OT: Thoughts on John Hughes
Aug. 10th, 2009 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanI was out of town for a few days with limited internet access, so I haven't had the opportunity to throw in my .02 on the death of director/writer John Hughes or the sudden departure of Karen Traviss from the SW expanded universe.
I'll get to Traviss in another post.
I have to say that I've never been a fan of the films that made John Hughes the Voice Of A Generation, even though I'm squarely in that generation. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off all came out when I was in high school (eeek, really dating myself here). Now I do understand why kids initially flocked to those films. Prior to the Hughes era, most teen movies starred people who obviously graduated during the Ford administration and were focused mostly on some dweeb on a quest to lose his virginity. Some of Hughes's leads actually were teens and while sex played its part in his films (Sixteen Candles even had booby shots), they were more about trying to fit in than anything else. Teen movies changed after that. They were less like Porky's or Fast Times At Ridgemont High and more like The Breakfast Club.
So what bugged me about the movies that appealed so much to my peers? Maybe it's because I've never cared much for the teen movie genre, not even as a teenager. But maybe it's because I found the characters and situations so utterly grating. To this day, I cannot explain the appeal of Molly Ringwald. The Rich Chicago Kids Have A Party And Trash Their Folks' Mansion got old after it was used for the third or fourth time. In fact, it annoyed me to see these spoiled upper-middle class and rich kids destroy their parents' property, mostly for laughs. My folks would have given me a beating for wrecking their stuff. When Hughes tried to show a kid from the wrong side of the tracks for a change, we got Molly Ringwald and her restored Karmann-Ghia, a collector's car. And the whining, my God, the whining. The only thing more annoying than spoiled kids trashing their homes was spoiled kid angst. Of that whole run of movies, I found Ferris Bueller the most enjoyable because of its lack of Molly Ringwald and because Matthew Broderick really sold the character. Not much about it was realistic but realism wasn't the point of that particular film. It does veer into Rich Kid Destroys Parents' Stuff territory but at least the guy understood there would be consequences.
Anyway, I liked the non-teen stuff a lot better, stuff that Hughes either wrote or directed: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Home Alone (another adventure in the rich Chicago burbs, but at least the point was to deter a burglary), and National Lampoon's Vacation in particular. And his movies had a broad effect on the popular culture, making Ringwald a star and opening the door for obscure college radio/new wave bands like Simple Minds or Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark to score top 10 hits in the U.S.. Hughes was one of the few directors who seemed to get how to use pop music in a film. He knew how to create an Iconic Moment every now and then.
But by the mid-1990s, he had fewer hits and he'd retired from directing altogether by 1991. While Hughes was known for being a young, hip director who took his young stars to rock concerts and stuff, the fact is he was never one for the spotlight. Even at the height of his career, he made George Lucas look like a social butterfly by comparison. When he quit directing, he became even more of a recluse. He hadn't given an interview in at least a decade and he spent the past several years farming in Illinois.
Still, it's another '80s icon gone and fellow Gen-Xers are feeling that much older.
I'll get to Traviss in another post.
I have to say that I've never been a fan of the films that made John Hughes the Voice Of A Generation, even though I'm squarely in that generation. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off all came out when I was in high school (eeek, really dating myself here). Now I do understand why kids initially flocked to those films. Prior to the Hughes era, most teen movies starred people who obviously graduated during the Ford administration and were focused mostly on some dweeb on a quest to lose his virginity. Some of Hughes's leads actually were teens and while sex played its part in his films (Sixteen Candles even had booby shots), they were more about trying to fit in than anything else. Teen movies changed after that. They were less like Porky's or Fast Times At Ridgemont High and more like The Breakfast Club.
So what bugged me about the movies that appealed so much to my peers? Maybe it's because I've never cared much for the teen movie genre, not even as a teenager. But maybe it's because I found the characters and situations so utterly grating. To this day, I cannot explain the appeal of Molly Ringwald. The Rich Chicago Kids Have A Party And Trash Their Folks' Mansion got old after it was used for the third or fourth time. In fact, it annoyed me to see these spoiled upper-middle class and rich kids destroy their parents' property, mostly for laughs. My folks would have given me a beating for wrecking their stuff. When Hughes tried to show a kid from the wrong side of the tracks for a change, we got Molly Ringwald and her restored Karmann-Ghia, a collector's car. And the whining, my God, the whining. The only thing more annoying than spoiled kids trashing their homes was spoiled kid angst. Of that whole run of movies, I found Ferris Bueller the most enjoyable because of its lack of Molly Ringwald and because Matthew Broderick really sold the character. Not much about it was realistic but realism wasn't the point of that particular film. It does veer into Rich Kid Destroys Parents' Stuff territory but at least the guy understood there would be consequences.
Anyway, I liked the non-teen stuff a lot better, stuff that Hughes either wrote or directed: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Home Alone (another adventure in the rich Chicago burbs, but at least the point was to deter a burglary), and National Lampoon's Vacation in particular. And his movies had a broad effect on the popular culture, making Ringwald a star and opening the door for obscure college radio/new wave bands like Simple Minds or Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark to score top 10 hits in the U.S.. Hughes was one of the few directors who seemed to get how to use pop music in a film. He knew how to create an Iconic Moment every now and then.
But by the mid-1990s, he had fewer hits and he'd retired from directing altogether by 1991. While Hughes was known for being a young, hip director who took his young stars to rock concerts and stuff, the fact is he was never one for the spotlight. Even at the height of his career, he made George Lucas look like a social butterfly by comparison. When he quit directing, he became even more of a recluse. He hadn't given an interview in at least a decade and he spent the past several years farming in Illinois.
Still, it's another '80s icon gone and fellow Gen-Xers are feeling that much older.
