JOHN HUGHES ESSAYS
HUGHES THE AD
Alexander Rubinow
MMMS 3:30 Friday
26 March 1998
Assignment #3
There are many films that have been created throughout the extensive history of Hollywood. The advertising industry has taken advantage of the wide range of films and the extremely large audiences. Mark Crispin Miller's "Hollywood the Ad" really touches on the fact that so many films openly flaunt ads for major corporations. Be it in clothing or in consumables ads are featured in every way shape or form in contemporary cinema. One movie which Miller speaks of is Ferris Bueller's Day Off, directed and written by the unparalleled John Hughes. Not only does Hughes feature Ads in that particular film but also in many of his other films. Hughes is notorious for advertising in his movies and is a key example in the way Miller says that though the Ads are not made obvious by the characters they are obvious to the average observer.
John Hughes seems to favor using and showing certain brands in his movies over others. Two such examples are Nike and Pepsi. If there are teenage characters in his films, as there almost always are, at least one of them will be wearing Nike shoes or Nike apparel. The Breakfast Club, one of Hughes' brat pack favorites, has Nike all over the place. Emilio Esteves' character Andrew Clarke wears Nikes and you know it, he also sports a Nike T-shirt. Anthony Michael Hall's character Brian Ralph Johnson also wears Nikes. His stand out even more because of their prevalent yellow swoosh. His Nikes are even featured in the movie poster. People may not have gone to see the movie, but they definitely saw the Nike gym shoes on the poster. One of the films Miller Discusses, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is an extremely good example of films which exploit products. Pepsi gets so much time it is unbelievable. The can which a kid in the high school is collecting money for Ferris is a Pepsi can, and the drink which a girl spits on to Shermer High School's Principal, Edward R. Rooney, is a Pepsi. Nike is also featured in this film. The shoes which Jeanie Bueller wears are an old pair of Nike wrestling shoes. Ferris' mom works at a reality company and this film uses the Chicago based Koenig and Strey as its company. This is a way in which John Hughes advertises for local businesses in his films. Another local Chicago business which Hughes advertises for is a grocery store called Sunset Foods. This store is featured in the Kevin Bacon hit She's Having a Baby. Hughes at one point in his career actually wrote in a line for Pepsi. It came about in the 1990 high grossing film Home Alone. The line was directed toward Fuller McCallister, played by Kieren Culkin ( Macaulay's younger brother who is also featured in Father of the Bride 2), and it is the following: "Fuller, go easy on the Pepsi." That film also advertised American Airlines heavily. Apparently, it isn't a John Hughes film unless it has many advertisements in it and it has an ending which appeals to the vast majority of the audience.
That ending is a happy ending. Miller says that most companies choose to advertise in films which feature happy endings. John Hughes films almost always have happy endings, especially the ones where Ads are most prevalent. If the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off got the best of Ferris, or if "she" never had a baby in She's Having a Baby, Pepsi and Sunset Foods would have been less likely to want advertising time. If the students in The Breakfast Club never broke the rules, bared their souls or touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible, Nike would have pulled the shoes right off of the actors' feet. Finally, if Kevin's parents didn't realize they left him at home and never came back in Home Alone, Pepsi and American Airlines would realize that it would be advantageous for them not to advertise in a movie without a happy ending. The absence of a happy ending in any movie for any advertiser would be a red light to stay away.
Through the years John Hughes movies have touched us, made us laugh, made us cry, made us wonder, and made us go out to buy the products advertised therein. Though most Hughes movies may be geared towards teenagers, and the teenagers do turn out in droves, advertisers still choose to place their products. Nike, Pepsi, and the numerous local businesses have most likely benefited with endless profits. Miller is right in saying that movies with happy endings always get the Ads, which explains why Hughes always get the Ads. John Hughes is on top of the ad placement industry within the film industry, if only he would be able to rise to fame with the cinema again, as he raises the profits of the advertisers in his movies.
hughesdom
Alexander Rubinow
36F:002:0027
December 1998
Term Paper
John Hughes's movies over the years have evolved into not so great an art form, it can actually be said that they de-evolved if there is such a thing. John Hughes was at his height in the middle of the decade known as the eighties. Those films brought out the emotions and anxieties of the 15 and 16 year olds who Hughes himself is quoted in saying, " were not being served well by his generation"( Barth 46 ). Hughes was evidently referring to his contemporaries who apparently were not portraying youth in the light which Hughes believed they should be portrayed. Hughes made a series of five pictures beginning in 1984 and culminating in 1986 which truly are some of the strongest films of the "Teen Flick" era. They are Sixteen Candles(1984), The Breakfast Club(1985), Weird Science(1985), Pretty in Pink(1986), and finally Ferris Bueller's Day Off(1986). Ferris is a film which includes all of the quintessential things included in a Hughes teen picture. It also follows the certain tropes and commonalties which link these five of Hughes' movies together very tightly. Ferris Bueller's Day Off summarizes and typifies what it meant to be a teen in the eighties through all of its cinematic splendor.
John Hughes, writer, director, producer, and actor ( playing Brian's father at the end of The Breakfast Club) has built up a resounding career. The career essentially began when in 1979 he was employed into the offices of National Lampoon as an editor. He went on to write his first few movies including Nate and Hayes, Mr. Mom, and the successful Vacation. After Vacation Hughes made his directorial debut in the form of Sixteen Candles(1984) starring Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and John Cusack. Hughes went on to make two more pictures with Hall( The Breakfast Club and Weird Science) and two more with Ringwald( The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink ). Hughes originally wanted Hall to star as Ferris in Ferris, but Hall turned down the part because he did not want to be typecast. Instead the role went to Matthew Broderick (Project X, Godzilla), and Hall never got a decent roll again. Hughes says that when writing films he never sits down and thinks things like, "Wouldn't it be funny if" Hughes reaches deep into himself and pulls out things that other people were also thinking he writes with stories and characters like Hitchcock or Capra, his idols(Barth 46). The master of intelligent teenpix in the eighties truly was John Hughes (Cook 947).
The culmination of John Hughes' hard work throughout the mid-eighties all comes together in Ferris Bueller's Day Off(1986). Ferris is "one man's struggle to take it easy" as the newspaper add from June 11, 1986 ( its release date) suggests. It is the story of Ferris Bueller(Matthew Broderick) a 17 year old senior living in a north suburban suburb of Chicago. He hates going to high school because he feels it is "childish and stupid." Ferris decides to fake an illness for the ninth time of the semester and take the day off. He fools his parents, but cannot put anything past his sister Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey). Jeanie claims that if she was bleeding out of her eyes, her parents would still make her go to school. Everyone leaves the house, and Ferris gets out of bed in perfect health. He phones up his best friend Cameron Frye(Alan Ruck), who is legitimately sick, explains his plan, and requests that Cameron come over and pick him up. Ferris not only wants Cameron to spend the day with him, but he also wants to get Sloan Peterson(Mia Sara), his girlfriend who is a junior in high school, out of school. Ferris invents this scheme about Sloan's grandmother dying and wants Cameron to impersonate Sloan's father, Sgt. George Peterson of the Chicago Police, and make a phony phone call to Principle of Shermer High School Edward Rooney(Jeffrey Jones). Ferris' plan works, but his next task is to find an automobile which Rooney would believe Sloan's dad drives. Him and Cameron go back to Cameron's house and "borrow" Morris Frye's rare 1961 Ferrari California( less than 100 were made). Cameron's dad, Morris, loves that car more than life itself. Ferris picks Sloan up, they go downtown and do many things. Ferris, Cameron, and Sloan go to the Cubs Game, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chez Louie( the same restaurant his dad goes to), the Sears Tower, and to the German Day Parade where Ferris sings "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles. All the while, Rooney has become suspicious and is searching for Ferris. Jeanie, too, has broken out of school and is wondering where he is. Ferris is leaving Chicago when he realizes that too many miles were put on the Ferrari ( it went from 126 between 3 and 4 tenths to 304 miles). Cameron goes berserk, he finally breaks out of it only to crash the Ferrari through the back of his garage. Jeanie, meanwhile, has been picked up by the Police after reporting Rooney breaking into her house, and ends up making-out with a drugged out fellow ( Charlie Sheen). Ferris ends up having to run home and makes it there just before his parents walk into his Bedroom.
Ferris portrays life at Shermer High School in all of its boring glory. It does an excellent job of showing just how boring High School was. From Ben Stein's rambling about voodoo economics, to the other teacher's ramblings about European Socialism. Ferris has never been to Europe, nor is he socialist, he could be a fascist anarchist, but that still wouldn't change the fact that he doesn't own a car. The professors at his school speak in a slow and boring manner, which is apparently representative of all teachers in schools. Molly Ringwald's teacher in Sixteen Candles is so boring that she would rather pass notes about who she would like to sleep with. Not only do Hughes' movies portray teachers as extremely boring it portrays the administrators as being very mean and maniacal. The character of Edward Rooney in Ferris is a key example. Rooney does not believe anything until he has seen it, he threatens to keep Ferris in high school for many years to come. Rooney even breaks into Ferris' house to prove that Ferris is faking. He goes to great lengths to be a menace to his students. Another evil figure of authority is Richard Vernon( Paul Gleason) who is administering the Saturday detention in The Breakfast Club. He is constantly bugging them and prodding them and is especially harsh to Judd Nelson's character Jon Bender. Judd is the deviant member of The Breakfast Club and is constantly talking back to Vernon, Judd is also someone who John Hughes has said he never wants to work with again. Vernon brings Bender to tears when he locks him up inside a storage room and threatens Bender to punch him. That is about the extent of the authority figures that John Hughes attacks. He also attacks the secretaries of High Schools in the character of Grace ( Edie McClurg) in Ferris. He portrays her as being moronic and rude to the students just like all High School secretaries are. Hughes attacks the janitors as well. Carl the janitor from The Breakfast Club is seen as being a figure which knows all and sees all. He has access to anything and everything about the students. Hughes, in a way, portrays the Janitorial figure as being someone much greater than originally perceived. There is an exchange in lines where Carl says hi to Brian Ralph Johnson ( Hall's character) and Bender tells Johnson that he didn't know his dad worked here( John Hughes humor). Now Hughes moves from the employees of the school to the employers of the employees, the kids, the teens, the students, the misunderstood.
John Hughes' teenage characters can be divided into quite a few different personalities. There are the characters with fathers who misunderstand them in Cameron Frye who has to take a stand, in Jon Bender who is often neglected and harmed by his father and in Andrew Clarke ( Emilio Esteves in The Breakfast Club) who is constantly having more and more pressure put on him by his father. A key sequence in Ferris where Cameron exhibits this most is the one of the later scenes where they are rotating the wheels of the Ferrari backwards with the hopes of taking off the miles, and Cameron kicks it out the back of the garage. Cameron then delivers an emotional speech about taking a stand against his more than strict father. That is what everyone with a domineering father would like to do, especially a father who gets mad for breaking your retainer ( that was a piece of plastic, the Ferrari is a fine automobile). There is the teen who is just trying to fit in. This is exhibited in both Gary and Wyatt from Weird Science, who with the aide of a girl of their creation (Lisa) are able to get the girls. There is the Geek also known as Farmer Ted ( played brilliantly by Anthony Michael Hall) in Sixteen Candles, who also is trying to be accepted by his peers. Jon Cryer's character Ducky from Pretty in Pink is also an outcast and just wants to fit in. And then there are Molly Ringwald's characters in both Sixteen Candles and in Pretty in Pink who are constantly pursuing a boy and at the same time trying to be with the "in" crowd. Eventually, in the end, all of these teens trying to fit in realize who they really are and who their friends should be. The people who really count also see these characters for who they are rather than just focusing on their exterior or their material possessions. In both of Molly Ringwald's instances she is being pursued by the nerd in the form of Hall or Cryer, but eventually wins over the heart of the stud she has been wanting to be with for the entire film in the form of Jake Ryan( Sixteen Candles)or Andrew McCarthy's character in Pretty in Pink. It is usually the case that the nerd must realize that they were being selfish in wanting Ringwald all for themselves and give the go ahead for her to get her dreamy hunk. These films also exhibit parents who are totally clueless about everything. Ferris' parents cannot even see through his ninth sick scheme, and Samantha Baker's parents ( Sixteen Candles) forget all about her sixteenth birthday. There is the younger sibling of the main character who does not care anything about their older brother or sister. At the beginning of The Breakfast Club, Johnson's sister says, "Yeah" just after her mother says the same, and in Sixteen Candles it is clearly evident that Samantha's younger brother doesn't give a care about the fact that she missed her sixteenth birthday. Finally there is the older brother or sister who in the beginning is jealous or hates the main character, but in the end through one experience or another learns to accept them and love them. Those characters come in the form of Chet( Bill Paxon) in Weird Science and Jeanie in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Through Ferris, and the other movies discussed it is quite clear that John Hughes is a master at expressing all forms of teenagers in the best way he knows how. He himself said that he wrote Sixteen Candles from the female point of view( Barth 46). The only way he can write about what is inside the minds of teenagers is to think like one himself. Hughes, through his movies, shows that he has a love of fine automobiles ( Porsche, Ferrari), a love of the Beatles ( Lennon references abundant), and a hate for all those who oppose and walk on his teenage main characters( teachers). Hughes is a master of what he does and nails each character's anxieties, feelings, and personality from Samantha Baker to Ferris Bueller.
Bibliography
Barth, Jack. "John Hughes: On Geeks Baring Gifts." Film Comment May-June 1984: 46.
Breakfast Club, The. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Paul Gleason, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Esteves. Universal, 1985.
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York: Norton & Co., 1996.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck. Paramount Pictures, 1986.
Katz. "Katz biography: John Hughes ( Director, Producer, Screenwriter)." TV gen. On-line. Internet. 7 December 1998. Available URL: http://www.tvgen.com.
Pretty in Pink. Dir. Howard Deutch. Perf. Jon Cryer, and Molly Ringwald. Paramount Pictures, 1986.
Sixteen Candles. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, and John Cusack. Universal, 1984.
Weird Science. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Anthony Michael Hall, Bill Paxon, and Kelly LeBrock. Universal, 1985.
american teen maestro
Alexander Rubinow
American Teen Comedy
Final Paper
10 May 2000
John Hughes, one of the premiere teen cinema directors, was able to attain greatness primarily through his eighties teen comedy output. His eighties films consist of Sixteen Candles(1984), The Breakfast Club(1985), Weird Science(1985), Pretty in Pink(1986), Ferris Bueller's Day Off(1986), and Some Kind of Wonderful(1987). Hughes wrote and sculpted these films through the eyes of teenagers who loathed authority, loathed school, and were just looking for an exit. Hughes also weaves many common threads throughout these films. Hughes' films contain five major themes. The character who is striving for something or someone, but in the end realizes that their happiness is not most important. The disillusioned and maniacal parents and authority figures. The siblings who misunderstand each other, but in most cases ultimately come to a common understanding. The child who must take a stand against or set straight the oppressive parents. Finally, the most abundant character among Hughes films, the individual. Through these commonalties Hughes' films teach the viewer how to lead his life, and how to relate to his parents, teachers, and siblings. The viewer grows a bit with even the smallest glimpse through the looking glass into a John Hughes film, and becomes a better and more knowledgeable person because of it.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times says, "the kid brother has refined sister-bating to an art form." This kid brother to which she refers is Oscar nominated Justin Henry. The film is Sixteen Candles. Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) is a bit upset, but also understanding of her older sister. Her older sister is, however, a major factor in Samantha's parents forgetting her sixteenth birthday. The younger brother, Mike (Justin Henry), is quite the jerk to Samantha. Unlike other Hughes siblings, Mike never grows more mature and realizes why he should try to understand his sister better and be nicer to her. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker writes that even though the children in the film do not look like siblings, they certainly sound like siblings. Another movie sibling who is not going to relate to her older sibling more, nor is given the chance to because of limited screen time, is Brian Johnson's sister in The Breakfast Club. The only line she is given comes at the beginning of the film when Brian is being dropped off in front of Shermer High School for his flare gun related detention. She says, "yeah" with much contempt and mockingly after his mother has reprimanded him a bit. She, much like Mike Baker, is young and maybe too immature to understand her big brother. The younger siblings represented are still too young and are just placed in to be an annoyance. It is the older siblings relationships with the main character which can teach the audience something.
Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey) of Ferris Bueller's Day Off holds much contempt for her brother Ferris because of all of his antics with ditching school and faking out their parents and just being a little too free. Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post describes Ferris as a guy who "glides through life, a Jay Gatsby to his classmates, getting everything he wants." While relating to Garth Volbeck(Charlie Sheen) Jeanie relays the thought which bugs her so much, "why does he get to ditch, when everyone else has to go." At another point prior to that she wonders, "What makes him so G-d damn special?" Through talking to Garth and making out with him, something hits her. She wants her brother to succeed and realizes that she shouldn't care what he does. While the movie is nearing its end, she guides him out of a near meeting with Katie Bueller (the mom) and after letting him sweat, gets him out of a dangerous situation with Edward R. Rooney, dean of students. Jeanie matures as a character much more than do the two kids previously described. She is able to come to terms with herself and her brother. Before this experience she would have never interacted with a hood like Garth Volbeck. She makes people realize that even though things seem unfair, one should just let it slide. Jeanie develops without any prodding or pushing from other forces, unlike Chet in Weird Science.
Chet Donnelly(Bill Paxton), Wyatt's brother in Weird Science, also holds much contempt for his younger brother. It is not so much contempt as it is rage or hatred or utter non-caring. Chet demands money from his brother, and along with material possessions he also wants complete obedience. He wants Wyatt to sit when he says sit, to cover himself when he is wearing women's underwear, and to be completely submissive to his every need. Much like it took Garth Volbeck to be a catalyst in Jeanie's turnaround, it will take someone else to speed up Chet's maturing process. Not alike Jeanie, though, is the severity to which Chet's catalyst pushes him. The catalyst is a girl that Gary and Wyatt created named Lisa(Kelly Le Brock). Lisa basically turns Chet into a Jabba-the-Hutt-type creature and threatens to give him Elephantiasis of the nuts unless he apologizes to Wyatt and promises to be nice to him. It appears that all is well between Chet and Wyatt after this occurrence. It is quite clear, although not as clear as in Jeanie's case, that Chet thinks differently about his brother at the end of the film. Possibly, with Lisa's abrupt absence, Chet will go back to being his cruel self. For the moment, though, all seems right with the siblings of the Donnely household. It is evident, that in some Hughes films there needs to be a driving force or a good reason for siblings to get along better.
Laura Nelson(Maddie Corman) has a seemingly different relationship with her brother Keith Nelson(Eric Stoltz) in Some Kind of Wonderful. The sibling relationship between Laura and Keith was very similar to a normal brother-sister relationship. Keith wanted Laura out of his stuff, out of his hair, and out of his personal life. Laura wanted to look through Keith's records and invade his privacy. She also realized that her brother was not the most popular person. When it became apparent to her that her brother was "going with" Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) she realized that she should start being nicer to him so she can gain greater social status. Through some eavesdropping she realizes that Harvey Jenns is plotting against Keith and Amanda is in on it. The problem is that Keith, because of his relationship with his sibling, does not believe her. Through much convincing and thinking Keith sees what is going on and realizes that his sister does care about him. Again, the sister wanted something (greater social status) and so she became closer to her brother. Much like Chet it is unclear whether this will last. Much like in real life, it is an on-going loop which spins around sibling relationships. One second everything is fine, and the next it is hell in a hand basket. The audience finds these relationship methodologies quite helpful and may or may not grow closer to their own siblings.
Another typical character of Hughes films is the person with parents who just do not understand. The biggest example of this in any Hughes film is Cameron Frye of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Bob Thomas of The Associated Press describes where Cameron lives as, "John Hughesland, a mythical suburb where parents are well-meaning but stupid, teachers are terminally dull and where the teen-agers are ingeniously deceptive, talk dirty but only kiss, drink beer but do not use hard drugs." Cameron's father and mother, to a lesser extent, are two people in life who he just loathes. Cameron, early on, says of his mother, "She's in Decatur, unfortunately she's not staying." He also describes his father as a, "Son of a Bitch." It is quite evident that Cameron lives in fear of his father. It seems that he cannot talk to him, and that his father cares more about material objects than his family. His father got upset when Cameron broke his retainer. His father loves his car, but hates his wife. Cameron ends up taking his father's most prized possession, a 1961 Ferrari 250GT California, for a joyride. He also kicks it out the back of his garage into a ravine. What comes next is one of the most prolific scenes in any Hughes film. After watching this, the viewer realizes that nothing is unattainable. Although Cameron's "Take a Stand" speech is emotional and reveals how much Cameron grew throughout the film, there are doubters. Paul Attanasio says of this, "only an inveterate rubbernecker would want to watch him." Patrick Goldstein of The Los Angeles Times calls the subplot of Cameron and his father "belabored." It is an essential part of the film, and if nothing else, teaches the viewer to stand up for who they are.
Derek Malcolm of The Manchester Guardian Weekly describes the parents in this film as ones who "demand their [the kids] respectability at all cost." The film is The Breakfast Club. Andrew Clarke (Emilio Estevez) has a very demanding father. His father wants him to wrestle, and not only to wrestle, but to win. Andrew must escape from his father, and to vent his frustration he taped Larry Lester's buns together. He still will not be able to stand up to his father even with the soul baring which he did in the detention. His father will be just as demanding, and Andrew will play along as if he wants the exact same thing. There are some parents that are just too stubborn. A key example is Jon Bender's (Judd Nelson) father. His father rubs cigar butts into his skin, and curses at him, and is somewhat absent. This goes to explain Jon's character very well. He is the criminal, and most of all has no direction because his parents are more absent than all the rest. Unless he stops his father from drinking, he has no chance of getting through to him and taking a stand. Keanu Reeves once said in Parenthood(1989), "you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car---hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father." This is no further true than for the fathers in John Hughes films. Always the father and never the mother. This can be construed as a rough characterization of the role of Hughes' own father.
The strong father in Hughes' films is a common theme. The father is not so much strong as he is a force. Until now, the father's have had no or little screen time (in the case of Andrew Clarke's). The fathers represented in Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful are slightly more understandable than the fore mentioned fathers are. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times says that the scenes in which Keith and his father (John Ashton) argue are some of the most entertaining in the film. Keith would like to devote his energy to art work, and his father would rather have him go off to a university. With much defiance of his father, Keith goes so far as to take his college savings and spend them on jewelry for Amanda Jones. The end of the film brings about a surprisingly civilized fight, and the father has to come to the realization that his son has grown up. What the father wants is not always best. Andie (Molly Ringwald) and her father Jack's(Harry Dean Stanton) relationship is slightly different. This is so because this the only father-daughter relationship of this nature presented in a Hughes film. Andie must drive her father around, if it were not for Andie, her father may never get up in the morning and look for work. Perhaps this is more typical of lower income families, as Andie and Jack's income is the only one which is not typical of the Hughes families. The relationship between a father and his son or daughter is one which Hughes adores to examine. Though for all the stubborn and set-in-their-ways parents, there are always the dimwitted ones who are oblivious to everything.
Rob Salem of The Toronto Star says of Hughes that, "he as yet to include a single adult character in any of his movies capable of handling day-to-day existence, let alone raising children." Salem describes Tom and Katie Bueller (Lyman Ward, Cindy Pickett), of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as "inept parents" and "well-meaning dolts." Tom and Katie are totally oblivious to Ferris' schemes and truly believe that he is a very sick boy. Katie has some doubt when she goes home, but is fooled by a mannequin. What mother would go home to check on her son and not actually go in the room? Hughes inserts these parents as the type he would have liked to have free-spirits. Another example is Samantha Baker's parents in Sixteen Candles. It is quite true that Samantha's sister's wedding was the following day, but that does not give her parents the right to completely forget about her birthday. Mike Baker says of this, "Classic."
The overly dimwitted parents lead into the very maniacal authority figures, usually in the form of school disciplinarians. David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor describes them as "simple-minded and cartoonish." No where has there been such deviants as Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason in The Breakfast Club) and Edward R. Rooney (Jeffrey Jones in Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Derek Malcolm from the Manchester Guardian Weekly describes Vernon as "a bored and cynical teacher who clearly hates their [the kids] recalcitrant guts." He sets them the task of writing a paper to evaluate themselves. He is very viscous towards Bender, but does not go overboard in his disciplining. He stands his ground, and although the regulations of his detention are quite grueling, he does not come off as such a bad guy in the end. He only treats the bad students, like Bender, poorly. Rooney is another story. He is always scheming. He goes so far as to snoop around the Bueller estate, break into their house, and knock out their dog. Paul Attanasio describes Rooney as "snakelike." Rooney has a cartoonish mustache, and is placed into very physical comedy scenes which foreshadows the burglars in Home Alone(1990). These administrators are meant to be a conglomerate of all the evil teachers who may be at a high school, only greatly exaggerated.
Hughes next likes to use the characters who are individuals. The characters who sacrifice their wants and desires for the greater good of the film. These people go under similar changes to Jeanie Bueller. They can be greedy or jealous, or they can come to the realization that they would feel better about themselves, no matter how much they hate to admit it, if they gave the girl or guy they are pursuing happiness. Unfortunate for them, this happiness often comes in the arms of another person. Duckie (Jon Cryer) from Pretty in Pink makes quite a sacrifice for the greater good of Andie (Molly Ringwald). He adores her, and she knows it. The only problem is that Andie is in love with the rich and preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy). Blane has a lot of pressure on him not to date a poor girl by his friend Steff(James Spader). At one of the final scenes, after much turmoil between Andie and Blane (even a run-in at school), Andie shows up at the prom pretty in pink. Duckie does in fact tell Andie to go for what she wants, makes a sacrifice, and Andie ends up getting Blane. Duckie, on the other hand, gets Kristy Swanson. So it is not so bad a deal.
Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) in Sixteen Candles provides a similar service for another Molly Ringwald character, Samantha Baker. Farmer Ted or "The Geek" pursues Samantha with a passion. He bothers her on the bus, he asks for her underwear, and he tries to entice her to dance with his gangly body. He knows that she really wants Jake Ryan(Michael Schoeffling). His chances with her are not as good as Duckie's, particularly because they do not seem to know each other as well. Farmer Ted goes behind the scenes, tells Jake of Samantha's infatuation, and by the end of the film Jake and Samantha are together. Farmer Ted has also "bagged a babe" along the way. Again, a geeky character has made a huge sacrifice for the interest of another.
Lastly is Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson's character) in Some Kind of Wonderful. She is in a slightly different situation than the other two martyrs. She is very close with Keith, even sleeps in the same bed sometimes. She, much like the other two, is a virtual outcast at school. Keith is trying to pursue Amanda Jones, and Watts pretends to totally support him. She even picks out the piece of jewelry for which Keith should spend his college savings. Much like Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful has its own antagonist to Amanda in the form of Shayne (Molly Hagan). Shayne tries to talk Amanda into ignoring Keith in much the same way that Steff does to Blane. Watts teaches Keith how to kiss, and it is in that key scene that the audience learns of the huge chemistry between them. Watts believes she has given over Keith to the one he wants, and volunteers to be the chauffeur on his and Amanda's date. Amanda senses that the earrings are not for her, but for someone else. The end of this movie sees Keith chasing after Watts and embracing her. Hughes made this film to correct Pretty in Pink, if there was such a wrong in the nerd not getting the girl. He wanted to show that sometimes the good guy or girl does get the one they want. They just have to go through an arduous process to get there. The unselfish individual always seems to succeed.
The individuals in all of these films are the teenagers described above. The main characters, be it a Matthew Broderick or a Molly Ringwald or an Eric Stoltz, are individuals, but they are not always the ones who the audience can identify with the most. And they most definitely are not characterizations of Hughes himself. The Hughes films are meant to represent the often misrepresented or non-represented. The audience identifies and learns more from Duckie, Cameron, and Farmer Ted than it does from Ferris, Andie or Keith. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post noticed that Hughes relies on his stock characters such as "the sensitive outsider, the sympathetic punk, the obnoxious preppy, the precocious younger brothers and sisters, and the peripheral parents." It is these characters which make the films, not the character to whom the title pertains. These are the characters who teach the audience and who cause them to grow and develop and think differently. They teach the viewer to stand up to his father, or to disregard evil authority, or to relate better to your siblings, or even to think of someone else before yourself. Do these teachings really effect people? Has Hughes succeeded? Sheila Benson of The Los Angeles Times feels that a studio executive should put a sign up that says "Played Out" and they should put it "over the whole vein of teen-age-only movies and begin to make movies that speak to all of us again." All of who? These films speak to people young and old, one just has to listen. Hughes, although maybe not aware, has touched the lives of many, and through expressing his thoughts and feelings in his films has changed his viewers for the better.
WORKS CITED
Attanasio, Paul. "'Ferris': More Teen Tedium." Washington Post, The 12 June 1986
Benson, Sheila. "'Science' fulfills Teen-age dreams." Los Angeles Times, The 2 August 1985.
Ebert, Roger. "Some Kind of Wonderful." Chicago Sun-Times, The 27 February 1987.
Goldstein, Patrick. "Director has an off day in 'day off'." Los Angeles Times, The 20 June 1986.
Harrington, Richard. "Some Kind of Wonderful." Washington Post, The 28 February 1987.
Kael, Pauline. "16 Candles." New Yorker, The 28 May 1984.
Malcolm, Derek. "Snap, Crackle, Pot." Manchester Guardian Weekly 16 June 1985.
Maslin, Janet. "Screen: '16 Candles,' A Teenage comedy." New York Times, The 4 May 1984.
Salem, Rob. "Adults are the idiots in tale of two kiddies." Toronto Star, The 13 June 1986.
Sterritt, David. "A Film Going Along For the ride, tracking teens playing hooky." Christian Science Monitor, The 18 June 1986.
Thomas, Bob. "At the Movies: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"." Associated Press, The 26 June 1986.
Breakfast Club, The. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Paul Gleason, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and John Kapelos. Universal, 1985.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Jeffrey Jones, and Mia Sara. Paramount, 1986.
Parenthood. Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Keanu Reeves and Jason Robards. Paramount, 1989.
Pretty in Pink. Dir. Howard Deutch. Perf. Molly Ringwald, Annie Potts, and Jon Cryer. Paramount, 1986.
Sixteen Candles. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Molly Ringwald, Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, and Anthony Michael Hall. Universal, 1984.
Some Kind of Wonderful. Dir. Howard Deutch. Perf. Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Lea Thompson. Paramount, 1987.
Weird Science. Dir. John Hughes. Perf. Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock. Universal, 1985.
This page was originally uploaded on 2 June 2000.