[2] Codes and conventions of teen films vary depending on the cultural context of the film, but they can include puberty, proms, alcohol, illegal substances, high school, parties, virginity, teen pregnancy, social groups and cliques, interpersonal conflict with peers and/or the older generations, fitting in, peer pressure, and popular culture.
His legacy of teen films, including The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and many more, proved to be popular not only with audiences but also with critics.
His films, particularly the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy (consisting of Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere), are notable for capturing the disaffected attitudes of suburban teenagers of Generation X. Éric Rohmer, a pioneering director of the French New Wave, was notable for focusing on young adults or youth and their complications with love in a number of his films.
Popular actors in teen films have included Annette Funicello, Hayley Mills, and Sal Mineo in the 1960s and 1970s; Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Brendan Fraser, Luke Perry, Johnny Depp, Christina Applegate, Winona Ryder, John Cusack, Michael J.
Fox, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Broderick and members of the Brat Pack in the 1980s and early 1990s; and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jonathan Brandis, Tatyana Ali, Neve Campbell, Chris Evans, Rose McGowan, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Heath Ledger, Britney Spears, Brandy Norwood, Kirsten Dunst, Shannon Elizabeth, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, Tobey Maguire, Alicia Silverstone, Gina Ravera, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Rachael Leigh Cook, Drew Barrymore, Freddie Prinze Jr., Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Amanda Bynes, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew Lillard, Gabrielle Union, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Paul Rudd, Blake Lively and Hayden Panettiere in the mid-to-late-1990s and throughout the 2000s.
Notable teen genre actors in the 2010s and 2020s include Maya Hawke, Leah Lewis, Leighton Meester, Zendaya, Noah Centineo, Timothée Chalamet, Zac Efron, Lucy Hale, Lucas Hedges, Tom Holland, Anna Kendrick, Katherine Langford, Keiynan Lonsdale, Ezra Miller, Evan Peters, Nick Robinson, Cole Sprouse, Amandla Stenberg, Emma Stone, Ashley Tisdale, Emma Watson, Charlie Heaton, Justice Smith, Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Odeya Rush, Madison Iseman, Dylan Minnette, Storm Reid, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Charlie Plummer, Vanessa Hudgens, Sophia Lillis, Angourie Rice, Olivia Rodrigo, Finn Wolfhard, Lana Condor, Ramona Young, Liza Koshy and Mckenna Grace.