GRAFFITI and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH

Coming of Age in California in American Cinema

Fast Times at Ridgemont High chronicles the lives of adolescents during the early 1980's in the suburban mall culture of California during that era. American Graffiti is also a cinematic chronicle of the latter stages of suburban, Californian adolescence, but of the early 1960's. The mixed group of girls and boys in Amy Heckerling's classic film hang out at the food courts of shopping malls, empty and soulless places of white tile and franchised signs. The lower tiers of the social rungs work at these establishments, unlike the individuals who patronize such places. The boys of American Graffiti hang out at diners that are locally run and not filled with artificial light. But they too, like the adolescent protagonist's of director Amy Heckerling's film and Cameron Crowe's script, are merely wasting time, waiting for their...
[ View Full Essay]