13 Going on 30 and Me

I was hesitant to watch this movie because I felt like it would be a repeat storyline similar to 17 Again, and even though it may have a few similarities, 13 Going on 30 is not a repeat.
13 Going on 30 is a typical story about a younger person becoming older by a wish that they made. Jenna Rink is in middle school and is in the typical nerdy girl who dreams of being accepted by the "popular kids". After a prank gets pulled on her she wishes she was, "30, Flirty, and Thriving" like she saw in a magazine. Before she can finish crying, she transforms and is transported to the future where she is 30. She finds out that the life she had always dreamed of, was not what she wanted. It is filled with jealousy, back stabbing, and dead friendships. She then takes on the mission to fix her life as it is now in her 30's. In the end, she reverts back to her 13 year old self and decides to invest in what she has, and not what she thinks she wants.
This movie addresses many middle school stereotypes, as it does take place in a middle school setting in the beginning of the movie. The first stereotype that stuck out was the "nerdy, naïve girl". This was Jenna in the movie. She had the smarts and abilities to complete hers and other's projects (The Six Chicks). She also got taken in when it was obvious to the audience that the Six Chicks only wanted her to do her homework and not actually come to the party. Although it is true that middle schoolers in general are naïve, they are not naïve enough to do homework for other students. This has become even more true in the age of plagiarism awareness. She believed in them with a blind trust which is often considered to be naïve. The second stereotype represented was the mean girls clique. This is embodied in the group named the Six Chicks. They wear make-up, fashion forward clothing, and exude confidence. Girls and guys who are often thrown into this stereotype do care about how they look, but often hide their insecurities under their fake confidence. In addition, students who come from families who are well off, do wear name brands, but not always. In middle school, make-up is highly experimental and not many girls wear it every single day. The third  stereotype is of the music nerd guy. This would be Jenna's friend Matt in the movie. He loves music that is less than mainstream and he has different types of technology to play his music. Most of all, he has interesting dance moves. In reality, middle school students are trying to define mainstream. In some middle schools today Taylor Swift music is huge. In other schools, you are looked down upon for liking Taylor Swift. This makes stereotyping music as different an inconclusive judgement. Depending on the area the music can actually gain popularity in a year or two. Matt has a real interest in music, like many middle schoolers have. Real students in Middle school often have many different ways they prefer to listen to music through. As far as the dance moves, I think most middle school students are quite awkward in their dance moves. That is unless they have an awesome dance unit in P.E.
In this movie I am most like Jenna. I was naïve to a certain degree. I wanted to be popular. I dreamed of having the best clothes. I always longed for when I would be older and more mature. I had a crush on a boy that the whole school did. I was a goody two shoes. I was constantly seeking approval from peers. I longed to feel like I belong. At the end of my middle school career, I learned that it mattered most who I had around me instead of what. I learned that shallow friendships based on "favors" was not worth while. I learned that even though I was nerdy and my friends and I did not fit in, in the traditional sense and it did not matter. We had each other and that is what is most important. I still have three friends I connect with a couple times a year fro Middle School.

Creative Goonies Title

            The Goonies tells the story of a group of neighborhood friends on a quest to find One-Eyed Willie’s secret treasure. Mikey and Brand desperately need the treasure in order to pay off their house so that they may continue living in their home. If the brothers (Mikey and Brand) fail to collect enough money, they will have to move away and leave the Goonies behind forever.

            The teenage group of friends stumble upon a map while walking around Mikey’s attic one last time. Upon finding the map, the Goonies immediately set out on bicycles on their way down the map’s path. The posse ends up in a restaurant owned by the evil Fratellis. Each kid must use their unique abilities in attempts to thwart the Fratellis and get to the treasure.

Throughout the adventure, the Goonies prove that friends must stick together. There are several times in which various characters try to give up and head home, but each time, it ends up only making matters worse. The group thrives when the members work as a team. The Goonies escape the Fratellis’ grasp when they work together and trust each other.

One stereotype portrayed is Chunk’s pathological lying. Chunk deeply desires to be loved and accepted by people, so he attempts to seek that out by telling fake stories. This truth is pretty evident among most middle school kids. Many people around this age seek acceptance by being the center of attention. Who is at the center of attention but the kid with the wildest story? The lying nature of Chunk is exaggerated heavily compared to real children. I do not know anyone who has ever legitimately lied to police officers (certainly not for attention). I think this stereotype is more frequently seen in small exaggerations that spice up stories.

A second stereotype in The Goonies is the clumsiness of middle school kids. Data flies through a screen door, Chunk knocks over a statue, etc. I do not think every single kid is clumsy in middle school, but many go through an awkward period of issues with motor skills. Bodies go through rapid changes during these years, so it’s expected that people will not always be sure how to coordinate themselves perfectly. So yes, I think this stereotype is accurate, but I think it’s a lot less glamorous and funny in reality.

A third stereotype that I noticed throughout the film is the use of inappropriate language from the teenage characters. I am not sure why, but people begin experimenting with much more harsh language once they enter middle school; it may be due to the change in moral development in brains at this age. Now, kids aren’t yelling obscenities left and right like some of the characters in this film, but they certainly use worse language than elementary school students.

I think that Mouth most resembles me as a middle school student. Like Mouth, I always worried about how my hair looked, getting the last word in, and getting attention from girls. Chunk sought out attention from the guys, but I wanted more acceptance from romantic interests. Another way that I related to Mouth is that we both acted like angels in front of our friends’ parents. It’s not like I was a bad kid or anything, but I always tried to make a good impression on older people. On the other hand, I didn’t abuse it and terrorize and maids as Mouth did. 

I watched Super 8, which is about a group of friends who are filming a low-budget zombie movie for a film competition. While they are filming, they witness a train derailment caused by a truck driving onto the tracks. The camera is still running after the wreck has happened and catches a strange sight. The kids walk through the wreckage and then find that the driver of the truck is still alive. He warns them to never speak of what they saw. Soldiers fill their city and strange things start to happen. A few of the kids watch the footage from the video and see that there is a alien around. Soldiers begin an evacuation. One of the kids is taken by the alien. The dads decide to work together to save their kids. The aliens depart on a spaceship from the town. Joe and Alice end holding hands.

         Kids making risky choices, without thinking, is just one stereotype presented. The kids are thoughtless through the whole movie which is typical for the movies, and for middle schoolers. I believe all of the kids in the movie show this characteristic. This is shown through their fearlessness as they explore the wreckage or approach soldiers and film in places where they shouldn't be. The middle schoolers also show their hormones and their newfound interest in people of the opposite gender in the blooming relationship between Joe and Alice. They were also tough and independent which goes hand in hand with the thoughtlessness of the kids. When the students witness the train crash, they stick around and they stay silent, not telling the police or their parents. This is an exaggeration because most middles schoolers would not be able to keep a secret like that. Middle schoolers trust their parents to protect them, even if they don’t want that protection. Middle schoolers still believe in the power of their parents, even if they want to be independent. This goes along with the fearlessness. Most middle schoolers would be running and worried about what might happen to them. They would put on a brave face to try and prove that they are "grown up" and "tough" but most middle schoolers would still leave. The kids in the movie are also too well spoken to be your typical middle schoolers. In the hormones sense, the relationship between Joe and Alice is realistic but when it comes to their level of communication, they speak too well. They are not awkward enough in my opinion.

I think I was most similar to Joe. I was pretty flexible and easy going like Joe but because of this, I let people kind of push me around which is what Joe does. When his friends ask him if they can blow up his model train, he says yes. I would have been very similar, and it has taken years, and friends like Alice to help me stand up for myself and allow myself to care for my own feelings. I thought I was just being a good friend. And I was, so was Joe, but sometimes we have to take care of ourselves and not only everyone else. 

Goonies never say die!

The movie, The Goonies was released in 1985. The summer between my 7th and 8th grade years, so I guess you could say that it was my middle school movie. Like several other movies of that era, whether it be Pretty in Pink (1985), The Breakfast Club (1985) or Revenge of the Nerds (1984), stereotypes of teenagers were the building blocks that so many stories were built on. It seems that stereotypes, which by definition, oversimplified characters, was a vehicle to set up the premise of the movie, only to reveal later that maybe everyone is a little more complex than initially presented.  The Goonies,  was no exception, although it is interesting how middle school and high school age characters are put together in this movie, highlighting the difference between the expectations of the two groups. The film is ultimately a story about a rag- tag group of "losers" in a small coastal town in Oregon, who pull together to find a treasure that will allow them to solve all their problems, only to realize that the journey itself reveals who they truly are. 

Mikey, the main character and his band of middle school friends are faced with an adult dilemma that threatens their group cohesiveness. Mikey's house is under foreclosure and he and his family will have to move if they cannot pay off the bank. Mikey, " the optimist" and "true believer" is a middle school kid who still believes is some of the fairytales of his youth. In contrast to his older brother Brand, who is jaded and has a firmer grasp on the reality that his mom is facing, Mikey is not ready to let go of childhood dreams and one of those dreams is... treasure! The film leans hard into Mikey's optimism and seems to suggest that if he is able to hold on to some of his childlike beliefs, he will grow into a full grow hero and a better version of a teenager. Indeed, perhaps it is already within him despite his age as implied by the scene where his is mistakenly kissed by Andy, the cheerleader, who is impressed by his liplock technique. 

Another character who has some abilities that are largely unappreciated until they literally save the day, is Data. Data is a caricature of a caricature in some ways as his character embodies just about every Asian stereotype of that era- fast talking, funny accent, over the top facial expressions, technology and gadgets tied to his body and obliviousness to how ridiculous he looks. Beyond the unfortunate Asian stereotypes, Data represents the middle school kid who is a bit socially awkward and does not yet care about his appearance or his image. He comes off as "nerdy" because he does not hide his intelligence or curiosity. He may struggle with small talk and is still pretty inwardly focused in that he may be unaware of how he is perceived all the time, but still wants to be helpful or useful to others. He reminds us of the shift that middle school kids will make from being focused on themselves to being aware of others. Data is useful to the team because of his inventions and intelligence. His bravery is also revealed in the film in some of the more perilous scenes as he tries to get the team out of the "booby traps" set by the pirate to protect his treasure.  

Chunk is a character who is revealed to be brave in a different way. A "chunky" or fat kid with curly hair and a mole, Chunk is loud, brash and uses humor as a way to beat people to the punch when it comes to his weight. Middle School kids are in transition physically and Chunk represents all those kids who put on the weight, only to shoot up in height and become proportional again. Interestingly enough, the actor who played Chunk went on to college and was a student leader, an RA on his floor. By that time he was a very normal looking college guy who had no problem seeing the  humor in his former self and used the movie to bond with his floor. What is revealed about Chunk's character is that despite his "clown" image, he is capable of great empathy and is able to see beyond external appearances as he does with the villian's younger (but giant-like) brother, the grotesque looking "Sloth." Chunk is able to win this"gentle giant" over with friendship and inclusion into his group of "Goonies." His winning over and acceptance of "Sloth" creates an ally that is key in overthrowing the villains. 

Mikey is a hero, Data is brave and Chunk is a great friend are the takeaways from the movie. They a joined by several other characters who also fit into neat stereotypes until the search for treasure reveals their inner treasure- the cheerleader who finds her voice, the older brother who rediscovers his bond with his brother, the mouthy kid who finds a girlfriend who is just as mouthy as he is and several more.  In thinking about the character that I would most identify with at that age, there is a little of all of them in my story, but I think that Mikey, the main protagonist, would embody the most of what I was about at that time. I distinctly remember thinking of myself as striving to be "friends with everyone", an optimist and in search of authenticity. Part of me was nostalgic for my childhood adventures and I felt the tension of what I was "supposed" to care about as a new "teenager" and what I really did care about. Unique to my story was that, for the last half of my 7th grade year, I had the opportunity to live in Honduras with my best friend's family, who were doing a one year mission as a family at a Hospital. After six months of living in a different culture with a radically different standard of living, not to mention police corruption and other threats, I came back to the states to the summer of 1985. "We are the World" and Madonna's "Material Girl" were at the top of the charts. Music videos on MTV were repeated multiple times a day and teenage "Mall culture" was at an all time high. I had such culture shock, even though I had not been gone that long. I had to reconcile what I had seen in a third world culture with the bright and bizarre pop culture I was now immersed in as I returned to Junior High in the States. Like Mikey, I desperately wanted to believe in hidden treasure that would help my world make sense. Something optimistic that would reveal that I could move forward without losing my authentic self. The search of that "authentic self" that you refuse to be embarrassed by, is what it means to me to be a "Goonie." That is the ultimate peer group where anyone can feel like they belong.