MovieChat Forums > SLC Punk! (1999) Discussion > mostly pointless movie about growing up

mostly pointless movie about growing up

posted 14 years ago by merkonfire
7 replies | jump to latest

As far as I can see the basic point of this film (which is weak) is that the rebellion of youth will inevitably leave youth on the streets. So get good grades but don't be too nerdy cause then you will be boring. CRAP!!! Really, this film could have been about a sorority and still retained the shallow message. It isn't about anarchy, it isn't about punk. How could it be, it features clean shaven college graduates with powdered faces. I'm no punk expert but I can say that this is crap. It's about how as kids, lots of people rebel but its just because they are overcompensating for their previous flaws. Nothing else to it. While sure, the movie may seem pretty for elderly yearning for excuse to call themselves hip, it offers no more value than Aladin. It is similiar to American History X and Menace II society but where those films shine with beauty this movie fails. Because it is about losers wearing makeup.

[–] vhsgenerationlost 14 years ago

it's really more about thinking for yourself

[–] merkonfire 14 years ago

I fail to see where thinking for yourself really comes into play. Sure There is that monologue about the hypocracy of being a punk and fighting. But I don't see how Stevo going to the university that his dad chose for him and following in his fathers footsteps is thinking for yourself. If he had thought for himself maybe he would have chosen a unique life. But he didnt do that. What made him decide to not be a punk? Not his own thoughts (even though he was having doubts) but that chick Brandy who said it was fashion and not rebellion. So I am missing where thinking for yourself really comes into play? There are plenty of movies where the main characters think for themselves but those movies arn't even about that, mainly because that is a immature and boring theme to have. But in SLC Punk! there are not characters who truly think and act for themselves yet that seems to be one precieved theme.

[–] Para_Noia 14 years ago

Your young,all you want is to be free. But how can you when you live in a society that forces you to grow into a preset pattern. Everyone tells you what to do. So what do you do? exactly, the opposite. You think that is freedom, while actually your are walking another preset path, a path unwillingly, knowingly forced upon yourself, cause you think that is what you desire most, freedom. Freedom to walk talk and act like you want, the freedom to do or not do what you desire.

As for Stevo, He lived the life. He felt unique as 1 of the 2 'true' SLC punks. while actually the only 'true' punk according to Stevo's way of thinking would be Bob, but no bob fell in love and thus selling out. As Fall passed, Stevo began to question his believes more and more. It was full of hipocracy, hipocracy he as a punk is against (the chain of fighting clans > politics > war > fighting clans etc). He loved sandy, but he wasn't allowed to, he denied it. since love > marriage > job > being a part of established society > everything he was against.

That redheads sisters, tells him of the structure of life. that nature itself is structured too, structure is everywhere around us. he then finds brandy screwing that kid, he snaps, if that isn't love.

The night before bob dies, he tells Stevo he wants to marry Trish, Stevo laughs about it at first. But that nights blind date with Brandy, and the dead of his best friend. gave him a wake-up call. He thought he was free, but his elitist attitude refused him the little things (only posers fall in love). And he realized his lifestyle can't create anarchy, how can you when all you do is party, and let the world revolve around you (sandy nailed that when she showed him something beautiful).

what he said at the end: Its much easier fighting the system from the inside (or something close to that)

well thats my interpretation of it, aand i know i didnt cover everything in there, but i gotta jet

Para

[–] Rycor 14 years ago

This isn't a movie about growing up.

The main characters are already out of college at the beginning of the film.

This is a film about *knowing* yourself.

Steve-o spends the whole movie calling everyone else out on their *beep* only to arrive at the conclusion that he's just as full of *beep* as everyone else.

BTW: if you thought that American History X was a beautiful movie then you have problems.

[–] vhsgenerationlost 14 years ago

Looking back at it now it seems more like it was really about how no matter what you have to conform in some way or another

[–] ShutterShocked 14 years ago

Yes, but conformity isn't really a choice. Everyone needs to be a part of a group, and, as we learned in the flashback, becoming punk was actually a way of conforming itself.

We choose our identity by selecting which social/professional groups to join. Becoming punk gave Steve-O a better social life, and becoming a Harvard law student was the only way he could move on from the hometown he hated so much. If you look at it this way, conforming isn't really a bad thing.

Also remember that you can think for yourself and conform simultaneously. I think that's the point Brandy was making.

[–] adiunderground 14 years ago

well i disagree. the movie is about troubled youth, when some people fail to connect to the world, and then when you need to grow up, it dont mean you're a loser, but that things change.
you can be who you are without masks.