SPEC AL
GOD BILESS AMERICA
CONFESSIONS
OF A TEENAGE DRAMA KING
Armed only with the novelisation of Pretty in Pink, Eddie Harrison traces the arrested development of the modern US teen movie, from THE BREAKFAST CLUB to SAVED! and explains why John Hughes deserves to go to hell.
24 THE LIST 21 Oct—J. NOV 22004
‘ oes Barry Manilow know that you D raid his wardrobe." The speaker. as any student of Hollywood teen high school movies will know. is John Bender (Judd Nelson) in The Breakfast Club. In John Hughes‘ l985 teen movie. originally titled The Library Revolution. Bender verbally attacks his Principal. Richard Vernon. Played by the stern Paul (ileeson. Vernon has assembled thug Bender. jock Andy (‘Iark (Iimilio Iistevez). nerd Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall). teen-princess (‘Iaire Standish (Molly Ringwald) and dowdy (ioth Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) in an Illinois school library for a day ol' detention.
Youth. inevitably. goes wild. and alter
destroying library books. setting tire to shoes. falling through ceilings. smoking pot and dancing to Wang (‘hung‘s‘ ‘Fire in the Twilight‘. the brats write a joint letter to Vernon. who has left them an assignment to create an essay about who they think they are.
‘You see us as you want to see Us: in the simplest terms. in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that eue/i one of'uv is a brain. and an athlete. and a basket case. a princess. and a criminal.‘
Alter Columbine. The Break/2151 Club's notion that young people could grow to understand each
other in their stance against authority now seems both quaint and prol'ound. John Hughes created the cinematic equivalent ol' 'I'lie ('u/elier m l/H' Rve. a mixture ol‘ bitter humour. sell' pity and sentiment that appealed to brains. athletes. basket cases. princesses and criminals alike.
Hughes was by no means the creator ol' the teen movie. The rise ol~ communal television in the 50s encouraged teens to lock lips and undo catches in cinema back rovvs watching teenage werewolves and I‘l‘dllkc‘llslcills. rel-lectng their own insecurities about their personal appearance. The Blue/v/nmn/ .lmie/e's schoolteacher (ilenn Iiord pacilied maladjusted youths. while James Dean played chicken with cars in Rebe/ Hit/mu! u (have: his co-star Sal Mineo crashed his.
By the (ids. this veneer ol' sei'iotisness had given way to the mass marketing ol pop stars. such as the Beatles. the I)av e ('lark live and even the Monkees. In a similarly poppy vein. veteran horror stars Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone wooed teen audiences in the colourl‘ul l'roth ol' the Bt’tlt'll [flan/(e! Bingo-style movies. while other sand buggy vehicles were ridden by sun—kissed teens I‘irankie Avalon and Sandra Dee.
By the 70s. the teenage pranks ol‘ day-glo hot- rodders in .»Inzerieun Graffiti proved that the cinema had got to third base with teen audiences.