In case there was any doubt that John Hughes (best director ever) had a very rare and unique knack to get under our skin, into our hearts, to never leave our memories, I can count three people in the past 24 hours who have made reference to him.
Dad was the first to tell me about the tribute at Sunday night’s Oscars. Although I didn’t watch them, I know he was right: this was the best part of the ceremony.
(And Sarah was right, too. Molly Ringwald looked liked she was getting tasered and, my, Anthony Michael Hall got beefy…)
But oh, those clips! Such great movies. How can things be so poignant and funny and sad and hopeful and kooky and true at the same time? John Hughes just captured the hilarity and pain of life like no one else.
Or as Mr. B said in sharing Yeasayer’s song, I remember, “It reminds me of the moment in a John Hughes movie that you can't help but swoon over… and it feels like what love should feel like -- achingly melodramatic and larger than life in the simplest of terms.”
Yes, Mr. B, I know exactly what you mean…
That was amazing! It took me right back to my tween self and memories of watching all of those movies. Thanks for posting this, even though I'm crying in my coffee a little bit :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was a very nice part of the Oscar's this year. Love and continue to love all of John Hughes movies. Nothing coming out today can compare.
ReplyDeleteInteresing blog, Amy. Makes me miss Paris just thinking about it. A key to understanding Hughes’ work is grasping the distinction between Generation X and Generation Jones (between the Boomers and Xers). Many of his films were about GenJones characters, and most in the Brat Pack were GenJonesers. This was sometimes confusing, since the same actors sometimes played GenXers (Breakfast Club) and sometimes GenJonesers (St. Elmos’s Fire) within the same year. But given the huge generational context to Hughes’ films, it’s crucial to understand the differences between X & Jones.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten lots of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term. In fact, the Associated Press' annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009. I found this page helpful because it gives a pretty good overview of recent media interest in GenJones: http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html
Oh dear. What has happened to Molly Ringwald?? John Hughes spoke to many of us dealing with teen angst when we thought no one else could understand. A great writer and director, he is sorely missed by many, but his movies still hold up, fer shure!! ;D
ReplyDeleteawww that warms my cold little heart...and now i'm off to download every JH movie made...
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