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Introduction xix The evolution of “girl power” also swept across music and film. Recording artists like Alanis Morissette sang about broken relationships from a distinctive female perspective, and Salt-N-Pepa broke down gender barriers within the rap and hip- hop community with their songs about female empowerment and sexual freedom. And, of course, the United Kingdom’s influence via the Spice Girls drove discus- sion and dialogue about a new wave of feminism. The proliferation of boy bands also exploded in the 1990s with the success of groups like the Backstreet Boys. At the box office, teen-centric horror was rebooted with the smash hit, Scream. Both reinforcing and reinventing teen slasher movie tropes from earlier decades, the film featured smart female lead characters who were able to thwart evil without male assistance. Teen horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer, on the other hand, embraced previous incarnations of the genre, failing to provide any new spin on the material. Teen sex comedies showed no signs of relenting, and much of that can be attributed to the breakout success of American Pie, a raunchy look at a group of male high schoolers desperate to lose their virginity. The 1990s brought grunge music into the mainstream as bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam enjoyed enormous commercial and critical acclaim. Both groups had strong teen appeal, but Nirvana especially seemed to resonate with angst-ridden youth who seemed to find a musical messiah in lead singer Kurt Cobain. Green Day blasted into the music scene with their debut album, Dookie. They would later capitalize on political divisions during the George W. Bush era with their concept album, American Idiot. The growing popularity of the next generation of video games was also import- ant in this decade. Offerings like the Grand Theft Auto series raised serious ques- tions and triggered debate about the negative impacts of video game violence on players. 2000s In a new digital era, teens had more access to more media than ever before. Two significant themes emerged in this decade: tales of the supernatural and a fix- ation on dystopian futures. In literature, the Twilight series of novels featured a tormented love story between a human woman, Bella, and her vampire boyfriend, Edward. The books and film adaptations within the series were wildly successful. Both The Hunger Games and the Divergent series of novels were also popular with teen readers and both featured strong female protagonists. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was a teen-centered story that accentuated positive relationships among a group of female friends. Unlike many media rep- resentations that pit women against one another, this series of books focused on the supportive and nurturing relationships that existed among a group of longtime friends. The “mean girls” trope featured prominently in film, television, and young adult books, including Mean Girls, Pretty Little Liars, and Gossip Girl. Hoping to capi- talize on the staggering success of Twilight, television offered The Vampire Diaries,