TEEN-ANGST IN THE EIGHTIES The yuppie was in, nice cars were ideal, working hard was a necessity and a given, and nothing was more enjoyable than making money (except maybe spending it). Money and material were the trademarks of the 1980's, the decade of temporary prosperity. Adults bought huge houses, cruised vast oceans, and threw wild parties. Cocaine made its debut (Moffit 132), and the divorce rate was at its highest. But what were the kids doing during all this insanity? To explore teenage life, one must turn from the orthodox sociological books or magazines to another type of media: the movies. In his films, writer, director, and producer, John Hughes explored the world of the eighties' teenagers. Moreover, he was one of the first movie-makers to take teenagers and the problems they face seriously. In the films Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, Hughes focuses on the pressures and conformities of the white middle class adolescence. The simple fact is that the youth of the eighties were trying to survive in the superficial and unhappy world in which their parents had raised them to believe. Hughes' movies address the superficiality of the eighties, a time when what you had and who you knew were more important than who you were as a person. They focus on the exaggerated class separation, with the "richies" and the white trash; they look at the social separation, the cliques of the popular kids, the jocks, the geeks, the punks, and the rebels. And they concentrate on the subtle rebellion of the eighties' teens, whose parents wanted to give them everything, but couldn't find the time just to pay attention to them. Probably the most influential people in your life are your parents. They teach you how to live, whether you like it or not. In The Breakfast Club, Alison (Ally Sheedy) wisely warns that it's impossible not to grow up to be like your parents. It's impossible not to grow up believing at least some of your parents' beliefs, because they are who raised you. And so it follows that parents who are so caught up in making money, in looking good for the rest of society, have children who are not too far behind in their footsteps. It is very difficult for a child not to follow in their parents' tracks. In Sixteen Candles, Samantha (Molly Ringwald) spends an entire day mourning the fact that her family forgot her birthday--even her grandparents, who "live for that shit" (Sixteen Candles). She confides to the audience that she needs "ten inches of bod" and a black trans-am to make her birthday perfect. Granted, it must be rough to have your entire family overlook your birthday, but the audience leaves with the idea that everything is going to work out for her--she wins her prince, and certainly her well-off parents are so guilt-ridden that some foreign car soon will be parked in her driveway. Hughes leaves no doubt as to what he feels Americans, as a whole, view as an appropriate ending to a story that seems to portray teenage life so accurately. In addition, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) resents his parents because "[he] asked for a car, and they gave [him] a computer" (Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Despite the computer, the high-tech keyboard, the well-equipped stereo, the clarinet, and the mannequin, Ferris is still not satisfied. He cons his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) into taking his father's much loved and fondled Ferrari out for the day. He insists that it is the only way to complete his grown-up image. Pretty in Pink does the best job addressing the superficiality of the eighties. In short, the movie is about the "right and wrong" sides of the tracks--the haves and the have-nots. Andi (Molly Ringwald), a girl with no mother and an unemployed, drunken father, frequently drives by the huge mansions and stares wistfully into them, fantasizing. When Blane (Andrew McCarthy), whose parents are portrayed as the dukes of the yuppies, takes interest in Andi, Stef (James Spader), his pompous and self-loved friend, distresses that his "best friend is conversing with a mutant." A mutant must be defined as a teenager who has to work and sew her own clothes. However, this prejudice is fairly mutual. Duckie (Jon Cryer), the good friend of Andi, is disgusted that she could even think about finding interest in a guy with money. Perhaps the worst thing about the yuppie lifestyle, however, is how involved it causes people to become with themselves, and how easy it makes it to lose focus on everything except money. In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris has missed nine days of school, and his parents are completely oblivious. They're too involved with their work. When his sister, Jean (Jennifer Grey), tries to open her parents' eyes, they accuse her of being selfish. Worse, however, Cameron has not once had a "real" conversation with his parents. His mother is never around, and he's terrified of his father. It is not until the end, when he kicks the Ferrari through the garage window, that he's able to breakdown what his father stands for, and take control of his life (Palmer 297). Each member of The Breakfast Club, although at first eagerly willing to portray themselves as products of their parents, spend the afternoon metamorphosizing in the truth: you can't take everything at face-value. Hughes presents stereotypical characters, but he then gives them "real" problems, thus creating "real" people. The "princess'" (Molly Ringwald) parents are using her in the social divorce game to get back at each other. Life for her may seem perfect, but a lot can happen behind palace doors. The "criminal's" (Judd Nelson) dad gave him only a carton of cigarettes for Christmas and, later, burnt a butt into his forearm. The "athlete" (Emilio Estevez) soliloquizes that he taped some guy's "buns" together, so that his father would be impressed and think that he was "normal". He confesses that he often wishes that his knee would give, and then he'd no longer be expected to wrestle. The "basket case" (Ally Sheedy) is a compulsive liar and stealer, who's there because she "had nothing better to do" on a Saturday. And the "brain" (Michael Anthony Hall) confides that he's failing shop class, and that neither he nor his family can accept an F. He's in detention because the gun with which he was going to kill himself went off in his locker. And people find it necessary to wonder why the kids of the eighties had so many problems. John Hughes opened an entirely new genre of film with these four movies. No longer was teenage life to be viewed through the portrayals in movies such as Porky's (1981, 1983, 1985) or Risky Business (1983). His movies introduced the idea that teen life could be serious and trying, that their life wasn't all fun and games. The expectations and paths that parents lay out are often difficult to live up to and to follow. The teenagers of the eighties didn't always have their parents right there to help them, and they had to learn a lot of things about life on their own. Hughes hits on this fact in all four movies. The teen-angst cult movies are here to stay, and although all four may be decade-specific, they nonetheless will continue to offer all teens of every generation something to relate to. They are the documentaries of the American youth during the 1980's, the decade of realizations. Essay by Ashley Van Valkenburgh Copyright 1996 by the author Works Cited - Breakfast Club, The. Dir. John Hughes. With Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Paul Gleason, and John Kapelos. MCA, 1985. 92 min. R. - Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Dir. John Hughes. With Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, and Jennifer Grey. Paramount, 1986. 103 min. PG-13. - Moffit, Phillip. "Goodbye to all that?" Esquire. Jan. 1990: 131- 133. Palmer, William. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. - Pretty in Pink. Dir. Howard Deutch. With Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Harry Dean Stanton, James Spader, Annie Potts, and Andrew Dice Clay. Paramount, 1986. 96 min. PG-13. - Sixteen Candles. Dir. John Hughes. With Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Justin Henry, Michael Schoeffling, Haviland Morris, Gedde Watanabe, and Paul Dooley. MCA, 1984. 93 min. PG. Works Consulted - Ansen, David. "Goofing Off in Grand Style." Newsweek. Jun 16 1986: 75. - Breakfast Club, The. Dir. John Hughes. With Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Paul Gleason, and John Kapelos. MCA, 1985. 92 min. R. - Brode, Douglas. The Films of the Eighties. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1990. - "Current Cinema, The: Pretty in Pink." The New Yorker. Apr. 7 1989: 91-92. - Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Dir. John Hughes. With Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, and Jennifer Grey. Paramount, 1986. 103 min. PG-13. - "Growing Pains: Pretty in Pink." Time. Mar. 3 1986: 83. - Hatler, Scot. "Picks and Pans: The Breakfast Club." People Weekly. Feb 18 1985: 12. - "Hooky Puck: Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Time. Jun 23, 1986: 74. - "Is There Life After Teenpix?" Time Feb. 18 1985: 90. - Kael, Pauline. "The Current Cinema: Sixteen Candles." The New Yorker. May 28 1984: 101-103. - Moffit, Phillip. "Goodbye to all that?" Esquire Jan. 1990: 131- 133. - O'Toole, Lawrence. "Laugh Lines after School: The Breakfast Club." Macleans's. Feb. 18 1985:58. - O'Toole, Lawrence. "The Tender Age of Adolescence: Sixteen Candles." Macleans's. May 14 1984: 75. - Palmer, William. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. - Pretty in Pink. Dir. Howard Deutch. With Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Harry Dean Stanton, James Spader, Annie Potts, and Andrew Dice Clay. Paramount, 1986. 96 min. PG-13. - Sixteen Candles. Dir. John Hughes. With Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Justin Henry, Michael Schoeffling, Haviland Morris, Gedde Watanabe, and Paul Dooley. MCA, 1984. 93 min. PG.