The Eternal Sunshine Of The High School Mind

Name me a theme more common and yet, still appealing as the theme of star-crossed lovers. They're typically from different backgrounds, getting together despite all obstacles and singing their hearts to boot. From ROMEO AND JULIETTE to HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL the themes that appeal to us don't change very much. In fact, most screenwriters and novelists will tell you, there are only five or six stories that are ever worth telling. Boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks meeting the girl-from-the-other-side-of-the-tracks and falling in love will always play.

Sweeten the plot by setting it in high school and you've got yourself a hit. High school is that one rite of passage we all share collectively, regardless of economic, social, or ethnic backgrounds. Regardless of gender, even. Surviving and thriving in high school is a significant event, especially if you just survived it, or if you thrived in it.

Making the case that high school is an accurate bell-weather for gauging how far you excel in the real world is a bit hackneyed. But, it could shed some light on your mindset. Some people have such a miserable time, they are compelled to transform themselves into someone they could never imagine being inn high school. One way or another, high school will and does effect the rest of your life.

It'sounds nationalistic, but the promise of a high school movie is the promise of America. People, from different and diametrical backgrounds, can get together, fall in love and sing their little hearts out doing it. The closest comparison may be to the Bollywood epics that blend every facet of human existence into two or three hours of melodramatic, comedy, musical fun.

We all ache to have had the courage to punch out the bully and sing sweetly to our secret love. That's the perennial appeal of the high school movie: it allows us to hope. We can hope for the same kind of unbound courage even now. We want to sing out at the office, dance on top of the cubicle walls, and lead all of our co-workers out the door and into the sunset.