I have been reading “Don’t You Forget About Me – Contemporary Writers on the films by John Hughes” and I am sucked back into the la la land of my 80s obsession. Most of the essays are decent – bringing up valid points of reality that I let slide; some are repetitive – giving me a play by play sequence of every scene, every word spoken, every blink of every character; and then there are life stories – often giving way to too long of a tangent about the personal suckage of another’s life and how it correlates to Ferris.
Let’s face it we all (ahem, Kim) have seen many of John’s films (Yes, I am pretending to be on a first name basis with the lord of all things 80s) – Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. All of which are phenomenal films of the 80s (minus of course such beauts as Say Anything, Better off Dead, Fast Times, Heathers, Can’t Buy Me Love…..) And I would say most of us (those my age or a bit older) carry a certain nostalgia for these characters. And even though I know I am not the only one who cares aka obsessed with the likes of all things John (during his 80s livelihood), I kind of feel like I am the only person who truly values this era. Obviously this is absurd, which is well noted by the novel of fans that I am currently reading but even still….Its like knowing that there is this whole culture of people who heart The Brat Pack makes it somehow even more special and becomes my own piece of something – something that I can’t quite wrap up in words – that something when Jake Ryan is waiting outside the church, that something when Duckie does his famous dance, that something when Allison makes snow with her dandruff….that emotion I get when I hear “Don’t You Forget About Me” on the radio or when I saw The Psychedelic Furs sing “Pretty In Pink”…it all means something to me
The Molly Ringwald Trilogy had an effect on me and I don’t know why or how exactly. Yes, I was born in 1981 but I technically grew up in the 90s. The Breakfast Club premiered in 1985 when I was 4 years old, long before I could relate to its characters. I am assuming I was subconsciously placed under the spell of John’s brilliance as a toddler by growing up among aunts who were 10 years my senior – who were creating their high school memories. After all, it was my aunt Chrissy who gave me my first Ramones cassette after letting me watch Rock ‘n Roll High School with her and whose bedroom wall was plastered with a Can’t Buy Me Love poster.
Either way I have what I now call a love/hate relationship with John. Growing up and watching such loves as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles in my pre-teen days gave me some high expectations of what high school was to be like a few years down the road. I knew it wasn’t going to be fabulous – I wasn’t rich, wasn’t going to be a cheerleader and had no athletic or science skills – but it was going to be a time in my life where things were going to happen. Cool things. Or so I fantasized.
First off, physically, based on all John’s films, I thought all high schools were multi-story indoor buildings. This was not the case with my high school which was a one story flat square of concrete in which the bulk of it wasn’t enclosed. On top of the building facility being not at all what I expected (even though I had driven by the place several times in my childhood and
knew what it looked like) it was also on a “moat” which was surrounded by giant sewer drains (we were after all the Vikings). What happened to the hallways that I could run through while escaping my principal? What about the double tall library with the statue? How about the hallway where I tell my ex he is an asshole in front of everyone?
Secondly, I didn’t fall into any category. I wasn’t a princess, a criminal, an athlete, a basket case or a brain. I was a nobody. So where did that leave me? I wasn’t poor enough to be Andie and dress in handmade clothing (yet it seems like she wore vintage ensemble which was way too expensive to get my hands on in Orange County). My yearly school clothes allowance was a whomping $200 which was enough to get me a paid of converse, 2 pairs of pants and 5 t-shirts. Enough clothes for a weeks worth of wardrobe – just fashionable to blend in with the walls. I attempted to raid my grandma’s closet of her old 70s tie front polyester tops but my family and few friends thought I was “weird” which shamed me from wearing them again. Rather blend in then stand out in the wrong way (which now I wish I hadn’t done because ever since I have secretly yearned to be more outgoing in my wardrobe but always have this reluctance about it…funny how we hold onto things from our youth).
I did have one brief Samantha Baker moment. I must emphasize moment because I don’t think I ever even got more than 5 feet from him during the whole whirlwind of this so-called moment. In sum, I had a major crush on this hot/popular/rich/water polo stud since freshman year. Turns out he had a girl ask me for my phone number but due to babysitting duties aka slave work of my parents, each time he called me I couldn’t talk to him. He thought it was an excuse but really it was just too hard to have one kid on my hip, another in the swing and manage a phone conversation all googley eyed at the same time. He gave me one last chance by asking me to sign his yearbook. I didn’t know what to say so I whoosed out and said “have a great summer”. After I gave him back his yearbook he quickly flipped to the page I wrote in and seemed a bit disappointed. I so pulled a Sam with that move – walking away when Jake says hi to her. But I was nervous and scared and completely out of my element with this guy. He was popular and I had never dated a boy. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that
he was interested in me. I mean he went on family vacations to Europe while I spent my summers cleaning up baby spit up and dirty diapers. But the all time real reason I chickened out was because I was terrified of losing my virginity – my lips virginity that is. I had never kissed a boy and I was terrified of doing it for lack of experience. My crush
had to have kissed girls before and if as the story goes, crushes lead to dating which leads to kissing and I was already running a way from third base prior to even getting up to bat. I was already having a hard time practicing on my hand (c’mon, we all did it) and I wasn’t about to practice on my girlfriends like some of the other girls I knew did. Eww, gross! (This of course was at the age of 13 –now its sexy and fun after a few drinks).
Needless to say, except for my sad moment as Samantha (which of course is her character’s most pathetic yet realistic moment) my high school experience was nothing like Molly Ringwald’s. Leaving me resentful of John’s films and the deceiving perceptions of what my teen years were supposed to be like. Of course resentment can’t hold up to the power of love (yes, that’s a Back to the Future reference) and so it fades leaving me to OD on nostalgia ala Iona style. ODing on the nostalgia that never was, still secretly hoping that
something will happen someday…