Prom: every high schooler’s favorite holiday.
It’s always an event – getting ready together, buying the necessary accouterments required for a proper date, taking a million pictures and only liking two, etc., etc.. No other high school dance has earned this pomp and preparation, and it’s been this way since the beginning of proms. But, besides the unforeseen insanity surrounding this era’s dance, there’s only several other decades worthy of the collective society’s iconic prom memory: the 1980s.
Though not the most iconic or notable effect of the 80s, it is known as the era of the Prom. That is, unless someone is really fond of Grease’s 50s aesthetic melodrama.
This is in part due to the masterpiece of a movie that is Sixteen Candles, but the movie can’t take all the credit for the sheer tomfoolery of the decade.
Prom has always been an excuse for teenagers to “party it up crazy style”, but the 80s were always a different story. Through any personal anecdote from someone who was a teen at the time, it’s clear that inebriated shenanigans ran uninhibited and unacknowledged. This is much like the proms of today, sans the actually good dance music.
One thing I’ve learned from my time at both Prom and high school in general is the sheer dedication of teenagers to the cultivation of a good time. Some don’t even need the booster of recreational habits, and really they’re all the better for it. This is because everyone knows that the true heart of Prom is actually the sober friends we made along the way.
Amid the strobing lights and the music so loud it unlocks a sixth sense, all the students lose their sharp edges for friendly demeanors. For one night and one night only, every clique is in the same room for the same reason. Even so, this shared experience between peers doesn’t make the losers any cooler.
Losers still hang out with losers, and jocks still hang out with jocks. This is a tale as old as time itself, and just because people don’t casually call each other slurs anymore, that doesn’t mean the very foundation of high school hierarchy can be changed. There’s a reason the Constitution still governs the United States like a deadbeat dad expecting a ‘thank you’ for sporadic birthday cards.
Anyways… Prom is a uniting force, but the student body can only get so united.
Instead of John Hughes and The Breakfast Club, the 2020s get Sam Levinson and Euphoria. This reflects poorly on the current decade and the impressionable youth living in it.
Much like Euphoria, Prom is often incredibly divisive and rather unbecoming for many underaged souls. Yet, it’s still the “most important” event of the school year. It’s like the carrot at the end of the stick, and unfortunately, we are but foolish mules.
The fact that a sweaty, glorified, and patriarchal party is the reward students get for making it through the year is a bit disheartening. Maybe they really are preparing us for the “real world”.
Honestly, such an antiquated tradition lasting this long is a bit ridiculous. Sure, there’s only so much change a public high school can take at a time, but maybe there would have been something a little more interesting by now? Not that Prom isn’t interesting; that would be doing a gross disservice to Prom-zillas and drama hounds everywhere, and those are among the people it would be most wise not to disservice.
If nothing else, Prom can offer a wide variety of interesting people-watching. I mean, what’s better than watching one’s peers like reality TV? High school is reality TV that some sick, sick man (and I’m sure it was a man) decided to make a little too realistic. They should really stop calling it ‘reality’ TV; art imitates life, but teenagers only know how to imitate the worst possible art ever created. I’ve heard it’s a lot easier than growing a personality.
Among the cliques and groups already beaten to death by John Hughes, there are new, horrible stereotypes constantly being created as a reflection of the current times. Imagine a Discord moderator at an 80s Prom, or, heaven forbid, a furry. Maybe the 80s was onto something with the insensitive bullying…
All this shaming aside, Prom is good for something. I actually had quite a fun time at Sentinel’s 2026 Prom, despite the sympathy I felt for the frogs getting slowly boiled for stew. I went to dinner beforehand, got all dolled up, and danced with my friends on a sticky dance floor too small for the seemingly endless stream of kids walking through the door.
I had a good time, but it wasn’t the center of my universe for the whole month before and it wasn’t the most exciting moment of my life. I have an understanding with school sanctioned events: I get free food and to hangout with my friends, and the school gets to think I’m happily bonding with my peers.
As much as I love the 1980s, I think I’m better suited to the era of life that I’ve been given. I, personally, take comfort in the fact that Prom was just as horribly teenager-y then as it is now. I definitely prefer an awkward dance in a time where Cupid Shuffle can be played in the same room as Travis Scott’s FE!N.
