Every teenager experiences it. Most act on it. But adolescent peer influence isn’t what Hollywood makes it out to be, a conclusion drawn by Elon University associate professor Jean Schwind, whose examination of “peer pressure” as portrayed in movies and books is the focus of a recent article in the Journal of Popular Culture.
Schwind presents this argument in her article “Cool Coaching at Ridgemont High,” which looks at the 1982 coming-of-age comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Written by Cameron Crowe after going undercover at Clairemont High School in San Diego, the book and subsequent screenplay recount observations of the high school and the students Crowe befriended.
In the December article, Schwind, a faculty member in the Department of English, argues that Crowe’s book offers insights into adolescent friendship that deserve serious attention because observational research on high school students is difficult and rare. In Crowe’s Ridgemont High, everyone had a “coach,” someone who offered strategic advising in peer relationships.
She explains that “peers” acquired negative connotations in the 1950s when large comprehensive high schools became the norm for American families. All of a sudden, races and economic classes were mixing, and parents worried about the consequences.
“’Cool coaching’ is a source of advice that parents can’t provide. Kids rely on their parents for advice about college applications, but when it comes to what to wear or how to respond to an e-mail, they need someone who is immersed in the same sub-culture as they are,” Schwind said. “I think cool coaching becomes a way of providing the kind of support that people need and information that you might lack.”
Schwind argues that Crowe captures the positive functions of peer relationships as advisers and important sounding boards. This is a stark contrast from other high school films and books such as Thirteen and Queen Bees and Wannabees, the book on which the 2004 film Mean Girls is based. According to Schwind, these stories are sensationalized and an outrageous portrayal of peer pressure.
“Fiction and film depend on drama. Dysfunction is more interesting in film than what is normative,” said Schwind, a faculty member in the Department of English. “The average teenager gets along just fine with his parents and has healthy relationships with his friends, but that does not create an interesting story.”
Schwind, recognized in 2006 with the university’s highest teaching honor, the Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching, became interested in adolescent portrayal while developing her general studies seminar, American Adolescence, with former Elon psychology professor Seena Granowsky. Schwind was especially interested in the “real” high school experience because she never went to a public school.
She is currently working on a book about the representation of high schools in film and fiction. Her former research was mostly on American literature, including Willa Cather, Walt Whitman and Sinclair Lewis.
“Jean is known on campus as the consummate teacher. Her colleagues are amazed and awed by her energy, intelligence, compassion, and generosity,” said Steven House, dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “I am delighted that she has published this article and look forward to her book on representations of high school in American film and fiction.”
Schwind has published articles in PLMA, Modern Fiction Studies, Studies in American Fiction, Cather Studies and Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. She has served on numerous faculty committees at Elon and chaired the Academic Council in 2001-2002.
Schwind currently serves on the Honors Program Advisory Council, the Common Reading Committee and the General Studies Assessment Task Force.
To read “Cool Coaching at Ridgemont High” in its entirety, click on the link to the right of this page under the E-Cast section.
– Written by Megan Kirkpatrick ’09