John Hughes and Me
When I was a teenager, I had this poster on my wall:
I also had this one:
So maybe this explains a little about my feelings about John Hughes and his movies.Ìý
I just finished reading
It was a Christmas present from my mom!Ìý Thanks!Ìý I really enjoyed it!Ìý It's really a treasure trove of behind the scenes info about some of the best teen movies of the 1980's, and it inspired the following thoughts:
Ìý
1. As much as people who make zombie movies are playing in George Romero's sandbox, I think that many of us who write young adult fiction are playing in a sandbox that was co-created by Judy Blume and John Hughes.Ìý I think that the current boom in young adult fiction, while certainly having a lot to do with Harry Potter and Twilight, also has to do with adults growing up with the idea that teen life was something worth taking seriously and creating art about.Ìý Neither Judy Blume nor John Hughes was the first one to make art about teenagers, but they were, in my opinion, the first ones to do it really well.
2. Some thoughts on the movies discussed in the book, though not all are John Hughes movies:
Sixteen Candles: Briefly, because I've written about this before, the sweetness of this movie coexists with some pretty awful cruelty toward not just Long Duk Dong, but also his girlfriend and the Joan Cusack character.Ìý I find this weird, but also depressing because I feel like a lot of people are shut out of the sweet parts of this movie by the cruel parts.
2.The Breakfast Club.Ìý A nearly perfect movie.Ìý People talk about movies changing their lives. This movie did not change my life, but it did speak to me in a way no other movie ever had before and very few have since.Ìý
3.Pretty in Pink.Ìý Kind of cool that they made a movie about social class, which is still a pretty taboo subject in this country.Ìý The ending sucks for me for two reasons:Ìý one is that the whole movie has been leading up to the original Duckie ending, and so the happy ending feels, rightfully, tacked on.Ìý Apparently the original ending really annoyed the female audience members, who wanted to feel like yes, you can be poor and quirky and still land the hot rich guy.Ìý But in pleasing that segment of the audience, they really sucker punched those of us who identified with Duckie.Ìý Because the message there seemed to be that you,as a funny, kind, not-terribly-good-looking guy (okay, I wasn't that kind, but that's how I saw myself) can give your heart to a girl, but she will always go for the better-looking, less quirky guy who treats her like crap.Ìý This felt like a sucker punch when I saw the movie at age 17, but, looking back, I probably would have been well-served to heed this warning and not think that inhabiting "the friend zone" was the way to a girl's heart.Ìý
Ferris Bueller's Day Off:Ìý I just never liked this one as much as anybody else did. I mean, there are definitely some very funny scenes, but to me it's the story of a douchebag who is extra douchey, and the only one who gets in trouble for his day of douchery is his long-suffering best friend who just wanted to stay home all day. Also the maudlin ending to me felt like an ill-advised attempt to add "depth" to a caper comedy.
St. Elmo's Fire: This is a terrible movie. Just awful from start to finish.
Some Kind of Wonderful:Ìý I didn't see it because I had already seen Pretty in Pink, and even though the female Duckie gets the guy in this one, I wasn't interested.
Say Anything:Ìý It was a cute movie I saw once and never really felt the need to see again. I kind of don't get why this movie resonates so much with so many people, but I guess I feel that way about most of Cameron Crowe's movies.Ìý I liked Singles, though.
I have mixed feelings about Hughes' oevre and I was a midwestern middle class white kid--i.e.,the target audience for these movies.Ìý Which just goes to show that generalizations about things that "impact a generation" are always overstated.Ìý Certainly these movies were important parts of the culture when I was a teenager, and, for all my misgivings, they've definitely impacted my work; but, I mean, so have a lot of things.Ìý
Finally, while this is a really good book that I thoroughly recommend to anyone who's a fan of any of those movies, it leaves a lot unexplored about Hughes. I hope someone's writing a biography because I am curious about the guy. Like, what kind of married man in his 30's forms incredibly close friendships with at least two teenaged girls?Ìý Isn't that kind of creepy?Ìý Why did he cut so many people off the first time they disagreed with him?Ìý Why did his movies devolve into cynical crap?Ìý Why did he write for years under the name of Edmond Dantes?Ìý
Dantes, hero of The Count of Monte Cristo, plans an elaborate revenge after he's been unforgivably wronged by someone he trusted.Ìý How was Hughes terribly wronged?Ìý Was he mad because Home Alone made him incredibly wealthy? What the hell was this guy's deal, anyway?ÌýÌý
I'm looking forward to that book, but this book is really good too.
