That Grrrl Thinks She's The Queen Of The Neighborhood
The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With A Rebel Girl
Our friendship started in the fall of my freshman year. We were in the same health class and she approached me because she noticed my Led Zeppelin shirt from across the room. We started texting and we had almost everything in common and her house was in walking distance of mine. She instantly wanted me to come over to her house all the time after school and I had always been a goody-two-shoes who dreamed of being a bad-ass and she was exactly everything I wanted to be. It was a magical time where I learned so much about music and the world.
Months went by and we had a blast. We started making a movie together, we went roller-skating, and just walked around town and did what we wanted to. This was completely new to me. We had even made a plan to move to California when we graduated and buy a beach house together. This was so great until I realized that she was changing. She started to hang out with a bad crowd in school. She started heavy drinking, smoking, and having sex with who ever asked. She acted differently around me and the “Rebel Girl” I thought I knew was gone.
She had a hard family life and didn’t even know her biological father which I am sure didn’t make it any easier. One day some guy picked her up from school in the middle of the day and she consumed several shots of vodka within an hour, she could have ended up in the hospital. That was when I had to speak up. I told her how much she was concerning me and how much I cared. She thought I was judging her and she probably thought I was a loser or something. I told her I wanted to focus on school because I have huge dreams and aspirations and she was going down a path that I wanted no part of. We haven’t spoken since. I see her in the halls from time to time but it’s as if we had never met and it was all just one big Technicolor dream.
Our friendship changed me so much. It has honestly shaped who I am and I gained so much of my confidence with her help. In movies and music we see this rebel teen figure as someone we want to be but through what I have experienced I realized that there is nothing wrong or uncool about loving your family and getting good grades. When you graduate from college you will be thankful that you didn’t get sucked down a road of destruction. Also all seriousness aside, I do love me a good punk rock movie. Even though it is a bit dramatized here are some of my favorite films that will suffice your hunger for rebellion (without the consequences).
Hick (2011) dir. Derick Martini
When a Nebraskan teenager named Luli (Chloë Grace Moretz) decides to run away from her home she encounters some obstacles and a few eccentric people along the way.
The Runaways (2010) dir. Floria Sigismondi
A coming-of-age biographical film about the 1970s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways. This film also explores the relationship between band members Joan Jett and Cherie Currie.
Almost Famous (2000) dir. Cameron Crowe
A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour.
The Young Runaways (1968) dir. Arthur Dreifuss
Follows the lives of three unrelated teenagers as they run away from their respective homes, each for different reasons.
The Doom Generation (1995) dir. Gregg Araki
Jordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embark on a sex and violence-filled journey through an America of psychos and quickiemarts.
SLC Punk (1998) dir. James Merendino
Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
Whip It! (2009) dir. Drew Barrymore
In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin.
The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming
A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who even slightly anger them.
Crossroads (2002) dir. Tamara Davis
Three childhood best friends, and a guy they just met, take a road trip across country, finding themselves and their friendship in the process.
Ghost World (2001) dir. Terry Zwigoff
With only the plan of moving in together after high school, two unusually devious friends seek direction in life. As a mere gag, they respond to a man's newspaper ad for a date, only to find it will greatly complicate their lives.
The Punk Singer (2013) dir. Sini Anderson
A look at the life of activist, musician, and cultural icon Kathleen Hanna, who formed the punk band Bikini Kill and pioneered the "riot grrrl" movement of the 1990s.
The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nichols
Recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who happens to be the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.
