Understanding Reality Bites in 2018
In light of the most recent court hearing of Brett Kavanaugh and this article from Vox which parallels Brett Kavanaugh's high school experience to the one offered by the 80's teen classic Sixteen Candles, I've been going back to my favorite films from the 80's and 90's with a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the influence and expectations that these films have set for our generation. Reality Bites - which stars then 'it' girl Winona Ryder as Lelaina Pierce and the forever brooding dream boy Ethan Hawke as Troy Dyer was released in 1994 and is easily one of my favorite coming-of-age films from that decade. I watched this movie for the first time when I was about seven years old. My siblings rented it out on VHS and i've been re-watching it almost every year for twenty years. My best friend and I still talk about recreating that scene in the car where Lelaina and Vickie jam out to Tempted by Squeeze (I'm Lelaina in this scenario btw