A Thought: On the John Hughes Generation

I've heard or read a few times in recent months people complaining that John Hughes is an overrated writer/director, that his work is just too sappy, sentimental and overly idealistic. 

True, most of his movies ended happily.  But there was rarely a neat little bow on them.  It was, as it so often is in real life, less of a happy ending than the possibility for a happy beginning.  It wasn't idealism so much as hope.  Add to that the fact that the characters he wrote, especially the teenagers, were some of the most realistic, three-dimensional kids ever to grace the screen and his legacy is unquestionable.  He understood them in a way that teen movies hadn't before and haven't since, making them people, rather than just some caricature of a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal. 

How many people in my generation didn't secretly kind of want to end up in Saturday detention after The Breakfast Club?  How many didn't feel, every time they went out with friends, that maybe, just maybe, they could have the kind of time that Ferris, Cameron and Sloane did?  And maybe it made it a little easier for some of us, most of us, who were burdened with things like poverty, abusive, overbearing or absentee parents and the stress of society's seemingly overwhelming expectations.

So yeah, perhaps they were a bit sappy.  Maybe they were idealistic.  But you know what they made?  A generation of idealists, of people who question authority, empathize, don't necessarily take someone at face value and try, even if we sometimes fail, to understand the world and one another a little better.  That seems to me like more than enough to validate his reputation.  Read more!

Missing Two Johns

I'm watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  It makes me miss both Johns, Hughes and Candy.  They just don't make movies like this anymore, much to the detriment of cinema. Read more!

A Love Letter to Quantum Leap

So I've been sick as a dog, and getting progressively worse, the last few days.  What's more, due to scheduling issues and other commitments, I've also spent the vast majority of that time alone.  Well, mostly...

I've been working on my novel and watching Quantum Leap.  It was a favorite growing up and is even more so now.  So very few shows from my childhood have held up but this one, if anything, has gotten better.  Or perhaps I've gotten older, experienced more and it resonates.  Either way, I enjoy as much or more now.

The writing isn't dated, deals with issues that most contemporary shows wouldn't touch for fear of the controversy, but always giving them the depth and respect they deserve. 

Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell are fantastic, with brilliant chemistry.   Al is brilliantly dirty and this, I'm sure, is because I'm getting more of the jokes now.  And Sam manages to be the boy scout he always was without becoming preachy or annoying.  Oh, and he looks great in a dress.  Often, heh.  If you haven't watched it before, you should.  And if you have, seriously consider going back.  It's streaming on Netflix and well worth the time. Read more!