MOOP!

My youngest sister has given me a name for what is one of my favourite genres of film: Sleepover Canon.

Some examples: Clueless, Easy A, Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You. I'd been referring to them as "high school girl movies", but that was never *quite* right. What they have more accurately in common are problems that are never *that* serious, a pervasive sense of Girl Power throughout the film, and a definite and deliberate Happily Ever After.

I *love* this category of movie --I've rewatched each of the ones I've mentioned repeatedly over the years. They're movies I find completely *comfortable*. Even when I don't totally relate to the protagonist (Cher from Clueless and Elle from Legally Blonde are tres stylish, where I have much more in common with angry feminist Katarina from 10 Things, or nerdy naive math-babe Cady from Mean Girls) I still enjoy watching them navigate their problems, and eventually win the day. Getting the boy can be a nice side effect, but who cares about that when you can win the court case, the math competition, the copy of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring¹...

Anywho, here's the list I've compiled so far. More suggestions in comments extremely welcome!:

• Mean Girls: This may be *the* quintessential Sleepover Canon movie of my age. It's deeply quotable, extremely funny, and is the only movie that I definitely quote in my Calculus class every year.



• Clueless: IIRC, just a modern day Emma, because there are only seven plots anyways. Surprisingly relevant --seriously, I saw more than one student this year at Halloween dressed as the lead character, and it came out when *I* was six. Has my Single Favourite Movie Insult of all time.



• Easy A: Aaaahhhh, I *love* this movie. I saw a trailer sometime way back, went "ooo, I feel bad how much I want to see that, it looks trashy and dubious re:sex positivity" and then I completely forgot about it for years. Eventually wound up getting a free copy from a friend culling media and watched it --it's amazing! It's hardly dubious at all! Also it's loosely related to The Scarlet Letter.



• 10 Things I Hate About You: This one's "Taming of the Shrew"² set in modern day California with a gen-u-ine movie Katarina³, a baby Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Heath Ledger about as pretty as you'll ever see him⁴.



• Legally Blonde: One of the most surprisingly feminist movies of all time, the entire thing just oozes "Girl Power" right down to the fact that when you buy it on DVD, the case is hot pink. Reese Witherspoon has casually mentioned in interviews that she's still down to play Elle Woods, so basically everyone wants Legally Blonde 3: Commander in Chic.

Alys maintains that there's variations of the list, such as the "queer sleepover canon" (But I'm a Cheerleader) or the "art school sleepover canon" (Amelie). My favourite variation would be the "Dark Sleeopver Canon", exemplified by Heathers, but also including Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (the movie, thanks) and Anna and the Apocalypse (which if you get a chance to see, and don't mind blood, definitely do).

There's also been some talk the last few times I've mentioned this concept about what exactly is the *boy* Sleepover Canon. Actual movies boys watch at sleepovers seem to be implied to be action/superhero stuff, also Disney (my middle sister had weird friends). I'd like to propose "Real Genius" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as the first parts of that list, but also I don't care as much. Maybe Scott Pilgrim?

I genuinely can't tell if the Sleepover Canon genre hasn't had any good movies recently, or if I'm just not hearing about them right now. I want to be very clear that Depressing Shit (tm) like The Fault in Our Stars doesn't count. Like great art and good porn, "I'll know it when I see it"⁵

Do you wanna have a sleepover? What movies should we watch?

~Sor
MOOP!

1: What's that? A chance to plug "St. Trinian's", one of my favourite (albeit Problematic) movies of all time? Now, I actually don't think this is one hundred percent in the proper Sleepover Canon, but it's certainly adjacent. Also, I seriously do love this movie, but you have to overlook some seriously iffy "British men love playing ladies for laughs" bullshit and another Not Great plotline, but god, everything else about it is top notch!

2: Okay, like, I don't think it's a *required* part of Sleepover Canon to be loosely based on a Great Classic, but don't think I haven't noticed the pattern.

3: I don't get to see my name spelled correctly much of anywhere.

4: Where is he prettier? In "A Knight's Tale" which is not Sleepover Canon but is an excellent movie to watch at Sleepovers.

5: I haven't seen Spice World in way long enough to give a plot summary, but I'm pretty sure it's Sleepover Canon. Similarly, neither Al nor I have seen 13 Going on 30, but we know enough from trailers and stuff to know that it's probably in there alright.