Growing up and getting married and having a family never seemed weird to me. Sure, it seemed antithetical to who I saw myself becoming, but I’d always assumed there would be a stage where the cavorting and free-spiritedness I’d inevitably engage in would be displaced by a certain amount of monoton…I mean, stability.
John Hughes had a lot to do with that.
The mark of adulthood for any generation is when their idols die. We’ve lost Michael Jackson and now we’ve lost the auteur of our collective adolescence. The impact John Hughes and his movies left on my generation can not, and should not, be underestimated. For as much as we all plastered Michael on our walls, it was John Hughes who influenced our every move.
I won’t go into any particular long-winded tribute – shocking! – but I will say my favorite movie of his was She’s Having a Baby. I know it wasn’t a hit, I know it wasn’t overwhelmingly embraced as much as his others, but it spoke to me. Growing up is hard, and we can either see the wonder and the grace and the love in the next step, or we can exhaust countless resources attempting to ward off the inevitable. I have always been a sucker for “Life is What You Make of It” fare, and this was no different. Besides, I liked how John Hughes made these infant stages of adulthood seem – scary, exciting, grown-up, but not perfect by any means. He told me it was OK to flail around for a spell when I got to this point in my life, to embrace owning dairy dispensers while simultaneously loathing myself for it just the same.
So for as much as I wasn’t near ready at all to embrace such things for myself when I first watched this movie several years ago, I knew it wouldn’t be all that bad once I did.
John Hughes hasn’t made a movie since Curly Sue, back in 1991, I think. He’s been living here in Chicago, and on his farm in northern Illlinois, doing what I’ve always wondered why more people in his position don’t do – and that’s indulge themselves in a quieter life. I love my career, but if I found myself with gobs of money to last me and my loved ones a lifetime, I’d take life a bit easier, too. If indeed that life was one he chose and loved, I am happy for him. It sounds as though he lived happily and peacefully.
RIP.
I’m with you in the feeling that a really awesome uncle of mine has passed away. For me it was Sixteen Candles: that it’s OK to be dorky and to wonder if your family would even notice if you turned 16 and no one told them. (And it didn’t hurt that she got the totally hot/totally sweet guy at the end!) He understood teenagers and young adults in a way that few do, and was able to connect with them on their level; he will be missed but his movies will live on forever.
Erin, have you read this yet?
http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html
It’s a blog post by a woman who was pen pals with Hughes while she was in high school, and it is really very touching.
I did! It’s fantastic, isn’t it?