Some Kind of Republican: Was John Hughes really in favor of teen rebellion?

Slate ^

[slowhand520]

Some Kind of Republican Was John Hughes really in favor of teen rebellion? By Michael Weiss

Posted Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, at 4:36 PM ET As far as adult teen whisperers go, John Hughes has enjoyed a remarkable staying power. Anyone who grew up in the '80s—or just caught the decade on reruns on rainy Saturday-afternoon television—can probably remember high school as much for its unique misery as for the Breakfast Club references it evokes. Hughes was in his 30s when he became successful, and he managed to make teen cinema intentionally funny and less condescending toward its core audience, whose lingo he either spoke or helped invent.

Hughes was also the first Balzac of homeroom, arguing that what stratified public education as much as looks, popularity, or natural herd instincts was net worth. Even those dismayed by the cheap sentimentality and wafer-thin plotlines of his films could at least appreciate seeing class presented as not something you skipped but were defined by. Hughes, though, was never quite the antagonist of the status quo he made himself out to be. He was actually a political conservative, and his portrayals of down-and-out youth rebellion had more to do with celebrating the moral victory of the underdog than with championing the underprivileged. In Hughes' hormonal vale of tears, snobs and elitists were the ones who ruined wealth for everybody else.

[RepoGirl]

She's Having a Baby has one of the funniest gags in it. Kevin Bacon looking at the photo of his wife's father, saying, "If you only knew what I'll be doing to her tonight..."

Cut back to the father's picture, expression on the face changed from a grin to a look of horror. Great little sight gag.

Also, best line: "Get your butt up higher, boy!"

John Hughes made some infinitely quoteable films.

[Mr. Silverback]

Those aren't pillows!

[Mr. Silverback]

Fans who have been waiting since glasnost to see these two tragically hip hearts beat as one will still feel cheated, however. All we get on the new DVD are some rough dailies of Duckie asking Andie for a "moonlight dance," accompanied by a voiceover explaining how test audiences and an insistent Ringwald loathed any resolution that had the preppie failing to rescue his damsel in distressed jeans.

Dang, was Ringwald a snob even then?

[Mr. Silverback]

Tat's exactly why I don't think about, or right about, movies too much. In the end the writer usually comes off as osequious or disdainful, depending one whetehr he liked the work in question.

[Mr. Silverback]

Um, Gregory Peck was an actor. I think the EPA guy was Walter Peck.

I love Ghostbusters. Just a few months ago I used the "dogs and cats living together, MASS HYSTERIA" line in an op ed to describe Dem predictions of the disaster the Alito-Roberts court would be.

[MediaMole]

The Sunday Newspaper parody -- The Dacron Republican-Democrat.

That is still the funniest thing I have ever read. Too bad it was printed on real newsprint and my copy is falling apart.

[AnnaZ]

How about them Bears?!

[Mr. Silverback]

How about them Bears?!

I think you misspelled that, ma'am:

Last week, we met up with the Detroit...

</brave front>

[AnnaZ]

The Detroit Kittens? Can you imagine? (LOL... I've visited there!)

[paltz]

RIP JOHN HUGHES

[AnnaZ]

Ditto.

=(

[Joe 6-pack]

"RIP JOHN HUGHES"