We, born in the early 70's and coming of age in the 80's, have lost a part of the cinematic influence which defined us. John Hughes, director of ubiquitous 80's styled teenage movies such as The Breakfast Club (TBC) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, died suddenly in New York, he was 59 years old.
I'm smack in that age where I directly understood what M. Hughes conveyed to us, the young moviegoers. I was in high school when TBC came out. While not a revelation insofar that the film did not change my Life, it nevertheless opened my eyes a bit more to the system of cliques and social networks prevalent around me at school. We had different tastes, morals, motives and personalities. Our monetary structure also differed; a bunch were well off, the others not so. Some worked and others were pampered and spoiled but we all had one thing in common; Adolescence.
TBC made me realize that High School Life was simply a Rite of Passage; an existential threshold that would ultimately lead us towards Adulthood. While sounding atrociously cliché, the reality is just that. During those few years, a person of supposed sound mind and body will go through the most rigorous mental, physical and emotional training ever imagined; puberty.
Sexual awakenings, hormonal flooding, angst, frustration, pleasure, pain, morphological changes, psychological mappings, doubt, fear, anger and everything in between. Throw in the stress of academic studies and sheer terror of your own bodily alienation, we needed to find safety, fast, lest we'd lose our minds...but where can you turn? For five or six years, everything you go through is also shared by hundreds of kids and you all meet at the same place, everyday. Therefore, the only logical and natural outcome will be the banding of individuals who share common interests.
They were the Famiglia, the security blanket and the only thing that kept us grounded. By sharing a common bond and experiencing together the best and worst that Life had to offer, we became who we are today. It molded our personalities, changed our thoughts and defined who we would become, as individuals. We lived vicariously through everybody around us and picked up the clues and know-how for most situation we would later face as adults.
M. Hughes tried to convey that very reality. He also gave importance to the individual within a social network. A person had feelings and desires...the clique was only an entity, a shelter. One should grow within his peer group but had to learn the fact that the other groups are experiencing the same things. Once you understood that, then as an individual, it wouldn't matter what the other guy thought of you. Be yourself and do what your heart desires and don't give a damn what they think. After all, you only had to tell yourself that they were as fucked up as you!
To quote Ferris Bueller: "A person should not believe in an Ism, he should believe in himself."
That's what I took from him.
John Hughes. (1950-2009)
Resquiescat In Pace.
I'm smack in that age where I directly understood what M. Hughes conveyed to us, the young moviegoers. I was in high school when TBC came out. While not a revelation insofar that the film did not change my Life, it nevertheless opened my eyes a bit more to the system of cliques and social networks prevalent around me at school. We had different tastes, morals, motives and personalities. Our monetary structure also differed; a bunch were well off, the others not so. Some worked and others were pampered and spoiled but we all had one thing in common; Adolescence.
TBC made me realize that High School Life was simply a Rite of Passage; an existential threshold that would ultimately lead us towards Adulthood. While sounding atrociously cliché, the reality is just that. During those few years, a person of supposed sound mind and body will go through the most rigorous mental, physical and emotional training ever imagined; puberty.
Sexual awakenings, hormonal flooding, angst, frustration, pleasure, pain, morphological changes, psychological mappings, doubt, fear, anger and everything in between. Throw in the stress of academic studies and sheer terror of your own bodily alienation, we needed to find safety, fast, lest we'd lose our minds...but where can you turn? For five or six years, everything you go through is also shared by hundreds of kids and you all meet at the same place, everyday. Therefore, the only logical and natural outcome will be the banding of individuals who share common interests.
They were the Famiglia, the security blanket and the only thing that kept us grounded. By sharing a common bond and experiencing together the best and worst that Life had to offer, we became who we are today. It molded our personalities, changed our thoughts and defined who we would become, as individuals. We lived vicariously through everybody around us and picked up the clues and know-how for most situation we would later face as adults.
M. Hughes tried to convey that very reality. He also gave importance to the individual within a social network. A person had feelings and desires...the clique was only an entity, a shelter. One should grow within his peer group but had to learn the fact that the other groups are experiencing the same things. Once you understood that, then as an individual, it wouldn't matter what the other guy thought of you. Be yourself and do what your heart desires and don't give a damn what they think. After all, you only had to tell yourself that they were as fucked up as you!
To quote Ferris Bueller: "A person should not believe in an Ism, he should believe in himself."
That's what I took from him.
John Hughes. (1950-2009)
Resquiescat In Pace.
