Hollywood High: A Totally Epic, Way Opinionated History of Teen Movies

by Bruce Handy

Overview

From a longtime Vanity Fair writer and editor, a delightfully entertaining, intelligent, and illuminating history and tribute to teen movies—from Rebel Without a Cause to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and on to John Hughes, Mean Girls, The Hunger Games, and more.

What influence did Francis Ford Coppola have on George Lucas’s American Graffiti? And Lucas on John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood? How does teenage sexuality in Fast Times at Ridgemont High compare to Twilight? Which teen movies pass the Bechdel test? Why is Mean Girls actually the last great teen film of the 20th century?

In the same way that Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls connects the films of the 1970s to the period’s cultural upheaval, and David Hadju’s Positively 4th Street tells the story of the sixties through the emergence of folk music, Bruce Handy’s Hollywood High situates iconic teen movies within their times and reveals the intriguing stories, artists, and passions behind their creation. These films aren’t merely beloved stories; they reflect teens’ growing economic and cultural influence, societal panics, and shifting perceptions of youth in America.

Much more than a nostalgia trip, Hollywood High is a lively, provocative, and affectionate cultural history, spanning nearly one hundred years. Handy, an acclaimed journalist and critic who spent two decades at Vanity Fair, examines the defining films of each generation and builds connections between them. From the Andy Hardy classics (1937–1946) to the iconic Rebel Without a Cause (1955); Beach Party series (1963–1968); American Graffiti (1973); Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982); the John Hughes touchstones Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1984–1986); Boyz N the Hood (1991); Mean Girls (2004); the Twilight saga (2008–2012); and The Hunger Games series (2012–2015); this is a captivating deep dive into the world of teen movies that captures their sweeping history and influence. We’ll hear from icons James Dean, Annette Funicello, George Lucas, Amy Heckerling, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, John Singleton, Tina Fey, and Kristen Stewart, and discover why the most timeless teen movies resonate across generations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501181177
Publisher:	Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Bruce Handy is a journalist, critic, humorist, and children’s book author. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The Atlantic, among other publications. His book Wild Things: The Joys of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult was published in 2017. He is also the author of five picture books, including The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in Its Mouth and What If One Day..., both of which were named New York Times Best Children’s Books. He began his career as a writer and editor at Spy magazine, and also spent a season (1992–1993) writing for Saturday Night Live.

Editorial Reviews

You don’t need to be a teenager to admire this smart, funny, and altogether original take on teen movies that turns out to be a riveting cultural history. Handy convincingly elevates the genre to that of the western as a purveyor of national myths.” —Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Pandora’s Box

PRAISE FOR WILD THINGS:

“A terrific rumpus of a journey into the world of illustrated and young reader classics . . . Wild Things makes a convincing case for reading children’s books as an adult.” —The A.V. Club

“A charming, discursive encounter with classic children’s literature from the perspective of a parent . . . Mr. Handy writes with zip, sincerity, and good humor. . . For parents who are embarking on this phase of rediscovery, for those in the thick of it, and for those for whom it is a warm and recent memory, Wild Things will be a delightful excursion. . . . It is also engaging and full of genuine feeling, and I liked it very much.” —Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal

“Consistently intelligent and funny . . . The book succeeds wonderfully. . . . The Handy children’s appearances are brief but disproportionately memorable. Just as almost all kids’ books, with their frequent appearances by talking animals, are part emotional masquerade, Wild Things, too, is in disguise. It reads as a companionable romp through all the stories you sometimes tire of reading to your own children. But like The Runaway Bunny, it’s really a gently obsessive tale, a man gathering up so many words and ideas as if to create a magical stay against his own children growing up.” —Rivka Galchen, The New York Times Book Review

“Nothing less than a Golden Ticket into the Whipple-Scrumptious world of children’s classics, where mystical and marvelous surprises await . . . Literary criticism through the prism of memoir, Wild Things is a read—a ride!—of pure pleasure.” —Vanity Fair

“Wild Things is relaxed, discursive, and personal. . . . The result is very pleasing to read. . . . Handy quotes liberally from each book he admires, and he curates those passages beautifully, allowing readers both literary pleasure and a kind of time travel. His analyses are affectionate and often eccentric. He’s got a magpie’s eye for odd and shiny details. . . . His foray into children’s literature allowed him more than a simple chance to re-encounter the favorite books of his youth. It allowed him the chance to hold close his children’s younger selves. ‘By one measure, I suppose,’ he writes, ‘you are holding in your hands a work of sublimated grief.’ How beautiful, and how painful, and how incontrovertibly true.” —The New York Times

“Delightful . . . Ranging from Goodnight Moon to Charlotte’s Web, Handy cogently captures each book’s artistic and emotional qualities while deftly placing it in cultural and historical context.” —Newsday

“Witty and engaging . . . Inspired by reading to his own kids, Handy’s brief but deeply satisfying survey of children’s literature marries curiosity, humor, and downright excitement. . . . Wild Things showcases the universality of children’s literature, the best of which inspires readers of all ages.” —Samantha Bronkar, The Christian Science Monitor

“Rollicking and razor sharp, consistently engaging, always on point, and packed with history, theory, and humor . . . Highly recommended for anyone who reads—or has read—children’s literature.” —Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher