There was a time – a rather long time, in fact – when teenagers didn’t dominate the motion picture industry. Movies were made by and for adults, and typically featured mature individuals dealing with mature problems. Teen movies finally got a jump-start in the 1950s when lowbrow horror movies and cautionary tales about youthful rebellion made a splash, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that the genre completely exploded, driving the young to the multiplex to see teen movies that explored their adolescent daily lives in realistic, comedic and fantastic ways.
Nowadays, teen movies seem to drive the entire motion picture industry, but since the movies are still made by adults, their heroes don’t always seem to resonate with audiences of any age. The heroes of teen movies who stick with us speak to real issues teenagers deal with, and learn practical lessons that young audiences still can apply to their lives years later. The most iconic heroes of teen movies are fully realized characters like any other, even if they’re stuck in schlocky stories.
Related: 11 Other Great Back to School Movies
With the latest Hunger Games now in theaters, starring Jennifer Lawrence as one of the most inspirational teen movie heroes around, CraveOnline wanted to take a look at the 40 adolescent heroes who changed our lives, either by inspiring or entertaining or making us think long and hard at the tragedies that befall the young in a society that likes to exploit them, but not always treat them like real people.
Did we miss your favorites? Let us know in the comments. There are too many teen heroes to highlight them all, and what inspires us can be totally subjective. So go ahead and share the teen movie heroes that made your life a little better, one way or another, because that’s exactly what we are about to do.
Slideshow: The Top 40 Teen Movie Protagonists
The Top 40 Teen Movie Protagonists
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40. Bill S. Preston, Esq. & Ted 'Theodore' Logan
FROM: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Bill and Ted can't start the world's greatest band unless they pass history class. Fortunately they have a time machine. Actually, that's a pretty good message for kids, that school pays off in really unexpected ways, but even beyond that they're just really nice kids, aren't they?
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39. Light Yagami
FROM: Death Note (2006)
Light Yagami finds an enchanted notebook that will kill anyone if he writes their name down. It's disturbing that he goes for it, but dazzling as he concocts clever ways around the increasingly complicated rules. Light is so smart you almost want the sick bastard to get away with it.
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38. Luke Skywalker
FROM: Star Wars (1977)
Luke Skywalker is an old-fashioned hero cipher: good looking, heroic and destined for greatness. He's also kind of whiny. He's a great character to latch onto, and his adventures are epic, but he's just not distinctive enough to rank any higher.
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37. Napoleon Dynamite
FROM: Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Napoleon Dynamite's oversized ego combined with his obvious corkiness leads to an unlikely but lovable personality. He's an underdog who never thinks of himself that way. It's positively ironic until he finally gets to unleash his inner badass.
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36. Riff Randell
FROM: Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
The Ramones-obsessed star of Rock 'n' Roll High School is infectiously enthusiastic and rebellious without ever getting angst about it. She's the feel good hero we all wish we could be.
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35. Terry Griffith
FROM: Just One of the Guys (1985)
Terry Griffith tries to expose high school sexism by posing as a guy, challenging sexual identity stereotypes and teaching everyone - including herself - a valuable lesson. Bonus points for fabulous fashion sense!
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34. Christopher 'Kid' Robinson, Jr. & Peter 'Play' Martin
FROM: House Party (1990)
The stars of the cult classic House Party aren't dumb party kids. They're refreshingly normal teens with a healthy interest in socializing, sex and - in the sequel - a burgeoning interest in social activism. They were pretty good in Class Act too.
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33. Donnie Darko
FROM: Donnie Darko (2001)
Lots of teenagers feel trapped in a world they don't fully understand, barely able to hold in their adolescent rage. Donnie Darko goes the next step further, by talking to a imaginary (?) bunny with a scary face that sets him on a morbid sci-fi adventure that might perfectly encapsulate the high school experience, or might just be confusing as hell. You decide.
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32. Ferris Bueller
FROM: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Not so much a fully realized character as utter wish-fulfillment, Ferris Bueller takes a day off and practically conquers Chicago in the process. He breaks the fourth wall like Bugs Bunny and gets away with literally everything. We all wish we could be Ferris Bueller. And there's a good chance that regular people would hate us for it.
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31. Jerry Mitchell
FROM: Three O'Clock High (1987)
An unremarkable teen forced into remarkable circumstances, poor Jerry Mitchell accidentally picks a fight with a deadly bully and spends the whole day trying to get out of it. His every scheme backfires, turning Jerry at first into the ultimate poor bastard, but gradually transforming him into a legend. There aren't many heroes quite like him, teenaged or otherwise.
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30. William Miller
FROM: Almost Famous (2000)
Teen rock enthusiast William Miller gets a gig working for Rolling Stone following a band on their crazy tour, forcing him to choose between the fantasy of rock and the reality of journalism. That's heady stuff for anyone, and his pubescent attachment to the band and their roadies only complicates the situation more and more.
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29. Joel Goodson
FROM: Risky Business (1983)
Your parents are out of town. What are you going to do, Joel Goodson? Obviously you're going to hire a prostitute and wind up living with her and owing a ton of money to her pimp, forcing you into the pimp business yourself. The situation is ridiculous but the real appeal is Joel's steadily dissolving state of mind. Is he cutting loose, giving up on his future, or just he learning a valuable lesson about rolling with the punches? Risky Business works either way.
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28. Ren McCormack
FROM: Footloose (1984)
Ren McCormack moves to a small town where dancing is illegal and religious fervor has turned to book burning. But rather than lash out he tries to inspire the community, even working within the system and Biblical rationals to come up with a new way of living that works for everyone. And boy, can he dance too.
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27. Andrew Detmer
FROM: Chronicle (2012)
A thinly masked supervillain origin story finds Andrew Detmer and his friends bestowed with godlike powers, but not all of them are emotionally mature enough to handle the responsibility. By the time Andrew goes full-blown Akira, he's become a potent, modern sci-fi tragedy.
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26. Peter Parker
FROM: Spider-Man (2002)
The Sam Raimi version of Spider-Man understands what it's like to be a dweeb, and highlights the fact that poor Peter Parker will never, ever be cool. But that doesn't mean he isn't capable of greatness. The world's first truly neurotic superhero deals with relatable love triangles and psychologically crippling trauma. The inspirational part is that he never stops trying to do the right thing, if only because he's afraid to do otherwise.
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25. Charlotte 'Charlie' Newton
FROM: Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Charlie has a lot of growing up to do in Alfred Hitchcok's suspenseful classic. Her uncle is back in town, and she worships the ground that he walks on, but when she begins to suspect that he's really a murderer on the run she's forced to deal with the situation under her parents' nose, without ever revealing her true feelings. All teenagers feel that way at one point or another, that their problems are life-or-death and that their parents are incapable of helping. In Charlie's case, it just happens to be true. But she handles the situation remarkably, with wit and vulnerability alike.
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24. Katniss Everdeen
FROM: The Hunger Games (2012)
Heroic, believably emotional and mired in a culturally relevant web of social media, manufactured news and outright propaganda, Katniss Everdeen has become a symbol of defying the system. It's just too bad that her films are so heavily marketed that she's also the face of that system too.
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23. Martin 'Marty' McFly
FROM: Back to the Future (1985)
The lovable, somewhat flawed hero of the Back to the Future movies gets into unthinkable situations - like dating his own mother - but comes face to face with the consequences of teenaged actions past, present and future and learns valuable lessons from them. Plus he gets a hoverboard.
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22. Charlotte 'Cher' Horowitz
FROM: Clueless (1995)
Although Cher has become, in some circles at least, a poster child for ditziness, she's a very rich character at heart. Her naive superficiality disguises an optimistic attitude, and she spends most of her time helping the people around her find happiness. And by the end of Clueless, she manages to turn that productivity inward and grow as a person too.
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21. Lane Myer
FROM: Better Off Dead... (1985)
There's nothing funny about teen suicide... except when Lane Myer does it. Feeling as though his life has been forever ruined after a heart-crushing breakup, and blind to the many whimsical adventures life still has to offer, fate won't ever let him seal the deal. Because there's always a reason to keep going. For instance, that one kid still needs his two dollars.
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20. Harold 'Harry' Potter
FROM: The Harry Potter Franchise (2001-2011)
Harry Potter began his literary existence as a put-upon kid who gets everything - fame, money, the ability to burn evildoers with his touch - handed to him as a birthright. But over the course of the franchise he evolved believably through sticky, emotional puberty and accepted the increasingly mature responsibilities that came with the package. What's more, he kept our sympathy even when he made enormous mistakes.
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19. Andie Walsh
FROM: Pretty in Pink (1986)
Andie Walsh invented her own style, and her own way of navigating frustrating class divides. Her best friend is in love with her, and so is the most popular girl in school, and she weathers that melodramatic storm with honesty and dignity and ultimate makes the right choice for herself, not the audience or society as a whole. You rock, Andie.
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18. Daniel LaRusso
FROM: The Karate Kid (1984)
Daniel LaRusso is a pretty normal kid, capable of self-destructive decisions and damn-near selfishness, until he finds the right mentor in The Karate Kid. Forced to learn tough lessons, admit he doesn't know everything, and actually physically work to develop as a person, he's a character we can all recognize and look up to.
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17. Lucas Bly
FROM: Lucas (1986)
Lucas doesn't achieve greatness, he latches onto it, with more popular friends who find his neediness a little annoying, but also find his sincerity and goodness unmistakable. He's bullied, he's ill-equipped for the sports he tries out for, he suffers slings and arrows and never loses his decency. And eventually, everyone comes to respect him for that. As well they should.
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16. Brendan Frye
FROM: Brick (2005)
Isolation from popular cliques makes Brendan Frye the perfect teen detective in Brick, a film that frames high school as a film noir with parent/teacher conferences. The metaphor is so sound that it rarely even plays like a joke, and the dogged hero - whose ex-girlfriend has run afoul of some very dangerous types - feels perfectly in place. Grim determination isn't the best way to describe most teen movie heroes, but it fits Brendan perfectly.
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15. Veronica Sawyer
FROM: Heathers (1988)
Loathing popular kids is a common practice in high school, and wishing them ill isn't entirely uncommon either. But Veronica Sawyer gets embroiled in a ring of "suicides" the rattle the town, evoke sympathy for the shallow, and force her to confront whether simply disliking people is the same as wanting them dead. As dark comedies goes, Heathers is one of the best, and its heroine neatly encapsulates an inky side of teen society that rarely gets foregrounded with this much wit.
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14. Cady Heron
FROM: Mean Girls (2004)
Cady Heron also doesn't like the popular kids, but the thing about popular kids is that they're really, REALLY popular. Even someone as smart as this Mean Girls protagonist can fall prey to the allure of popularity, and even someone who means well can perpetuate an ugly cycle of backstabbing in high school culture.
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13. Holly Sargis & Kit Carruthers
FROM: Badlands (1973)
Murderers, lovers, maybe a little on the dim side, Holly and Kit became famous outlaws for their love affair that turned deadly, and they managed to trick themselves into thinking their fugitive lives were romantic. Maybe they were, a little, but in the end they have to face the consequences of a life lived without law or self-reflection.
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12. Harold Chasen
FROM: Harold and Maude (1971)
Harold Chasen is fascinated with death. He keeps faking his own suicides. But the morbidity of youth comes face-to-face with the positivity of age when he falls in love with a woman 50 years older than he is, challenging social convention but finding something to live for in the process. Growing up means keeping your spirits high, however you can.
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11. Max Fischer
FROM: Rushmore (1998)
Getting bad grades doesn't mean you don't love school. The teen star of Rushmore excels in extracurricular activities but the kind of moxie that makes him a great club leader doesn't always translate to his interpersonal relationships, something he learns the hard way. But he does learn, and he makes us cheer in the process.
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10. Sidney Prescott
FROM: Scream (1996)
The heroine of the Scream franchise was anything but your typical horror movie scream queen. She was real, and confronted extreme situations with intelligence, honest emotional reactions and a willingness to take charge of her own life even as it was being manipulated by popular culture and homicidal bastards.
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9. Sutter Keely & Aimee Finecky
FROM: The Spectacular Now (2013)
A teen alcoholic without any of the finger-waving judgment lobbed at all the others, Sutter Keely's real problem is that he puts everyone else's needs ahead of his own, nearly destroying himself and sabotaging his relationship with a remarkable young woman in the process. Their love is believable, their flaws portrayed with honesty and respect, and their story is already one of the greats.
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8. Lloyd Dobler
FROM: Say Anything... (1989)
Lloyd Dobler wants to be a kick boxer, but more than anything else he wants to be with the young woman he loves. When complex, relatable issues like leaving for college, a father's disapproval and the natural confusion emerging from early sexual experience get in the way, he mopes like anyone else would. But he never gives up, now does he?
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7. Enid Coleslaw
FROM: Ghost World (2001)
We all like to think that we're better than everyone else. Enid Coleslaw sure seems to, until the poor sap she's semi-stalking, semi-torturing becomes an all-too real person who changes the way she lives. Suffering the alienation of former friends and a confusing new friendship with an older, less-than-perfect man, Enid emerges just as much of an outsider as before... but wiser. We think.
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6. Jim Stark
FROM: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
The original teen rebel remains just as relatable today as he did in the 1950s, oozing cool by being emotionally vulnerable in environments that don't allow for it. Jim Stark is kind, but frequently forced into situations that don't call for it, and he's legitimately torn apart by parents who can't seem to lead by example.
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5. Tre Styles
FROM: Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Tre Styles emerges from the labyrinthine worlds of teen sexuality and gang violence with as much dignity as anyone could muster under the circumstances. He faces impossible circumstances and enormous amounts of pressure to do what is expected of him in a crime-ridden neighborhood, but although his journey through teenaged life is never easy, he does plow through and make (mostly) the right choices, even as his friends do not. His problems are real, his actions are real, his life is genuinely meaningful.
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4. Tracy Turnblad
FROM: Hairspray (1988)
Embodying wholesome standards of beauty and acceptance in an era not entirely famous for them, the heroine of John Waters' Hairspray strikes as inspirational a figure as we've ever seen in a teen movie. We'd all be better off acting a little more like her, but although she's a symbol, she always comes across like a normal, totally believable young woman.
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3. Alex DeLarge
FROM: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
From the dystopian world of Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi masterpiece comes the overeducated violent criminal Alex DeLarge. He'd be a terrifying villain in any other movie, but when he's programmed to ignore his personal impulses he becomes an unlikely antihero, a representation of the worst case scenario of a worst case scenario, fighting for his mind while everyone else takes advantage of his newfound inability to be himself.
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2. Antoine Doinel
FROM: The 400 Blows (1959)
One of the first truly realistic teen heroes, and still one of the best, Antoine Doinel's life doesn't consist of major drama, criminal subplots or horror. It consists of the perception of adults, who insist that he's a bad seed even though no one bothers to really find out who he is. He suffers the projections of those around him and struggles to emerge as his own person. No one can figure him out, but that's just because he hasn't come into his own yet. The scrutiny of others is undermined by the honesty of his portrayal.
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1. Carrie White
FROM: Carrie (1976)
The greatest teen hero? We think so. The tragedy-in-waiting Carrie White is abused at home and by her schoolmates, and that cycle of senseless psychological and physical torture comes back on everyone a hundred times over when they fail to notice Carrie's true potential. That she has psychic powers is an obvious but potent allegory for the damage that can be inflicted on teens during their formative years. The damage those individuals can then inflict is almost cathartic, but immediately segues to the horrific. Her life was almost beautiful. Instead, lack of empathy made her a monster. She touches upon the best case scenario but finally embraces the worst. She's the best and worst that a teen character can be in a film.
