If you’re like me, you live your life constantly thinking you live in an 80s movie. You walk around waiting for Patrick Swayze to show up swinging his hips, and your best friend is named Duckie because of his shoes.
But most people are not me, and they don’t live like that. So I try and spread my wealth of knowledge about 80s movies, and I am constantly surprised at the number of people that aren’t aware of this particular brand of awesomeness.
I could go on; I could talk about my personal favorite 80s movies, and ones I have yet to seen. But I’d like to set that aside, and talk about what makes 80s movies so great…and yet why they haven’t stayed in the “great movies” cannon.
I mean, a few have. But rather than just great movies, they’re labeled “great 80s movies,” as if we have to put the entire 80s in a box and only pull out the good things. And for some reason, they’re only pulled out when convenient; to make a reference in Pitch Perfect, or to provide framework in Easy A.
I’d like to put forth my own hypothesis, though, about 80s movies. Because yes, they were made for the masses of neon-wearing, Journey-singing teens that were abundantly overflowing and controlling the 80s. But these movies are more than just your average Twilight phase. They aren’t just some love story for the sake of a love story.
Take Pretty in Pink for example. So I might be a little bit biased because that’s my favorite 80s movie ever, but hear me out. The protagonist Andie (played by the still stunning Molly Ringwald) is asked out by Blaine, the kitchen appliance, or rather rich kid from the “right side” of the tracks. As Andie is from the “wrong side” of the tracks, a.k.a. poor side, this creates a huge controversy not only with Blaine’s snobby friends, but with Andie’s best friend Duckie who’s been in love with her since they met.
Okay, yes, the main story is about young love. But it’s not about absolute, true, you’re-the-one love. It’s about negotiating relationships for what they are; relationships that are messy and unpredictable and imperfect. And even more so than that, it provides smart commentary about the very real concerns of socioeconomic inequality. Blaine isn’t snobby, but he comes from friends who are; and yet Andie’s friends act the same way towards Blaine, because he can’t truly understand what it’s like to not have money. This isn’t silly teen angst, this is the kind of thing that happens every day. And like I said, Blaine and Andie don’t pledge to be 2gether5ever, they realize that being together is rough, and that it’s just a high school romance. The honesty that this movie brings to the screen is unlike anything I’ve seen before or have seen since.
In real life, the right guy doesn’t always get the girl, and in real life people break up and get back together. In real life you make friends in detention and you don’t stay friends with them – but you hold a special memory. In real life you do things you wouldn’t normally do – and then face the consequences for those actions. Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing. Sound familiar?
What separates John Hughes movies, and more generally teen movies from the 80s, is the truthfulness that’s shown on screen. You can watch and relate, even if you don’t have red hair or you’re not a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal. These movies just get what it means to be a teenager without limiting or mocking that experience.
And the sad thing is, that doesn’t happen anymore. Adults dismiss teens as being angsty, hormonal, irrational, unable to make decisions or think critically. So yes, John Hughes movies may be teen movies, and yes, they may be made for teens and with teens in them. But I don’t think that’s a reason to shove them in the 80s movie box with your mom’s green legwarmers. Now more than ever teens need to know that their voices are being heard, and that they’re important.
So yeah. 80s movies.
*cue slow motion fist pump*
