Do you know what this is about yet? If you can't tell by the pictures and you haven't been paying attention, John Hughes is dead; he passed away from a heart attack a couple of days ago. This is sad as all deaths are but now we must take a step back and look at the work the man left behind; I wish it was only the brat pack movies for even though "home Alone" is a phenomenally successful movie I don't care for it much. So we have "16 Candles", "The Breakfast Club", "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful".The message in all these movies is that no matter who you are you are a weirdo but you are ultimately loved; not a bad message even though it's a bit rose colored. My problem is I can't recall ever relating with any of these characters, not Judd Nelson's Bender, not John Cryer's Ducky (though girls have said I remind them of him), not Eric Stoltz' as . . . whatever his name was in "Some Kind of Wonderful". Now believe me when I say that I wish I related to Ferris Bueller, I wish I was Ferris Bueller; I think we all do; I mean why can't everything we do work out no matter how dodgy it may be. Truency problems, grand theft auto, identity theft, hacking into and changing official documents, tresspassing, lying to just about everybody he comes in contact with, conspiracy, and I'm fairly certain statutory rape. Whatever Ferris was awesome, fine taste in food, art, cars and women. I don't think he goes o to be a fry cook on Mars I think he joins a frat and cheerfully goes on to be a spin man, getting politicians out of trouble. Where's my charmed life?
As I was saying I never related to any of these characters and I was made to feel like I should by some peer pressuring classmate or another. Have I felt like an outsider? Of course ! The thing is I always felt that these kids were forcing themselves to be in such turmoil, a relentless insistence on not getting what they want seemed to be their M.O. (aside from the young Mr. Bueller) I suppose being a teenager is an excuse for not quite being able to put your finger on what you want or being too insecure to grab it but I recall an understanding of what was and what wasn't within my realm of reality which was one of the reasons I was sullen (just like you).
My appreciation for Hughes though comes because he didn't make teens out to be simple kids who have not a real problem outside their acne and curfew (I had neither and both).
The real question would be is "The Breakfast Club" a modern day "No Exit"? These character all torture each other . . . But there's a happy ending so I think not but it's an interesting concept, right? No? Bite me!
Somebody cue the Simple Minds; we have to listen to "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
No comments:
Post a Comment