What are the odds of pieces about John Hughes (still beloved, still a recluse) and his Sixteen Candles character Long Duk Dong (still funny, still a stereotype) running on the same day?
Yesterday, The Los Angeles Times had a story about the impact Hughes (pictured, left, in 1994) still has on Hollywood — which he turned his back on more than a decade ago — because today’s filmmakers, including Judd Apatow, whose latest, Drillbit Taylor, is loosely based on an abandoned Hughes story idea, were reared on his movies. "John Hughes wrote some of the great outsider characters of all time," Apatow told the Times. "It’s prettyridiculous to hear people talk about the movies we’ve been doing, withoutrageous humor and sweetness all combined, as if they were anoriginal idea. I mean, it was all there first in John Hughes’ films.Whether it’s Freaks and Geeks or Superbad, the whole idea of havingoutsiders as the lead characters, that all started with Hughes…. His great film characters, starting with Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles, were big inspirations. When we were growing up, wewere all like Hall — the goofy skinny kid who thinks he’s cool, evenif nobody else does. Superbad has that same attitude, that mix oftotal cockiness and insecurity."
NPR, on the other hand, ran a piece on the lasting legacy of Sixteen Candles’ Long Duk Dong, the Asian exchange student (played by Gedde Watanabe, pictured, right, with Candles crush Deborah Pollack) who finds love and a lake (big lake) in which to park Grandpa’s automobile…
Proving how naive I was, growing up in a one-stop-sign town in central Pennsylvania, it never occurred to me that Long might be a character that wasn’t universally embraced. The founders of the Asian and Asian-American pop culture magazine Giant Robot tell NPR it wasn’t fun to be called "Bruce Lee" at school, but it was better than being called "The Donger"; Watanabe, who obviously laughed at the character, recalls working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and being accosted by irate women who wanted to know how in the world he could have taken such an offensive role.
Why do we still talk about John Hughes’ movies with so much passion twenty years after they were made? Why is he still, for better or worse, the most trusted voice in teen cinema? I asked Jon Cryer that when Pretty in Pink got its "Everything’s Duckie" special edition release in 2006. (Sorry, Blane.) "John had a real need to believe in teenage icons and create teenage iconography — that’s what he was doing with Breakfast Club," Cryer said."I think he was really tortured in his high school, and [movies] were away of him psychologically coming to terms with his youth and sort ofreordering it in his mind as a storyteller. I think kids will alwayslatch on to people saying,’Your experience is important. What you’regoing through right now is not trivial. We care about it, and we’reright there with ya.’"
Which of Hughes’ films had the greatest impact on you?
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Dong? Dong? Where is my automobile?
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He had the greatest skip day of all time.
Plus, it’s the best movie soundtrack ever!
I have always identified with 16 Candles (inappropriate relatives, overlooked by family, wanting the hot guy but getting the geek’s affections instead) but as I got older, I moreso identify with Christmas Vacation now because I long for that “perfect family experience” that Clark always wanted to have for his family. That, and my family is utterly insane…
I remember being in a Psych class in the 90’s and the professor asked what the quintessential film that spoke of teens in the 80’s was. 500 students fought tooth and nail to get this guy to accept “The Breakfast Club,” but for some reason he refused to acknowledge it. I think time has vindicated us.
i’m still looking for my jake ryan, if that tells you anything.
Breakfast Club is still the high point of teen movies
Why didn’t any of the writers of these articles on Sixteen Candles question John Hughes about the stereotypes that he wrote of the character? Rather than discuss the negative impact the movie had, they should target the source who put it on film.
good for Hughes for getting out of the business and enjoying the simple life…Hollywood can be exhaustive, evil, ugly and mean…I’m glad he came, he made movies, and he got out when the gettin’ was good…if only more directors would do the same thing…
http://diggitytv.blogspot.com/
I don’t know how I could choose a fav Hughs movie. They are all so important. Sixteen Candles is probably the most true to my life.
Breakfast Club though Sixteen Candles is a VERY close second.
I think the Breakfast Club hits more than it misses but Sixteen Candles was brilliant, funny, and touching.
The Hughes movies are the 80s in a capsule. Fun, innocent, and tender. The movies celebrated the ordinary, everyday, and average of life. As freshmen we could all relate to Sam and dream of Jake.
Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I watch Home Alone EVERY Christmas. I grew up on John Hughes movies. Great frickin times.
oh it’s so hard to choose. Ok, here are my favorites and why I love them:
1. Sixteen Candles: captures teen insecurity perfectly.
2. Ferris Beuller: always wanted a ditch-day that fun; parade is the best part
3. Weird Science: Lisa was like the godmother I’ve always wanted.
4. Career Opportunities: Alone in a department store?..oh the things that I’d do.
5. Home Alone: First time I saw a kid cleverly defend himself.
6. Curly Sue: tough as nails, but as cute as button
Sixteen Candles, although Pretty in Pink left me wanting a pink Karmann Ghia to this day…
Sixteen Candles, although Pretty in Pink left me wanting a pink Karmann Ghia to this day…
In the NPR story, which I heard over the weekend, they note that John Hughes does not grant interviews to anyone – hence the reference in this article to him being a recluse. So, outside of interviewing the actor, there was not a way to get Hughes’ comments on the story.
Additionally, I watched Sixteen Candles almost every day in the summer between 10th and 11th grade. I still love Jake Ryan!
LOOOOVE Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. I like Pretty in Pink because I can identify with the “outsider” girl. But I mostly love it for Ducky and his wonderful lip synching skills. And who DOESN’T love Long Duck Dong? My sister and I used to go around quoting his lines and laughing hysterically over it. Genius! I’d say Weird Science is my “guilty pleasure” of the John Hughes movies. It’s so over-the-top, and ridiculous, that I can’t help but love it.
NeeNee asked, “And who DOESN’T love Long Duck Dong?”
The answer: any Asian American male who grew up in the 80s and had to deal with the consequences of Watanabe’s character.
Adrian Tomine’s comic strip “The Donger and Me” pretty much sums up how every 80s-era Asian American teenager felt:
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2008/mar/in_character/donger_1.html
Love them all! And have bought them all on DVD, but my favorite’s got to be Ferris Bueller!!! For part of my childhood I was in looove with Ferris and then he became sort of a role model!! And I did miss a few days of school because of him!!
It’s too bad John Hughes has apparently shut himself off from those who would like to ask him about his films. I can understand leaving the movie business behind, but what’s the point of refusing to grant interviews? It always bugs me when a successful, well-known personality simply turns his (or her) back on the very people who appreciate their work the most.
Having said that, I was in my 20s when the slew of John Hughes films came out, and I enjoyed them all immensely. Hard to believe it’s been almost 25 years since “Sixteen Candles” first came out!
John Hughes, get your head out from between your buttocks and at least answer a question or two and say “thank you” to the people who made you so successful!
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off… I wanted to fake a cold, skip school, drive a Ferrari and then get away with all of it when I was young…… I love that movie!
hands down ferris bueller’s day off. it’s the most fun.
I knew I had become “old” when I turned on The Breakfast Club and thought they were all a bunch of whiners. Later that same day I saw a pack of teenagers and got scared, so my oldness was confirmed. But other JH films have stood up much better and have a lot of heart. Anyone know why he’s dropped out of sight?
The Breakfast Club is still one of my all time favorite movies anytim eit comes on cable I drop what I am doing to watch
also love 16 Candles and I too watch Home Alone every holiday season.
why is everyone focusing on one movie having a stereotype?? I mean, the 80s had TONS of films with stereotypes. It was just a less-PC time and that’s unfortunate. I just watched Short Circuit last night- why hasn’t anyone ever flipped out as much over Fisher Stevens for appearing in brown-face? Just wondering…
Of course “Ferris” is the one film that actually changed my life. I skipped 19 days my senior year, and it was totally worth it. I also loved “She’s Having a Baby” so much. Can quote every line. Cry every time. I actually got my college beau a porcelain udder buddy for Xmas. Kate Bush kills me…
Jane, that’s so funny that you mention that happening in a psych class. I had a psych professor who gave us an assignment in which we had to dissect a piece of pop culture, and he blatantly told us, “Do not do “The Breakfast Club.” It is not as good as you think it is!” For me, I love TBC and Pretty in Pink, but Sixteen Candles was my favorite. I was Samantha (in my mind).
I LOVE John Hughes’ movies…I grew up with them all in the 80’s. 16 candles is still my fave of all time! My hubby and I still quote the Donger and it makes us chuckle all these years later. I also love Pretty in Pink, TBC, and we watch xmas vacation at least once every year. JH is a genius and I for one would love for him to come out of hiding and make another movie. I know a lot of us teens from the 80’s would be first in line to buy a ticket!
16 Candles was funny, but The Breakfast Club, and Pretty In Pink hit at the heart of high school socialization issues.