John Hughes, the hugely popular chronicler for the dignity and worth of working class kids with dreams, imagination, and ambition, died suddenly after a heart attack this morning. He was 59 years old. This diary is a tribute to him and his work. Follow below the fold.
Though he directed several films prior to turning his attention to teen life, John Hughes first attained mass popularity with Sixteen Candles, an irreverent yet also romanticized look at a day in the life of a girl on her sixteenth birthday. It managed to capture both the awesomeness and the wackness of life as an American teen in the 1980s.
He followed that with another silly teen comedy, Weird Science, and then he turned out a work that many consider his finest: The Breakfast Club.
The Breakfast Club is the story of teens from disparate socio-economic backgrounds and high-school castes who gather one Saturday for a full-day detention. It explores the complex relationship between social class and high school cliques, and ends up coming out in favor of moving beyond stereotypes and not underestimating the potential of anyone. The students have been assigned an essay (basically "What I learned in Detention") and instead turn in this joint statement:
Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...and an athlete...and a basket case...a princess...and a criminal...Does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.
Hughes continued to explore the relationship between social class and teen angst in two more films--Pretty In Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful--before abandoning it forever. Some of his later films returned to the topic of class in American (such as the moving Trains, Planes, and Automobiles and the much less interesting Maid in Manhattan), but Hughes mostly abandoned the type of film-making that made him a hero and an icon to a generation.
Though The Breakfast Club and Hughes other class-conscious teen films came out when I was already in my twenties, Hughes helped me to process the pain I experienced as a working class white kid who dreamed of something more and pursued an education while trying hard to hang onto the values of my roots.
Hughes was also credited, rightly or wrongly, with more or less inventing hip soundtracks that captured the moment in pop music. (I don't know if this is a fair characterization, but it is a popular stereotype. Please feel free to correct in the comments if you disagree.)
In that spirit, I offer you a link to one more video--A recording of "Left of Center" by Suzanne Vega with Joe Jackson on piano. It's my favorite song from the Hughes soundtracks and a great anthem for lefties everywhere. R.I.P., John Hughes!