15 of the Best Movies That Define Gen Z

Born loosely between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z is distinct for a number of reasons, but one of the defining factors is that the generation was forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to experience middle school, high school, and/or college through their computer screens.

This generation has already faced plenty of challenges, from a host of “adults” who aren’t doing anything about climate collapse to the erosion and commodification of their privacy online and a whole slew of maladies with cyber- at the start of their names. Their resiliency, sense of humor, and social awareness have blossomed from these obstacles, and it’s also given them fantastic taste in films. Here are just 15 of the best movies that Gen Zers love.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

After struggling with the iconic character for years, Sony finally turned to Marvel to partner on a new version that would blend smoothly into the MCU. The result was a Peter Parker (Tom Holland) who faced tons of real-life teen problems alongside the pressures of catching bike thieves and saving the entire world.

It was a smartly scaled-down super story: After the Battle of New York, salvage company chief Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) uses collected alien tech to seek revenge for being pushed out of business by Tony Stark, becoming the Vulture. Meanwhile, Peter has been sent back down to the JV team after fighting Captain America during Civil War at the airport in Germany, so he juggles a budding romance with Liz (Laura Harrier), studying for his academic decathlon team alongside MJ (Zendaya), and digging into the Vulture’s twisted plans with his best friend and guy-in-the-chair Ned (Jacob Batalon).

The Hate U Give (2018)

Based on Angie Thomas’s young adult novel, this is a coming-of-age tale told in a pressure cooker. It follows Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), a 16-year-old girl who witnesses her friend being shot and killed by a police officer from the passenger seat of the pulled-over car. Even though her identity as the witness is kept secret at first, she is soon stuck between an anti-racist public outcry, infuriated friends, and the King Lords gang, which she names as the real major threat to her neighborhood. Directed with a clenched fist by George Tillman, Jr., the film expertly dissects social justice appeals and the dangers of abusers walking free.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is on the cusp of adulthood, living in his family’s gorgeous home in Northern Italy, where he mostly keeps a low profile and enjoys reading. When his archeology professor father (Michael Stulhbarg) invites a graduate student named Oliver (Armie Hammer) to live and work with him, Elio develops a friendship and feelings for this outgoing, vibrant spirit. As they bike and roam and dance across the postcard landscape, Oliver decides they shouldn’t take their relationship any further—so of course, they take their relationship immediately further, resulting in a swirl of passion, care, and dread of the eventual moment when they will have to part.

Shrek (2001)

The love is real. In a chicken versus egg situation, this movie is either beloved by Gen Z because it’s a snarky nostalgia pick about a sarcastic misanthrope that’s cool enough to become a meme, or it was because of a widespread meme that snuck its way (unironically) into their hearts. The animated ground-breaker features Mike Myers as the titular ogre, grumbling his way through saving the day to get his swamp back. Along the way, he hates that he’s joined by Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and groans about rescuing Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) but soon learns to love while Smashmouth blasts in the background.

Moonlight (2016)

Moonlight is told in three parts, each giving us a window into the youth, teenage years, and twenty-something maturity of Chiron (Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes) and Kevin (Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome, Andre Holland). Chiron endures bullying and a broken home during the crack epidemic in Miami, but he and Kevin connect romantically and sexually. Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding them in this flick, which was written and directed by Barry Jenkins, aren’t keen on giving them a happy ending. Anchored by a masterful performance by Mahershala Ali and a sextet of actors portraying the leads, this brokenhearted romance is stellar.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Based on Jenny Han’s novel, the first installment of the celebrated series focuses on Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), a reserved teen who writes letters to her crushes she never intends to send. When they get out into the wild, she finds herself swatting away confused boys, potential suitors, and her own swirling feelings. Effectively, she tries to survive everyone’s worst love-based nightmare, which results in an uproarious comedy of errors, rife with embarrassment that we get to enjoy safely from our sofas.

Clueless (1995)

Amy Heckerling’s riff on Jane Austen’s Emma speaks to all generations but especially hits on Gen Z’s current nostalgia for the ’90s. Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is an airheaded teen with a big heart who wants to help others but doesn’t really know how. She’s obsessed with clothes and status, but her woke stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) and a series of new friendships and mishaps make Cher reevaluate her priorities. It’s a romance, sure, but it’s more about personal growth and learning that you can’t charm your way into passing a driver’s test after hitting other cars.

Booksmart (2019)

Olivia Wilde directed this bold look at two nerdy girls as they flail at having the night of their lives. Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) has a crush on a girl named Ryan, but like everything else in her life, she doesn’t plan on pursuing it. Her best friend Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is the unpopular class president who sweetly bullies Amy into crashing the cool kids party for the night, resulting in a bonkers escapade through dying phone batteries, principals moonlighting as Uber drivers, and the dangers of watching pornography while connected to a car’s Bluetooth speakers. As everything careens off the rails, the movie—which is essentially an American Pie for a new generation—offers proof that things working out in unexpected ways is often better than working out how we hope.

Spirited Away (2001)

This breathtaking masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki tells the story of Chihiro (voiced by Rumi Hiiragi), a young girl moving to a new city with her parents when they’re waylaid at a mysterious abandoned village. Then she learns the village is a spa for spirits run by the witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki). Aided by the enslaved Haku (Miyu Irino), Chihiro must remember her name and rescue her parents (who have turned into pigs) before she’s stuck scrubbing mud off radish spirits forever. Far more than its plot, the inventive and magical film is a visual feast of delightful oddities exploring this bratty girl’s evolution into someone with a massive heart.

Eighth Grade (2018)

Before making his secluded COVID special Inside, Bo Burnham wrote and directed this coming-of-age comedy about a girl who optimistically posts inspirational vlogs about confidence despite no one ever watching them. Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) is the perfect teen heroine, a delightful outsider who is both desperate and not ready to grow up. Beyond the usual sexual misadventures and friendship disasters, the film mainly explores teen anxiety, whether it’s Kayla who can’t hide her nerves and encroaching depression, or other students who are simply far better at hiding them.

The Hunger Games (2012)

An early YA smash hit (and probably a depiction of our future), this adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s novel stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, an impoverished young woman who volunteers to take her sister’s place in a televised event where teenagers from different American “districts” try to kill each other. Katniss decides to rebel against the predetermined rules of the contest, fighting alongside her district-mate Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) to dominate the competition while drawing the adoring public to her anti-establishment side. The fascists hate that, and they hate it even more when she threatens to bring the violence of the games to their doorsteps throughout the series. A rewatch is enough to make you want to take up archery.

Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele’s explosive debut as a feature filmmaker practically reinvented the tone and structure of fear on the big screen. While horror has long been used to explore taboo topics and complex problems within society (including racist violence), Peele brought it all into the modern age with this story of a young Black photographer named Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) visiting the wealthy family of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams) for the first time at their isolated estate. Naturally, they’re super nice and hospitable, but all of his uncomfortable feelings grow alongside disturbing encounters until he discovers what they really want him there for. But they mean so well!

The Truman Show (1998)

Jim Carrey stars as a man whose entire life is a constructed lie wherein he’s the unwitting star of a popular TV program. Peter Weir’s film does an admirable job of exploring the fabricated existence of all modern life and foreshadows the effect that reality TV would have on pop culture. Truman Burbank slowly begins to question his reality, peeling back the strangeness of his world as it’s dictated by the egotistical director Christof (Ed Harris), who gets a little too happy playing God. Sweet and humane, this flick asks an uncomfortable number of questions about what constitutes real life, what separates us from our performances of ourselves, and what kind of risk someone needs to take to lead an authentic life.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

This neon-soaked horror film turns outcast status into the ultimate fear. In it, a group of friends played by Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, and Pete Davidson gather at a big house in the middle of a hurricane to get blitzed and play a party game. In it, a secret murderer goes around “killing” other players while trying not to get caught. Unfortunately, someone starts killing people for real, and everyone makes the logical decision to freak out and distrust everyone else. It’s wry and funny, just like a horror film stacked with comedic actors should be, and the malaise of youth shines blindingly through.

Dune (2021)

There are few things people born during the George W. Bush presidency like better than a sci-fi story from 1965 starring a former Disney pipeline star and the guy who would go on to play Bob Dylan. Of course, Denis Villeneuve’s sandy epic was beloved by all ages because of its towering artistic vision that made style and substance equal partners in letting the spice flow.

However, Gen Z has a particularly strong attachment to the movie and its sequel, which would be considered their generation’s Lord of the Rings if so many of them didn’t obsess over Lord of the Rings, too. In the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s iconic novel, Timothée Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, the youngest member of a royal-ish family taking charge of a desert planet. But when his family is betrayed, he links up with Chani (Zendaya) and a host of other rebels to seek solace, revenge, and lessons on riding sandworms.

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