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John Hughes is gone.
Y'know, as the years have gone by, the problems with Hughes' films have become more evident to me. For one thing, there's the fact that, much as I love FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, I kind of hate Ferris himself as a portrait of smug privilege a-go-go. Ducky has gone from being the patron saint of outsider geeks to the patron saint of so-called "Nice Guys." Ally Sheedy's delightful weirdo is creepily assimilated via makeover into being a nice normal girl. And then there's the torment that an entire generation of Asian American men had to endure thanks to Long Duk Dong.*
And yet, I think about some of the other truly beloved teen films. DAZED AND CONFUSED. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. SAY ANYTHING. They're celebrated for their authenticity, for tapping into a time in people's lives and capturing what it was like to be a teen, especially of that era.
And you know what? I hate those movies. Cannot stand them. Maybe because they are so realistic and true to life, I dunno. I hated my teenage years. Hated them. I have absolutely zero nostalgia for that time, no romance, no longing for those days. My teenage experience was hardly a universal one by any stretch, and those universal teenage experiences I *did* have were forgettable at best and god-I-wish-I-could-forget at worst.
That's why I love John Hughes' films. Because they weren't realistic. They were the myth of teenagers, in all their stereotypical glory, set against an absurdist backdrop distinctly detached from reality. They weren't real. But in their ways, they were more real than real. At their best, they could speak to the human condition in ways that anyone, from any age, could relate to and appreciate. There is the same level of humanity in THE BREAKFAST CLUB as there is in his non-teenage fare like PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES. As aintitcool's obit notes, "pop in SIXTEEN CANDLES and re-experience the absurd, but somehow heartfelt and grounded reality he constructs there."
That's what I love about stories like Hughes'. The fact that all the wackiness and absurdity is grounded in genuine character emotion and humanity. Thinking of it that way, the impact these films may have had on my own development as a person might be more profound than I had imagined.
I've also been bandying about an idea wherein I go up my own geek asshole and compare my preference for Hughes over FAST TIMES and their ilk to my preference for DC Comics over Marvel, but I lack the energy and eloquence for that right now, lucky you.
I think it's time for a movie marathon. I haven't seen PRETTY IN PINK in years, and am anxious to reevaluate my theories on Ducky. I've never seen NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION nor WEIRD SCIENCE; appalling, I know. And it turns out my Mom's never seen PLAINS, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES, which I must rectify this week. That one might be my very favorite. I can't think of any other film to balance to hilarious and the heartbreaking quite so wonderfully. The entire sequence on the highway, it's... it's perfection.
So yeah. Increasingly evident flaws and all, I will always love these films.
What's your favorite John Hughes scene?
*In looking for that Tomine strip, I ended up finding this rebuttal, which claims that LDD is actually a wonderfully subversive character who *defies* Asian stereotypes. I'm not sure I buy it, but I'd certainly like to, as I'd like to enjoy SIXTEEN CANDLES without guilt again. Probably ain't gonna happen, though.
Y'know, as the years have gone by, the problems with Hughes' films have become more evident to me. For one thing, there's the fact that, much as I love FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, I kind of hate Ferris himself as a portrait of smug privilege a-go-go. Ducky has gone from being the patron saint of outsider geeks to the patron saint of so-called "Nice Guys." Ally Sheedy's delightful weirdo is creepily assimilated via makeover into being a nice normal girl. And then there's the torment that an entire generation of Asian American men had to endure thanks to Long Duk Dong.*
And yet, I think about some of the other truly beloved teen films. DAZED AND CONFUSED. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. SAY ANYTHING. They're celebrated for their authenticity, for tapping into a time in people's lives and capturing what it was like to be a teen, especially of that era.
And you know what? I hate those movies. Cannot stand them. Maybe because they are so realistic and true to life, I dunno. I hated my teenage years. Hated them. I have absolutely zero nostalgia for that time, no romance, no longing for those days. My teenage experience was hardly a universal one by any stretch, and those universal teenage experiences I *did* have were forgettable at best and god-I-wish-I-could-forget at worst.
That's why I love John Hughes' films. Because they weren't realistic. They were the myth of teenagers, in all their stereotypical glory, set against an absurdist backdrop distinctly detached from reality. They weren't real. But in their ways, they were more real than real. At their best, they could speak to the human condition in ways that anyone, from any age, could relate to and appreciate. There is the same level of humanity in THE BREAKFAST CLUB as there is in his non-teenage fare like PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES. As aintitcool's obit notes, "pop in SIXTEEN CANDLES and re-experience the absurd, but somehow heartfelt and grounded reality he constructs there."
That's what I love about stories like Hughes'. The fact that all the wackiness and absurdity is grounded in genuine character emotion and humanity. Thinking of it that way, the impact these films may have had on my own development as a person might be more profound than I had imagined.
I've also been bandying about an idea wherein I go up my own geek asshole and compare my preference for Hughes over FAST TIMES and their ilk to my preference for DC Comics over Marvel, but I lack the energy and eloquence for that right now, lucky you.
I think it's time for a movie marathon. I haven't seen PRETTY IN PINK in years, and am anxious to reevaluate my theories on Ducky. I've never seen NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION nor WEIRD SCIENCE; appalling, I know. And it turns out my Mom's never seen PLAINS, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES, which I must rectify this week. That one might be my very favorite. I can't think of any other film to balance to hilarious and the heartbreaking quite so wonderfully. The entire sequence on the highway, it's... it's perfection.
So yeah. Increasingly evident flaws and all, I will always love these films.
What's your favorite John Hughes scene?
*In looking for that Tomine strip, I ended up finding this rebuttal, which claims that LDD is actually a wonderfully subversive character who *defies* Asian stereotypes. I'm not sure I buy it, but I'd certainly like to, as I'd like to enjoy SIXTEEN CANDLES without guilt again. Probably ain't gonna happen, though.
