40 Years Later 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High' Is Still Culturally Relevant Thanks To 'Stranger Things'
Image Source: Netflix
This August marked the 40th anniversary of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Released in 1982, the teen comedy movie was a smash hit and became the blueprint for other teen comedies which followed such as The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Fast Times at Ridgemont High also launched the careers of a number of then-unknowns. Actors Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, and Jennifer Jason Leigh saw their careers brought to new heights thanks to the movie. Fast Times at Ridgemont High also saw the debut of director Amy Heckerling (Look Who’s Talking, Clueless) and screenwriter Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky).
In recent years, Fast Times at Ridgemont High has become relevant again thanks to the Netflix hit series, Stranger Things. Set during the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the series creators, the Duffer Brothers, have brought the zeitgeist of the era to the horror series through music, fashion, and pop culture references. Thanks to Stranger Things, 80s pop culture has seen a resurgence as seen in the return of period hits such as Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and Metallica’s Master of Puppets returning to the charts thanks to key scenes in the latest season of Stranger Things.
RELATED:
Image Source: Netflix
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, one of the biggest blockbusters of the era, had to be mentioned by the main characters in Stranger Things, with most of them being teenagers in the mid-1980s. The first time we hear a reference to the teen comedy was from Dustin Henderson when he described his science camp girlfriend Suzie. When Mike asks if she’s cute, Dustin tells him to “think Phoebe Cates, but hotter”.
Cates finally makes a cameo in the final episode of season 3 in the Family Video store where Steve and Robin apply for a job after the Starcourt Mall and Scoops Ahoy were shut down. Steve knocks over a life-size cutout of the actress promoting Fast Times at Ridgemont High and then mentions that it’s one of his top three movies.
Another, more subtle reference is when Billy Hargrove begins his lifeguard shift at Hawkins Community Pool and “Moving in Stereo” by The Cars plays while Mrs. Wheeler and her lady friends watch. This is a reference to the pool scene from Fast Time at Ridgemont High where the same song plays. Billy’s red swim shorts as well as his co-worker Heather Holloway’s lifeguard swimsuit are also visual references to Phoebe Cates’ red bikini.
Image Source: Netflix
Fast Times at Ridgemont High gets referenced again in season 4 of Stranger Things when Steve is driving Robin to the basketball pep rally and talking about Robin’s crush Vickie. Still working at the Family Video store, Steve mentions that Vickie returned Fast Times at Ridgemont High paused at “fifty-three minutes, five seconds” because, according to Harrington, only “people who like boobies” would stop the VHS cassette at that time before returning it. This is, of course, another reference to the movie’s pool scene. Fast Times at Ridgemont High gets a final reference in the season 4 finale when Vickie talks to Robin about how her now ex-boyfriend disliked the movie because “it has no plot”.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a milestone in teen comedies when it first came out in 1982 and has become embedded in the pop culture landscape of the 1980s. Thanks to Stranger Things and its references to the classic comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High has become relevant again. Whether or not Fast Times at Ridgemont High will be referenced again in season 5 of Netflix’s Stranger Things remains to be seen, what’s sure is that the movie will still be talked about for years to come.
READ NEXT:
Sources: Elle, Netflix Life, Los Angeles Magazine