Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Rated R for so much stuff.  Like sooooo much stuff.  It's got sexuality, nudity, abortion, drug use, statuatory rape, and language, including homophobic slurs.  There's also some mild violence.  Honestly, despite having seen this movie before, I forgot how much lewd content was in this movie.  I knew there was some, but this is kind of a filthy movie.  Like, Fast Times fans, what are we really fans of?  Okay, that's me gatekeeping.  I apologize.

DIRECTOR: Amy Heckerling

I get that it's a true story.  But, like, is it?  I mean, sure, there's nothing in the movie that absolutely couldn't happen.  But doesn't it seem a bit archetypal and tropey?  This is something that I've tried to wrap my head around.  Archetypes and characters come from an element of truth.  There has to be something real about an archetype for the archetype to work.  But the bigger frustration that I've been dealing with is...are most people archetypes?  Part of that question burdens me with a harsh truth: I don't think I'm an archetype.  I think I'm dynamic and that I refuse to be categorized into a box.  But from an outside perspective, I'm probably the tropiest turd in the bunch.  That being said, onto Fast Times at Ridgemont High!

​I always wondered what the fascination of Fast Times at Ridgemont High were.  It's an odd story.  It has that nostalgia mainline that movies like American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused have, but in real time.  I suppose that there are a handful of intense Gen Z movies out there today, like Bodies Bodies Bodies or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but those tend to be genre films that embrace the culture of the era.  Fast Times at Ridgemont High has the structure of a movie that was almost giving an imaginary version of the '80s. It's really weird that this movie came out in 1982.  '82, in my head, was sad basements and old gross ashtrays.  But Fast Times at Ridgemont High is bubblegum pop and neon lights extravaganza.  The thing that people always claimed the '80s were?  That's Fast Times from Ridgemont High.  

Now, probably because of Cameron Crowe, there's an interesting examination of what it is like to be a high schooler. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that high school, for me in the '90s, was not that.  But then again, we're dealing with archetypes that don't necessarily align with me.  If I had to identify as one of the characters from Fast Times, it would probably be Mark Ratner.  Yeah, he's called Rat. It doesn't match his personality, but when your last name is "Rat" and you hang out with Mike Damone, you get the name "Rat." I think a lot of us are watching Fast Times and mirroring Mark Ratner.  It's easy to throw the nerd archetype at him (and maybe it's just because I identify with his character so much), but I get more of an Everyman vibe from him.  The thing is, as socially awkward as Ratner is, that's mainly because high school is a socially awkward time.  Crowe wrote the book almost based on Mark Ratner.  Ratner is potentially the only completely sympathetic and likable character in the thing not because other people aren't likable, but more because he's the most grounded.

Most of the characters in Fast Times are almost inflated versions of real people because that's where the story and humor lie.  I'm going to go to the most extreme version of reality and talk about Spicoli first.  Spicoli is...a lot.  It's really weird seeing Sean Penn play this role and I'd love to see him revisit Spicoli today, but only as a gag.  I couldn't handle a follow-up to Spilcoli in any real way.  (Note:  I Googled it.  Apparently, there was a table read of Fast Times where Shia LaBoeuf did this really intense version of Spicoli in front of Sean Penn.  Yeah, that's not what I was really looking for.) Now, part of me has always treated Spicoli in this way.  Spicoli is a caricature.  He's where we get that surfer brah stoner character.  Sorry, there's a difference between Cheech and Chong stoners and Spicoli stoners.  Mainly, Spicoli isn't as funny.  I know.  Comedy is subjective.  But as much as Spicoli is a caricature, he's also weirdly empathetic.  I went into this viewing of Fast Times with an attempt to humanize even the silliest of characters and there's something interesting happening with Spicoli.

I really feel like Spicoli is meant to be a bit of an empathetic character to a certain extent.  I still find it weird that Sean Penn --intense Sean Penn! --played Spicoli.  But Penn couldn't help but give Spicoli a bit of sadness.  Spicoli seems to be unphased by the reputation he's earned.  He's Ridgemont High's resident loser.  No one thinks well of him.  Even Brad finds Spicoli's lack of motivation tiresome at times.  But Spicoli seems sad a lot of the time.  His voice and his conversations may read like, "Life's a party", but he's always kind of just depressed that people aren't treating him better.  Before I go into Mr. Hand, I would like to stress that the whole ending with Mr. Hand seems absolutely absurd.  But if I treat it as something that really happened, it only works because Spicoli is a little bit sad.  Mr. Hand is at Spicoli's house because he's making a point.  Part of it comes across as he wants this kid to pass his class, either because he's a nice guy underneath it all or he just doesn't want to deal with Spicoli again.  But Mr. Hand's entire bag of tactics consists of humiliating students into submission.  Mr. Hand goes to Spicoli's house with the intention of shaming this kid and ruining his night.  It's a power move.  But Spicoli, over the course of the evening, is grateful to the teacher for spending time with him and making sure that he understood American history.  

That only kind of works if Spicoli is kind of sad inside.  The righteous character who finds mondo waves would be put out by Mr. Hand's aggressive invasion.  And don't get me wrong, he puts out bummed vibes initially. But by the end, Spicoli is that teacher story that never exists.  By being a bit of a stickler and offering a firm hand, Mr. Hand (oh! now I get it!) gets through to the wasted youth that have pillaged his precious time.  That doesn't exist. But Spicoli's enthusiasm and gratitude towards Hand only kind of exists because Hand's the first person who really believed in him.  That's supposed to be uplifting, but it seems like it is a pretty low bar to set.

Now for the sex stuff.  I almost don't want to talk about it.  It feels...I don't know, gross?  Now, I have to give Fast Times some credit.  The statuatory rape is supposed to be gross.  But also, there's that odd encouragement that Stacy gets from her friends.  I hate to be belaboring "the point", but is that really how aggressively sex is viewed in high school. Like, the girls as the pizza parlor almost seem feral about it.  It almost seems like there's no such thing as a red flag in terms of danger when it comes to what girls will do to lose their virginity in this story.  And once Stacy loses her virginity in the most base, depressing way ever, she becomes ravenous for it. Now, my job isn't to shame people.  These are fictional characters.  But Stacy almost becomes inhuman about finding another suitor after Ron disappears from her life.  Part of that comes with shame.  She's confused and frustrated.  There have to be self-esteem issues when it comes to losing what she considers to be a first love.  But the way that she treats Mark becomes almost predatory.  She can't understand that not everyone has the same drive that she does and treats him like a pariah.  Even more so, she seduces Mike knowing that Mike is Mark's best friend.

You can almost tell that this was written by a dude.  It's not letting men off the hook.  The movie ends with Mike looking pretty darned scummy.  The odd thing is that there is a character shift for Mike.  Again, Mark is the only character that comes across as sympathetic.  But for a while in the story, I was actually rooting for Mike and Stacy.  Mike is probably my favorite character in the movie until he sleeps with Stacy.  Here's this guy who is almost aware that he's an archetype. He's the most self-aware character of the film.  He actually lets the veil fall from time-to-time.  But ultimately, Mike is this kid stuck in a persona of himself.  He loves being kind of scuzzy and removed, but shows moments of vulnerability, fear, and sweetness.  He's intimidated by Charles Jefferson's fame.  He doesn't want to get in trouble when it comes to being a parent.  He's also the guy who comes running to help his friend, despite claiming to be busy. Ultimately, to give the movie a happy ending, Mark forgives Mike.  It's weird to think that the film ends with Mark and Stacy together.  Sure, at their core, they have the most similar personalities.  But their choices have deviated them to a point where I call shannigans that these two immature kids could move their baggage aside.

Honestly, for a comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is incredibly depressing.  Like, it's great.  I don't love it, but I found it fascinating while watching it a second time.  It's when I stopped thinking of it as a fun cult movie that I found something to really tear apart.  But is it fun?  I don't know.  I think it's a depressing movie with some fun parts.