not having seen, say, The Godfather had given me.

Oh. Grease. Can't forget that.

And I never felt the same sort of gap that not having seen, say, The Godfather had given me.

Oh thank God there's someone else.

Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are major touchstones.

Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are major touchstones.

Those, and Pretty In Pink were the very ones I was thinking of. Their effect must be more subtle than, say, Star Wars or even Gilligan's Island (P-C, I did eventually see Godfather, so you're flying solo) because I don't feel a blankness resulting (in fact or theory) from not having seen them.

I had them in my head in places more like Princess Bride, where the people that know, REALLY know, and really love, but isn't quite the badge of acceptance to general pop culture and beyond.

I still haven't seen any of the Godfather movies, but I still get what the references are. I don't care that I haven't actually seen the scene or whatever.

And I have no idea about the broader cultural relevance of the Molly RIngwald oevre, just because most of my friends have seen them as many times as I have.