John Hughes. Don’t you forget about me…
Legendary filmmaker and former adman, John Hughes worked fast, writing scripts for many of his most famous films over feverish, coffee-fueled weekends. Most of these films (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink to name a few) have had a lot longer tail than such brevity would indicate, entertaining and influencing young people years after they were made.
He made other more adult-oriented films, serving as writer and director, before he died in 2009. But it is his young people movies I’d like to talk about. The above-mentioned films totally captured the teen zeitgeist in the late eighties, dramatizing the humor and pain of adolescence. Hughes’ use of music, the actors he cast and the heartfelt stories just nailed it.
My question: Who’s the John Hughes for today’s adolescent moviegoer? I couldn’t think of anyone making films today (writer or director) who makes movies of consequence for young people.
There’s Harry Potter, Twilight and oodles of animated movies. But as wonderful as some (not all) of these are, none are based on anything close to resembling the real world.
Cast from The Breakfast Club. Funny without being cartoons.
I’m not sure if that’s good or bad or even if it really matters but I do think it’s sad that kids have only cartoons and fantasies in which to relate to. It’s the same on TV, unless you think iCarly, Wizards of Waverly Place or Hannah Montana resembles life around your house.
Why is there such a void? Is it that no one in Hollywood thinks drama-comedies based on real life will sell or that kids in America won’t see them? If so, what does that say about today’s moviemakers…and us?
