The movies we watched on repeat during our teen years weren’t just funny, they taught us important life lessons around friendship, love and the type of people we want to be.

Even if you don’t think these five weren’t important films (you’d be wrong), you have to acknowledge the powerful and valuable teachings wrapped in top-notch comedic timing and the best one-liners ever.

#1 Bring It On

A glorious flick about the complexities of team sports, Bring It On isn’t only famous for giving us quotes like “This isn’t about cheating, this is about winning! Everyone in favour of winning?” and “Let’s not put the ‘duh’ in ‘dumb’”, the movie also offers an underlying lesson about bureaucracy, competition and what it means to be the best.

To be truly crowned the greatest, the Rancho Carne Toros drop their cheating ways and support neighbouring squad, The Clovers, to get the national championship. It showed viewers that competition isn’t fair unless you’re truly playing on the same field.

#2 10 Things I Hate About You

Besides adding ballsy quotes to our vocab like, “Just ’cause you’re beautiful, that doesn’t mean you can treat people like they don’t matter” and, “As opposed to Planet Look At Me! Look At ME!” we get to meet Kat: a classic feminist character. She bows to no one, only does things she wants to do and rebels against peer pressure. Kat taught us to be strong-willed, to not equivocate and challenge the system every day.

#3 Superbad

I’m sure we’ve all spend at least one night of our lives on a seemingly never-ending adventure towards a party. Which is the magic of Superbad. The movie is great because it’s relatable, but it’s even better because it isn’t happening to you.

Trekking around town in search of booze and sex sounds like a fun thing to spend your Saturday night doing, but throw in crazy old men, and a wayward cop yelling “prepare to be fucked by the long dick of the law” and it ends up being more nightmare than nostalgic.

#4 Clueless

Offering up Alicia Silverstone’s best performance of all time, Clueless reflects society’s relationship with privilege, justice and education. Cher, selfishly at first, took a new student under her wing, shared the school’s dynamics and made her feel welcomed. By helping others, she realised she can use her privilege to make a difference. Also, the sound track is banging.

#5 Mean Girls

Not only the most fetch movie ever, Mean Girls covers an array of lessons about friendships, community and gossip. The most notable: the infamous Burn Book. The prop acts as a catalyst for the undoing of even the most firmly structured social circles. Everyone in the movie turns on one another after the book’s release, causing internal chaos and fighting amongst allies. So instead of saying, “boo, you whore” to your friends, we learnt banding together means we can fight the bigger evils, aka Regina George, aka cliques and elitism.

Shaping a generation, these lessons influenced thinkers around the globe. So have fun and revisiting the world you spend your teens in and if you’re like me, you’ll realise just how much of yourself was formed from watching these classics over and over again!

Kelly Walker is a creative writer and recovering bagel addict based in Melbourne. When she’s not writing or playing roller derby, she’s searching for the best smashed avo ever. She’s on Twitter at @kellywalker89 and promises to start tweeting, one day.

Kelly Walker is a creative writer and recovering bagel addict based in Melbourne. When she’s not writing or playing roller derby, she’s searching for the best smashed avo ever. She’s on Twitter at @kellywalker89 and promises to start tweeting, one day.

(Lead image: Bring It On/Beacon Pictures)