The Molly Ringwald New Yorker article
Were any DLers here "saved" by John Hughes's films?
"I have been told more times than I could count, by both friends and strangers, including people in the L.G.B.T. community, that the films “saved” them. Leaving a party not long ago, I was stopped by Emil Wilbekin, a gay, African-American friend of a friend, who wanted to tell me just that. I smiled and thanked him, but what I wanted to say was: “Why?” There is barely a person of color to be found in the films, and no characters are openly gay. A week or so after the party, I asked my friend to put me in touch with him. In an e-mail, Wilbekin, a journalist who created an organization called Native Son, devoted to empowering gay black men, expanded upon what he had said to me as I had left the party. “The Breakfast Club,” he explained, saved his life by showing him, a kid growing up in Cincinnati in the eighties, “that there were other people like me who were struggling with their identities, feeling out of place in the social constructs of high school, and dealing with the challenges of family ideals and pressures.” These kids were also “finding themselves and being ‘other’ in a very traditional, white, heteronormative environment.” The lack of diversity didn’t bother him, he added, “because the characters and storylines were so beautifully human, perfectly imperfect and flawed.” He watched the films in high school, and while he was not yet out, he had a pretty good idea that he was gay."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 45 | June 22, 2018 5:20 PM
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Nope. And I don’t appreciate his elevation to near Auteur status after his death.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | April 6, 2018 10:00 PM
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It's actually a very thoughtful piece she wrote, and doesn't deserve to be judged by one pull quote, but most posters here will do that anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | April 6, 2018 10:02 PM
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It's the same back-patting wank she's been spewing for the past decade, R3.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 6, 2018 10:07 PM
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She’s not good in Riverdale.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | April 6, 2018 10:25 PM
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As an early Gen Xer Hughes' characters just didn't ring true for me. He was an early boomer who didn't have a clue about 80s teens. There are writers who can write convincingly about those younger than them, but I don't think Hughes was one of them, ever.
There's a lot of laughable stuff in his movies, like the "poor" girl in Pretty in Pink tooling around in a Karmann Ghia. That's all been covered here many times before.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 6, 2018 10:33 PM
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Not to diminish Molly Ringwald, but it shows how desperate people were back then to look at entertainment as a way to find relief, comfort, purpose, empowerment, validation, etc.
Even to to this day a lot of people look at celebrities to validate their own existence (including their sexual identity). The moment a certain celebrity comes out being gay is no longer shameful, it's cool! Until then they use the celebrity's own closet case status as a (or one of many) valid reason to hide in the closet.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 6, 2018 10:47 PM
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Almost choked on my food laughing at R1's gif.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | April 6, 2018 11:12 PM
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I found Ringwald's article reflective and well written.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | April 7, 2018 9:49 AM
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Her movies with Hughes haven't aged well at all!
by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 7, 2018 10:20 AM
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16 Candles has a rape victim falling for her rapist, and I noted that back when I saw it in the theater as a gayling. I did, however, wish Jake Ryan had my panties.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | April 7, 2018 10:36 AM
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Film critic Dana Stevens tweeted that she turned down writing the Criterion liner notes for Breakfast Club for a lot of the same reasons Ringwald brings up in the article.
That great thread we had about Hughes a year or so ago said it all: he was a Boomer using Gen X to work through his own generation's wish fulfillment fantasies. I can't hate on marginalized people who found solace in his films but their gratitude doesn't diminish his many, many flaws.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | April 7, 2018 10:37 AM
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People say they were "saved" by songs all the time
by Anonymous | reply 14 | April 7, 2018 10:48 AM
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Does the DL really hate John Hughes and his films?
by Anonymous | reply 15 | April 7, 2018 11:11 AM
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Does this mean I now have to throw out my John Hughes DVDs?
by Anonymous | reply 16 | April 7, 2018 12:54 PM
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[quote]Does the DL really hate John Hughes and his films?
There was a great thread that discussed all the ways his films epitomize the Reagan worldview. I can't seem to find it, though—it's probably the same thread that R13 mentioned.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | April 7, 2018 8:15 PM
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I'm looking for it too, R17. Can't find it either, which is a shame.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | April 7, 2018 10:41 PM
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Hideous. Risky Businss, on the other hand, might have done the trick for some people.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | April 7, 2018 11:09 PM
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I grew üp in a poorer Chicago suburb and could not relate to Hughes moves, even abstractly. Definitely Baby Boomer wish fulfillment.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | April 7, 2018 11:18 PM
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I think this is the old Breakfast Club thread we're thinking of.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 21 | April 8, 2018 10:50 AM
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Video discussion of the article by Ben Mankiewicz and company. Blackface, rape, gay jokes... it's all in there.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 22 | April 9, 2018 11:33 PM
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I'm tired of these self-righteous celebrities who feel the need to apologize for films they made 20+ years ago for political reasons.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | May 8, 2018 3:28 PM
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r23 I wonder if artists in the Byzantine Empire had to do the same thing when the iconoclasts came to town.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | May 8, 2018 3:35 PM
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I was a closeted gay teen in the exact demographic these films were geared to, and I did respond to the portrayal of teenaged “otherness” that Molly references in a positive, personal way. He showed the kids that weren’t jocks, prom queens or otherwise highly privileged and popular. He literally juxtaposed them against those types in films like “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink.”
Did these films “save” me? No, not literally, and not on their own. But they were faint beacons, at the height of Reaganism, AIDS and the crushing homophobia of that time, that otherness had value, too, and that being different should not exclude anyone from enjoying life like other people do.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 8, 2018 3:45 PM
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I always wondered; did Hughes nudge her and Anthony-Michael Hall together?
They were an adorable couple and did seem quite well-matched, but they dated for less than a year ('85, just after SIXTEEN CANDLES wrapped and during the filming of THE BREAKFAST CLUB) and never stayed in touch after the fact. Was it just a teen fling or did JH exploit their burgeoning young hormones for his movie?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 26 | June 20, 2018 8:42 PM
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She could of had Laura Dern’s career as an act two but turned down Blue Velvet - a role written for her by David Lynch! Her mom never even let her read the entire script
by Anonymous | reply 27 | June 20, 2018 8:53 PM
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When I think of all the people's lives that were saved by The Young and the Restless when I was on, I get so emotional, I have one tear in each eye.
THAT'S acting!
They're welcome.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | June 20, 2018 9:09 PM
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R27, you fucking moron.
Should HAVE. Could HAVE. Would HAVE. Might HAVE. Got it? It is NOT "should of/could of/would of/etc."
Learn some basic fucking English and spelling before posting here, or get the fuck over to Reddit with the other semi-illiterate morons.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | June 20, 2018 9:11 PM
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R29 Your rage issues don't work with that bag.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | June 20, 2018 9:17 PM
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[quote]like the "poor" girl in Pretty in Pink tooling around in a Karmann Ghia
In all fairness, her KG was beat up and looked like she got it used from an ad in the papers.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | June 20, 2018 9:20 PM
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R29 should of really become a teacher, perhaps a coach or diplomat
by Anonymous | reply 32 | June 20, 2018 9:27 PM
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Ringwald also turned down roles in Ghost, Pretty Woman, Scream and When Harry Met Sally. She only has herself to thank for falling off the radar so quickly.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | June 20, 2018 9:29 PM
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When I think of all the lost souls that were saved by Francine’s penultimate decline into madness in Gidget Goes Hawaiian, it makes me sad for today’ s youth
by Anonymous | reply 34 | June 20, 2018 9:31 PM
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R8, you are so right. There is this crazy chick who teaches at the school my friend teaches at. This chick posted a status a few weeks before the royal wedding saying how Meghan Merkle was her idol and her inspiration and she gives hope to every black girl out there. Right, little Sheronda in Compton is just waiting for the day she'll get married to Prince Harry. Bitch, you knew who Meghan Merkle was for like 2 months!!! Just shows how desperate people are.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | June 20, 2018 9:32 PM
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R27, WHAT? I had no idea Ringwald was supposed to be in Blue Velvet??? Regardless, if she was, I don't think her career would have fared any better. Laura Dern is a fantastic actress, few of her generation can rival her. Can we really say the same about Molly? Just imagine her trying to act in Inland Empire or Enlightened.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | June 20, 2018 9:34 PM
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Do people here who lived through the 80s feel Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a better portrayal of teen life than the Hughes movies?
by Anonymous | reply 37 | June 20, 2018 9:36 PM
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God, you're a waste of oxygen, you pathetic excuse for a human being r29
by Anonymous | reply 38 | June 20, 2018 9:50 PM
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No, those movies definitely have not aged well. In Sixteen Candles the jock hands over his girlfriend to the geek to date rape while she's unconscious, saying, "she won't know the difference." WTF? And this is the hero of the movie. At the time it wasn't even a blip on anyone's radar. I remember not thinking anything much about it myself---because she was the slutty "bad" girl. Of course she deserved anything she got. Wow, times have changed.
Cookie cutter, cliche characters acting exactly like their stereotypes: the jock, the mean girl cheerleader, the geek, the good girl, the class clown. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The screenplay could have been written better by someone who was actually IN high school at the time.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | June 20, 2018 10:01 PM
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R39, in the late 90s/early 00s there is an episode of Family Guy where Quagmire finds a cheerleader tied up in the bathroom and he goes "jackpot". Even then, I thought it was disturbing.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 40 | June 20, 2018 10:18 PM
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The appeal of Hughes’ films was one of attainable fantasy. Each tribe member was almost in reach - the jock was friendly enough, the prom queen vulnerable enough, the geek cool enough, the weirdo relatable enough...in reality, these same people were not allowed to veer into other tribes’ lanes without penalty. As far a gay 80’s anthem, there was nothing gay about these films but they did acknowledge that there were outsiders and loneliness in the world. Not sure of today’s pop culture equivalent
by Anonymous | reply 41 | June 20, 2018 10:26 PM
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^^maybe one of those trashy popular network teen dramas like RIVERDALE would be a loose equivalent? That has a sweet jock in Archie, a cool weirdo in Jughead, and a vulnerable princess in Veronica.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | June 22, 2018 8:48 AM
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I've never understood the status of John Hughes. Banal suburban tripe.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | June 22, 2018 9:23 AM
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The word "gay" used as a cut down is in All of Hughes' films. It looks nuts to today's youth. It looks Trump-ish.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | June 22, 2018 1:58 PM
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What was her offer in relation to Scream?
I’m guessing its most likely Gail Weathers, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear it was the Drew Barrymore opening sequence either
by Anonymous | reply 45 | June 22, 2018 5:20 PM
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