American Graffiti Part Deux
After reading the posts of long ago (2006) comparing this film to AG I think it might be good to put AG in perspective. Having said that you should know this is not a comparison as I have yet to see 'My American Cousin'.
I grew up in the 50's in SW USA and graduated high school in the town in which AG was filmed (in part). I don't think you can appreciate AG in full unless you lived during those times - it would be similar to understanding how the American colonists lived through a history book instead of living it.
Although people today refer to the 50's as a more innocent time it really wasn't. Teens then had almost exactly the same fears and dreams that exist today. The only major differences are today's much looser morals, especially in terms of dress and language and relationships (remember, we didn't have The Pill until the 60's). And obviously we didn't have the extensive means of communication existing today - cell phones, social networks etc. - although we did manage to make face-to-face communication work quite nicely.
But because we didn't have a good means of getting in touch with each other (except through the single house phone which was usually monitored by the parents) we had to do it on the streets. That is a major reason why we cruised, hung out at the malt shop or burger joint, went to dances/parties/even church.
Cars were an integral part of teen life and you had major problems without your own car (AG has references to this several times throughout the movie). Music of the day helped promote cars, dating, relationships and other activities like surfing, cruising, etc. Today's crummy music doesn't do anything for anyone over the age of 12.
Facing adulthood and high school graduation most males were looking into the barrel of the draft so a lot of us just joined the military right out of high school to get our service over. I joined the Navy 5 days after graduation. 18 months later I was on a ship headed for two years in Vietnam and the Far East. You guys today don't have to worry about being drafted or compulsory military service but it was a huge deal back in the 60's and it got much worse as Vietnam worsened.
Most everything back then had a parallel to today's world. Pregnancy was the big fear of most girls while today it might be STDs. Our economy was better then than today in the tail of the Recession but all wasn't rosy either and you still had to have a good work ethic and an education to get a good job. Prices were a lot lower but so were salaries. I earned a whopping $1.10/hour in my first job after the Navy in 1966. Couldn't buy a house now on that and you couldn't back then either. Gas cost 25 cents a gallon but it is still about the same today relative to inflation.
One thing that does seem different is the role of the high school. Back then most activities swirled around your school. Sports, dances, artsy stuff like band and plays. Although the turnout for football games still seems to be big I don't see the same interest by the whole student body that existed then.
Something else that is very different is the makeup of society in general. We tended to be much more homogenous back then with respect to race, religion and economics. I went to school where the vast majority was white, Christian and middle class. I knew only one kid whose parents were divorced and none who were gay. Today it is common to have significant numbers of minorities, gays and single parent families in any given class. That has had a profound impact upon behaviors.
Back on topic.....AG is a movie that tends to highlight and punctuate some of the more raucous behaviors of American teens in 1962 but it is, in fact, pretty accurate (although everything in that movie never happened in one night). By all means, enjoy it as a humorous look at life long ago but if you really want to learn your history go ask a Boomer what it was like.