Class Reunion - Class Reunions in Film and Literature

Class Reunions in Film and Literature

In film and literature, especially comedy, crime novels, thrillers and psychological suspense novels, class reunions have been a frequent device used to show the eruption of emotions such as shame, hatred or guilt within individual characters who, suddenly faced again with their own youth, become aware of the fact that they have been unable to cope with their past. In many cases, those who used to be bullied, humiliated or in any other way mistreated by their teachers and/or classmates believe that now their chance has come to take revenge on their former torturers. Often in fiction, participants nostalgically reminisce about their old school days, fondly remember their school pranks. Alumni are quite often concerned about how their lives have turned out when compared with the lives of their former classmates, and will sometimes feel pressured enough to go to great lengths to concoct stories about their fruitful careers, personal accomplishments and relationships with others.

Another staple of this kind of fiction is former classmates taking up with their old flame again, either because they have changed to their advantage and developed into an admirable adult or precisely for the opposite reason—because they have not changed at all in a fleeting world.


Examples of films, revolving around class reunions, include::

  • Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
  • National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
  • Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends (1992)
  • George Armitage's Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
  • Since You've Been Gone (1998), directed by David Schwimmer
  • American Reunion (2012)


Examples of fiction, revolving around class reunions, include:

  • Tim O'Brien's July, July (2002)
  • Paul Reizin's Fiends Reunited (2004)
  • Ben Elton's Past Mortem (2004)
  • Simone van der Vlugt's De reünie (2004)

Examples of TV shows loosely based on class reunions, include:

  • GCB (2012)

Read more about this topic:  Class Reunion

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