What is behind the term high school core and why is it almost gone again?
Three observations:
1. americana
The ’90s were probably the height of the high school pop aesthetic. There were several popular high school shows like Clueless and Buffy, high school comic series like Daria, high school horror like Scream, high school comedies like American Pie, and even a high school comedy about high school horror : “Scary Movie” (2000). European teenagers wanted to go to school in America to see their season finale at the prom.
Everyone learned: The school belle is most likely a bitch, or the nice outsider is the real school belle if she just takes off her glasses. In the late noughties, the high school theme was primarily musical. There were the “High School Musical” films (2006-2008), Miley Cyrus’ series about a high school student who is also a pop star, “Hannah Montana” (2006-2011), and “Glee” (2009-2015). a school pop choir.
The dance trend that survived from this time bled out into the sign dance app music.ly from 2014 onwards. From now on everyone was the protagonist. TikTok bought music.ly. Lipsync dances are no longer the core of the app – and the colorful high school aesthetic that was previously spat out is coming back. But now through the lens of female directors whose protagonists are also female and are told as gays, nerds and underdogs.
In Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” (2019), the lesbian nerd Amy wants to make up for all the stupid things she missed at a graduation party with her nerd friend Molly. And in Emma Seligman’s “Bottoms” (2023), two “ugly, untalented lesbians” open a fight club disguised as self-defense with which they want to “get to know” straight girls.
2 take your pants and jacket
Emma Seligman poses with her leading actresses Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri for the cover of “New York Magazine” in clothes that are read as male or on bodies that read as female and then sometimes read as queer: the first motif shows them like confirmation candidates – in suits that are too big with wide ties . The second she sees like dads on vacation: big Hawaiian shorts, a T-shirt that’s too loose, and an open shirt over it. And the third in prep school style with tweed pants and rugby shirts.
The motifs are reminiscent of the Boygenius–Nirvana pastiche “Rolling Stone” cover from December 2022. The female and/or queer new interpretation of male-read aesthetics is the spirit of the times. In the video for “Feet up” (2023), My Ugly Clementine run naked through Vienna, like Blink-182 in “What’s My Age Again” (1999) through Los Angeles, and play their instruments covered in hair like Nirvana in “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” (1991), get in trouble from the record boss like Sum 41 in “Stll Waitng” (2002) and – for the sake of completeness: sit studded in the back seat of a car like Avril Lavigne in “Sk8er Boi” (2002).
3. does this look infected?
Olivia Rodrigo is often compared to Avril Lavigne, who once starred in the series adaptation of “High School Musical” and now makes grungy teen rock, which she accompanies with videos that look like high school comedies. “Bad Idea Right?” (2023) has it all: parties with red cups, crop shirts and football shirts with vomit in the parents’ garden.
Meanwhile, Sophie Passmann is being discussed on Normschön is an adjective that is not yet in the dictionary, but is critical of the Western prom queen ideal (white, slim and a symmetrical face).
Moshtari Hilal’s essay “Ugliness” (Hanser, 2023) calls for us to unlearn the derogatory gaze that comes with standard beauty and with which we judge others. Why is the debate about aesthetics so virulent? Thanks to the Internet and the associated availability of everything, there are no longer any subcultures tied to music, but only (pop) aesthetics that people can buy into without belonging to a community. The five minutes of high school core are almost over again.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 11/2023.