Going by the Internet there is no specific movie or tv show from where the high school stereotypes originated. However, the high school movies made specifically in 1980’s could be credited for the birth of these characteristics.
For those who have little to no idea of what does high school stereotypes mean, these are personalities high school students were showcased to have based on their likes and dislikes. These include jocks (athletes). Then came nerds are the ones who love books and studying. Then there were the ones who were into pop culture and the world of comics were called geeks. And the ones who did not confine to the labels were considered goths.
For a long time these traits were continued as it is with no question. Famous films such as Breakfast Club, High School Musical, Clueless, Mean Girls and more celebrated them. So much so that it transverse into real life. However, while following them in real life, these lead to a divide amongst the kids and ensued bullying. The jocks, because of their athletic personalities were thought of to be the ‘cool’. No matter how smart nerds and geeks were, they were always made fun of for having no life and goths were all black and depressed. Moreover, it travelled across borders and entered several other pop cultures across globe, including the Hindi film fraternity. Bollywood started using these stereotypes in college based films instead of high school dramas. For example, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and so on.
People later started noticing the trouble. How, all of these tropes were one tone and did not give the character the permission to grow. And when the audience started to question them, the pop culture representation also changed. Now we have characters such as Devi Vishvakumar from Never Have I Ever who is intellectual but, also preppy and eventually becomes popular. There is Maeve Wiley from sex education who is an ‘outcast’, a ‘rebel’ but, is academically oriented. Aside of this, the shows and movies like Stranger Things, To All The Boys and others have put up efforts in eroding the stereotypes. Bollywood is also taking a stand and making amendments, slow and steady but, we have got movies like Wake Up Sid, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani etc.
In hindsight, it is actually cruel to differentiate humans into particular categories and put them into singular boxes. They are supposed to inculcate and erase whatever personalities they feel like in themselves and it’s exciting to see how the new pop culture is all about doing that.
