Happy New Year everyone! I have to say I’m glad to see 2013. I have some great goals and plans to get me to them- I’m almost giddy with excitement. I’m trying to keep it contained since I’m sure it’s partly the excitement that comes with starting something new. But that’s not what this post is about. LOL.
I had a wonderful vacation with my family over the holidays and one of the highlights was to get to watch two of my favorite 80’s movies with my teen nieces. They had recently seen Pitch Perfect and The Breakfast Club was references several times in the movie. So, of course (Since I own it) and they had never seen it, we had to fix that situation quick! And that led to watching Sixteen Candles immediately after the credits rolled. I was in a John Hughes induced high.
It was fun to watch them again and see how teen girls relate to them now. They both stood the test of time. As an adult with kids of my own and a totally new perspective, I can see how clearly he was able to “get” the roller coaster ride of teenage emotions. I fell in love with John Bender and Jake Ryan all over again- and I wasn’t alone.
Those movies captured teenage emotion and feeling and ridiculousness in such an engaging way, I can’t think of any other teen movie to come along since then to do the same. Perhaps because YA books have filled that void? I’ve always believed movies could never compare to books. Books will always win!
Am I missing any great teen movies of the 80’s or 90’s or 2000’s that eclipse either Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles? Is Twilight and Harry Potter the only ones? I don’t count those because their success started with books.
What is your favorite YA book? Teen or coming of age movie?
About Kimberly Quinton
Hi Kim! My favorite teen movie is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Loved the float scene! I also loved St. Elmo’s Fire, I swear some of those characters were college friends!
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Kim:
What a wonderful post!!! I LOVE John Hughes’s work and Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are my two favorites (a quarter-century crush on Anthony Michael Hall just adds to the movie love!)
I think you’ve hit on something really key, though. Hughes understood his characters and what they were going through and had a lot of respect for that stage of life. I’ve been fascinated over the years to read interviews with the cast – especially Hall and Molly Ringwald who WERE that age when the movies were made – and they consistently talk about how he never pandered or cast aside their feelings but genuinely celebrated who they were as young people. I think that spirit absolutely infuses his work and I think it’s why it continues to have an impact.
It’s so fun to hear that you’ve been able to share his work with the next generation!
Addison
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We saw Pitch Perfect and I thought the same thing about The Breakfast Club and how my girl needs to see it! But I can’t remember the details of it and if it’s okay for a 12 year old so we haven’t done it yet. I can’t believe it’s true, but I never saw 16 candles! Maybe we’ll have a girl’s movie day one of these weekends and watch that one, too.
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