Source
r/AskAnAmerican•
fiveguy

My fellow Americans, which movies do you feel most accurately portray an aspect of life in our nation?

From the sidebar:

Are you curious about the real America, not the cheap product you see on TV?

Well, what IS accurately portrayed? What films can others consume to help them understand a slice of life in America with relative accuracy?

EDIT: I think a movie can portray an aspect of american life quite well. A whole film doesn't have to be perfect - which part of the movie was accurate? For instance, scenes in E.T. portrayed teenagers hanging out at mom's house playing D&D, ordering pizza, and whatnot, and I always found it relatable to my personal experience

Posted Jan 14, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC · edited

38138
coolnameright•

Definitely Office Space

80
fiveguyOPIndiana•

That painful rush hour traffic in the opening scene...

24
HratioRastapopulousTexas•

Which may be why King of the Hill, minus the obvious craziest parts, is like living in Texas. Both the movie and show were done by Mike Judge, who has spent a lot of time in Texas and lives here now.

18
danceswithroninAlabama•

Me and my brother were just talking about this aspect of KOTH earlier - we've both lived in Texas and his depiction of it is pretty much dead-on.

2
FeelTheWrath79•

There was a king of the hill movie??

1
nameless88•

He means Office Space.

And, in terms of what a slice of americano looks like, KOTH is pretty damn good at showing that.

It's obviously satire and stretches the truth a lot, but, it's surprisingly accurate, too, on the way some people in this country are. The cast of that show is kind of a microcosm for America as a whole, I feel.

2
ghdanaNEPA -> PHX•

Other than being proud of being a Texan, I'd say it is pretty representative of most of America, especially white middle class neighborhoods.

1
SlythisColorado•

After living it for 3 years Office Space is no longer a comedy to me.

15
LibraryLassNew Mexico•

I haven't watched it in two years, ever since I spent two weeks working in an office so stressful and soul-crushing that I briefly lost the will to live.

1
fiveguyOPIndiana•

While I can think of a ton of examples, which parts were particularly realistic?

3
A_BURLAP_THONGChicago, IL•

I remember reading in a comment section somewhere where someone said Office Space is like the only movie that shows people living in suburban apartment complexes. Most movies and TV shows portray life in the big city or picture-perfect 'burbs, ignoring the fact that so many of us live in complexes that combine the worst parts of suburb living (cookie cutter aesthetic) with the worst parts of city living (paper thin walls, people living on top of one another) with none of the benefits of either.

25
fiveguyOPIndiana•

Agreed! Peter's apartment had the same crappy couch I bought at Pier 1 around that time.

We could do the same thread but opposite, listing everything that isn't representative of life in America. Top comment would probably be the Friends apartments in NYC.

9
dlheidemannNew Hampshire•

Could not agree more.

2
carBoardKansas City, MO•

Superbad was accurate in terms of dialogue. The events were kind of ridiculous but the way the characters talked to each other seemed genuine.

60
stayawakejudeU.S. Marine Corps•

Superbad was even more accurate because it was literally filmed at my high school. Michael Cera leans on my best friend's locker

It was pretty cool

17
[deleted]•

[deleted]

10
FeelTheWrath79•

Well I thought Scott pilgrim was pretty cool.

7
ProductOfTheH•

Oh shit it happened twice!

3
GIFyaLaterFlorida•

The characters are what make that movie. The plot is nuts and ridiculous but I think that's part of the charm too. It was very similar to how I remember highschool being like. I just watched a few months back and forgot how close it was to my school experience.

11
carBoardKansas City, MO•

yeah exactly that. the hype about a party or an event and then the failure of it not going as planned was pretty much every weekend

9
Viraus2San Jose, CA•

I completely agree. It really captured the tone and feel of my high school experience.

4
kirkisartistCalifornia•

You're right. I think I was one of those scummy townies at some point.

1
betadelta123Ohio•

Clerks. Nothing is more American than working a shitty job on your day off.

45
spinachsupreme•

I'm not even supposed to be here today!

9
nameless88•

Did you know the original ending was going to be him getting robbed and shot?

5
PCGamingOppression•

It was on the DVD!

3
nameless88•

I think I remember seeing it when I rented it from Blockbuster years ago, too, yeah.

2
PCGamingOppression•

Is your user name from the Nirvana song Endless, Nameless?

1
PCGamingOppression•

Yep, this was my answer as well.

While it isn't me today, it totally was me in my early 20s. I first saw it my senior year of high school, while I was working at a major retail store, it definitely had a huge impact on me as I was becoming an adult.

2
landb4timethemovieLouisiana•

Isn't Clerks Canadian?

-5
MrTwiggums•

Nope. New Jersy-an.

16
thebeef24•

Don't be fooled by the roof-hockey.

10
GIFyaLaterFlorida•

  • Boyhood - This movie played like a memory of my life growing up. Even though I didn't literally experience those things I had very similar experiences.

  • Dazed and Confused- This is what highschool is in America. You have different groups of students that are all housed in one campus. I think this does a great job of displaying how different archetypes from high school all interact with each other.

  • The Descendants - This movie played really closely to how I processed the death of my mother and that time around when you are waiting for death to pass. I think Alexander Payne is probably the most American director only rivaled by Richard Linklater.

Edit: Not a movie but I think The Simpsons is the best representation of American culture and American spirit to be displayed on television. This type of Simpsons writing happened most often in season 1-11. I don't really watch new episodes so I am not sure how close it represents us.

33
thebeef24•

Dazed and Confused is a great movie but with its cruising and hazing, I can't say it was anything like my high school experience. Maybe my parents'.

7
smythbdbNew Jersey•

We definitely did a lot of cruising around, not so much on the hazing though.

1
thebeef24•

Cruising was banned in my hometown sometime in the 80s.

1
1337GandalfMichigan•

The schools I went to were nothing like that...

There weren't clicks, there were just groups of friends.

1
GIFyaLaterFlorida•

How many students did you graduate with? I think that may play a big part in it. I went to a high school with a 700+ graduation.

1
1337GandalfMichigan•

The entire school was a tad below 2000

0
A_BURLAP_THONGChicago, IL•

Stand By Me is a strikingly accurate portrayal of preteen boys hanging out in the woods.

The first time I saw that movie I was about the same age as the kids in the movie. Even though this was almost forty years after the movie takes place, i was amazed at how much it reminds me of hanging out in the woods with my brother and friends (aside from the gunplay and corpse). The movie does a tremendous job of capturing what it's like to grow up in a world that can be scary, confusing, and sad, but also wonderful.

29
jesseaknight•

may I ask how old you are? I fear we're losing this. Too much supervision, too many mom's worried by news reports. It would be good to know this innocence and self-education is still happening.

2
A_BURLAP_THONGChicago, IL•

I'm almost 30. My "hanging out in the woods" years were the mid-to-late 90s.

I have no clue what kids these days are up to.

5
patdan10•

I'm currently just shy of 17 and have lived all my life in a typical Floridian neighborhood, and can tell you that when my buddies and I were younger (mid-late 2000s) we definitely had the "explore the world" phase. Swimming, biking, baseball, basketball, kickball, climbing trees, toy gun shootouts, manhunt, freeze tag, reading physical books, skateboarding, walking around the neighborhood, the whole nine yards. Maybe this was because none of us were allowed to have any video game consoles except for one kid with a GameCube, but it happened nonetheless. My 8 year old cousin already has an Instagram account, though.

EDIT: Wrong age

6
PCGamingOppression•

My 8 year old cousin already has an Instagram account, though.

That's... weird and totally unnecessary. Why does he have an instagram account?

That being said, I think there's still a large proportion of kids that are having that kind of outdoorsy exploration phase in their lives, even if it is shorter than it has traditionally been. That's probably going to change even more substantially than it did in the previous 10 years though, in the next 10 years.

1
Meatpuppy•

Social media, almost non-stop.

2
Assface28•

Born in 88, I feel ya.

2
TexMarshfellowSoutheast Texas•

Friday Night Lights did pretty well in my opinion

Also Bernie

24
sulfurboy•

We found the Texan.

14
TexMarshfellowSoutheast Texas•

Yessir. How could you tell?

^/s

5
Gundam5388Texas•

it was the Yessir. All one word.

7
shotgunnAustin, Texas•

The State Championship for high school football brought out 50,000+ people this year. Football is a big deal

3
TexMarshfellowSoutheast Texas•

Yup. A team local to me actually won 4A D2 (WO-S).
And Lake Travis got slaughtered by Katy lol

2
shotgunnAustin, Texas•

They did. I graduated from Westlake last year so it was sad to see my boys drop the ball, so to speak. I was at the game, actually

3
TexMarshfellowSoutheast Texas•

Ah, that's a bummer. My HS was in the same district as Katy and North Shore the entire time I attended, so we barely made it to quarterfinals once, where I think it was Cinco Ranch did a number on our guys (I was just in the band)

2
GIFyaLaterFlorida•

Also Bernie

The soundtrack for this movie is incredible. It reminds me of almost every Sunday of church.

1
man0man•

Not a movie, but The Wire is definitely the most realistic representation of urban America, from high level city politics, law enforcement, blue collar workers, all the way down to the streets.

18
AgastopiaBoston, MA•

Boyhood is the only correct answer, it's literally just a boy growing up filmed over the course of 12 years. Fantastic movie and it's just what you're looking for.

17
sulfurboy•

Suprised no one has thrown out American Beauty yet.

17
jep5680jep•

I was just going too.

1
[deleted]•

Fargo nailed the Upper Midwest in winter.

16
Hendy853Wisconsin•

I feel that the thirty seconds where Jerry Lundegaard scraped the snow off his windshield captured Midwestern winters more perfectly than anything else that has ever been filmed.

9
IHSV1855Minnesota•

The striking whiteness of some of the driving scenes was so, so accurate.

3
thesweetestpunchNew York City, NY•

Generally I've found Coen Brothers movies tend to capture the "essence" of different American cultures really well, even though they're wildly exaggerated.

11
jaykyewMaryland•

Superbad. A lot of it was exaggerated but the way the characters talk to each other, struggling to get alcohol for a house party, etc. reminded me a lot of growing up in the mid to late 2000's

10
PCGamingOppression•

They reminded me of cooler version of me and my friends in the early 2000s.

2
kippersforbreakfast•

Boyhood and (unfortunately) Winter's Bone.

7
gwennhwyvar•

Winter's Bone is so good, but it's terrible that it's so real. I kept thinking how I know people who live like that, with or without the whole meth thing.

2
ghdanaNEPA -> PHX•

To go along with rural America The Place Beyond the Pines takes place in rural Upstate NY and other than the robbery it reminded me of living in poor northern PA.

1
fiveguyOPIndiana•

Rather specific, but the 1950s rural small town is pretty accurately portrayed by Hoosiers.

7
Something_GraveHoosier•

^ Definitely this.

2
PrincessPeach33•

I know this is a little off topic, but does anyone else that grew up in 90s suburban America get really nostalgic when you watch old Roseanne reruns? Everything about that show takes me back to my childhood. I swear my mom had some of the same exact outfits/coats Roseanne wore on that show, and my dad had the same sweaters/flannel shirts John Goodman wore. Even the dishes and glasses they used, the food she would cook and how she set up the table for dinner, how the house was decorated for Christmas and Halloween, the mall, Becky and Darlene's bedroom is almost a carbon copy of mine. They even had the same laundry net and Chicago Bulls waste paper basket as me. Roseanne reruns never really get old for me.

7
gwennhwyvar•

I agree. Roseanne really nailed life for that general economic class. Watching it today makes me very nostalgic.

2
LestrallioPhiladelphia, PA•

October Sky

6
GarlicAftershave•

Loved the book, enjoyed the movie too, now I'm curious whether you're referring to that particular timeframe, or the area, or both.

1
-WISCONSIN-Madison, WI•

There's really no Hollywood movie that's going to perfectly reflect day to day American life. They're all pretty fictionalized and over the top stories--this is what makes them entertaining.

You're better off watching a documentary. Maybe something like Stephen Fry in America would be a good place to start.

5
El_Gringo_LibreGeorgia•

Stephen Fry at the Auburn game is great, as is his discussion of America with fellow immigrant Craig Ferguson:

At the Auburn game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuPeGPwGKe8

Talking with Craig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAKghnzxzM

7
RachelRTRAlabamian in North Carolina•

The clip of him at the Iron Bowl always cracks me up because he only films the band and doesn't show any of the game. He just can't believe we have big bands at a college game.

6
El_Gringo_LibreGeorgia•

"In what amounts to nothing more then a collegiate derby....."

What he says about it being an indication of the scale of our economy really is true. I recently moved to the south and never really cared about college football. Watching people go nuts for SEC stuff is a trip.

4
RachelRTRAlabamian in North Carolina•

Well, we don't have any pro teams, so Alabamians focus a lot on college football. Also, football started out as a college sport and the professional league came much later, so college football has always been an important part of the sports landscape in the US. You don't see the same displays put on for college baseball, for example.

Also, these are players who could potentially be in the NFL. It's basically like watching the NFL's farm league, except you can support your alma mater or regional school which makes it more fun.

4
VaginuhNew York•

To be fair, as someone who grew up surrounded by football but was never interested in sports, it still astounds me that this type of event is even possible. I mean, the amount of money, amount of fans, amount of enthusiasm... all right over my head that people care so much. So although this represents a lot of Americans, it's worth noting that a lot of us also think it's absolutely ridiculous.

1
fiveguyOPIndiana•

I think a movie can portray an aspect of american life quite well. A whole film doesn't have to be perfect - which part of the movie was accurate? For instance, scenes in E.T. portrayed teenagers hanging out at mom's house playing D&D, ordering pizza, and whatnot, and I always found it relatable to my personal experience

3
fiendzoneWashington•

Opening monologue of "Patton" are words every American should live by.

5
royalhawk345•

High school: 21 jump street

5
EagleEyeInTheSky•

21 Jump Street is the movie that really gets what millennial teenagers think and do, warts and all. It's incredibly dumb, but the characters are all absolutely spot on. This movie came out about a year after I graduated, and every character reminded me of different high school friends I had. Fucking loved this movie.

5
guiltycitizenMinnesota•

It isn't a classic or anything, but Waiting is a very accurate portrayal of the lifestyles of the American restaurant industry worker.

5