phones and unlisted phone numbers; today’s Valley
girls carry the latest cell phones.
Beyond her striking physical appearance and ma-
terial possessions, the next most noticeable charac-
teristic of the Valley girl is her lack of intelligence.
Not only is she a blond; she is a dumb blond. Her at-
tendance at school and sports events is admirable,
but she doesn’t grasp the concept of homework and
may manipulate other more nerdy types to do it for
her.
Valspeak Beginning in the 1980’s, Valley girls de-
veloped a form of dialect known as Valspeak that
spread quickly around the country. It serves to em-
phasize her minimum intelligence. Utilizing a vari-
ety of mid-sentence qualifiers such as “like” and
“duh,” Valspeak is characterized by inflections that
convey exaggerated emotions, from enthusiasm to
disdain, such as the raising of the voice at the end of
every sentence—as if each statement were a ques-
tion. The vocabulary and inflections of Valspeak
contributed to the idea that Valley girls were not very
intelligent, suggesting that they could not articulate
their limited thoughts. Similarly, short statements
that stood in for sentences—“Asif,” “Whatever,”
“Totally,” “I’m sure,” and “Gag me with a spoon”—
added to the stereotype of the Valley girl as inherently
stupid.
Impact The 1980’s Los Angeles Valley girl icon
spread throughout the country and became enor-
mously popular in advertising and film. Films of
the 1980’s and post-1980’s featuring the Valley girl
includeFast Times at Ridgemont High(1982),Buffy
the Vampire Slayer(1992),Clueless(1995),Romy and
Michele’s High School Reunion(1997),She’s All That
(1999),Jawbreaker(1999),Bring It On(2000), and
Legally Blonde(2001). Valley girls have also become a
trope in such horror films asScream(1996),Scream 2
(1997),I Know What You Did Last Summer(1997), and
Scream 3(2000). The enormously popularBuffy the
Vampire Slayertelevision series featuring blond Valley
girl Buffy Summers aired between 1997 and 2003.
In turn, the image infiltrated everyday Ameri-
cans’ lives, affecting mannerisms, attitudes, fashion,
and the way Americans speak. Valspeak slang and
expressions survived into the twenty-first century,
transforming mainstream American English, partic-
ularly among teens. Calling someone a Valley girl to-
day is to denigrate a young woman as superficial,
self-centered, and overspending.
Further Reading
Bernstein, Jonathan.Pretty in Pink: The Golden Age of
Teenage Movies. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin,- Bernstein examines the 1980’s, the Golden
Age of Teenage Movies, particularly middle- and
upper-middle-class teenagers, whose great con-
cern with personal appearance and popularity
gave rise to the Valley girl image.
Blyth, Carl, Sigrid Recktenwald, and Jenny Wang.
“I’m Like, ‘Say What?!’ A New Quotative in Amer-
ican Oral Narrative.”American Speech65 (Autumn,
1990): 215-227. Scholarly but approachable arti-
cle that discusses how Valley girl speech patterns,
especially “like,” have entered popular American
speech.
Clover, Carol J.Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in
the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1992. Illustrates how the image
of the 1980’s Valley girl has become a lasting trope
in American horror film.
Douglas, Susan. “Valley Girl Feminism: New Femi-
nist MagazineJaneDoes Not Compare toMs.
Magazine.”The Progressive61 (November, 1997): - Douglas recalls her first issue ofMs.magazine
and considers how times have changed in her
quest to find the premier issue of the latest femi-
nist magazine for “uppity” Valley-girl women.
M. Casey Diana
See also Advertising; Cell phones;Closing of the
American Mind, The; Consumerism; Fads; Fashions
and clothing;Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Femi-
nism; Film in the United States; Horror films;
Preppies; Slang and slogans; Teen films.Van Halen
Identification American hard rock band
Date Formed in 1974
One of the most popular bands of the 1980’s, Van Halen
brought fresh energy to the rock genre and influenced several
bands of the decade.
Van Halen is a hard rock band from Pasadena, Cali-
fornia. Its original members were Eddie Van Halen
(lead guitarist), David Lee Roth (lead vocalist), Mi-
chael Anthony (bass guitarist), and Alex Van Halen
(drummer). After forming in 1974, the band cre-
ated its unique style of rock music, marked by EddieThe Eighties in America Van Halen 1017