Reason 7: American Pie
I already mentioned the 1999 teen comedy film briefly in my introduction post of this newsletter, but American Pie definitely deserves its own post. To me, if you say 1999 pop culture, you say American Pie: it was what everyone was talking about (good and bad); the movie contributed to the explosion of the teen movies era that followed into the early 2000s and was in addition to music’s bubblegum pop era; plus the movie includes many other references of that time (Hello Blink 182 cameo!).
Furthermore, American Pie illustrates so much of the time just before the start of the 21st century and the youth culture and pop cultural generation that came off age after it. The film also represents an era where we used the Internet and personal computers, which played a role in the creation of our identity, yet the Internet didn’t completely took over our lives, as it seems to do now.
So in celebration of this cultural gem, here are my favorites of American Pie:
Favorite lines
“See, that’s what I have learned. You can’t plan things,” Vicky tells Kevin about their future together. In all the craziness of the movie, this is a life lesson for the books!
“Get that high C,” Stifler yells to his friend Oz, while making fun of the possibility of Oz and ‘choir chick’ Heather dating. While joking, he makes sexual moves and laughs.
“Dude that chick’s a MILF.” The line doesn’t need any further explanation. With a lasting term such as MILF, it shows how much the movie is still part of today’s pop culture.
Favorite scene
My favorite scene of the movie must be the scene of the morning after the party at Stifler’s house. Chuck Sherman a.k.a the Sherminator, just told the group of friends that he spent the night with a girl. In disbelief the boys react to the news and come up with the idea of the pact to loose their virginity after prom, during the notorious party at Stifler’s house. The scene is the plot of the movie, its funny yet makes you curious as to what comes next.
Favorite characters
Even though he would be the definition of a fuckboy today, Stifler kind of is the movie. He’s funny, he is the reason why they have parties to attend and without Stifler we wouldn’t have Stifler’s mom (remember that one?!).
Other favorites are Heather, Vicky and Jessica. They were easy to identify with and every girl either wanted to be like one them or have them as their BFF.
Favorite songs featured in the film
Bic Runga – Sway
Bacherlo Number One - I Am The Summertime
Tonic – You Wanted More
Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
What happened to this genre? I miss it.
What I overall love about American Pie
What I overall like about American Pie is the essence of friendship. No matter what quirk each character has, their friends accept them. The coming-off-age movie came out when I was twelve and about to start High School. Movies like these made my friends and I wonder what it would be like. And even a few years later, when I was in high school, the movie remained a favorite. Its fun, but we could also all identify with it in some sense, as at the end of the day, it is a movie about the struggle of teenage life.
For us Europeans, the film also represented American school life and the American dream to live like the movies. When I moved to Chicago from Amsterdam three months ago, I flew over the state Michigan and saw the Grand Rapids area. In the movie the town is called East Great Falls, based on the writer’s days at East Grand Rapids High School. My plane than flew over Lake Michigan and I immediately thought about Stifler’s party after prom on Lake Michigan and realized how much I still love the movie.