A rhetorical question

[giantsloth]

I can't say that I have seen that many movies that John Hughes wrote or directed, or that I know anything about the guy. Certainly, from interviews such as this one, he seems relatively cool. But The Breakfast Club was wildly important to me when I saw it oh so long ago at Mission Valley, where I still go see movies these days. While I haven't watched it in years, other than flipping by the bowdlerized version on TV, I'm guessing that it still sets a high mark as far as adults-writing-teens goes.

The other movie that came to mind was that white upper-middle-class carpe diem fave, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Again, I haven't seen that one in quite a while. But it is the exact kind of thing that makes me wonder this: if so many people love this movie, why is the world still the way it is?

There are some easy answers to that, and it is pretty much a rhetorical question. But.

Comments

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

Word. ;-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

I just wrote out this whole long comment but it came down to those "easy answers" that you know as well as I do, and they still don't answer the question. It's a good question.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to be dense, but I'm wondering what Ferris Bueller's Day Off said that should have changed the world.

Do you mean changed middle-class attitudes?

It's been a really long time since I saw the, movie, which I loved.

[giantsloth.livejournal.com]

It's been a really long time since I saw the movie too. I wasn't really thinking about what it said as much as what it represents: the safe rebellion, the instruction to seize the day. The main character breaking the fourth wall to admonish the audience to stop and smell the roses, to not let life slide by. And it was a wildly popular movie. And here we are, in a world of beige cubicles and quiet desperation.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes.

I am not sure why I read into your post some sort of revolutionary thing.

We sure do live in a world of cubicles and quiet desperation, and it DOES seem as if movies like FB's Day Off should have changed that somewhat.

I think, sadly, if it changed anything, it changed the language people used to describe themselves, and we delude ourselves into thinking we are living fully-realized lives because we keep journals and exfoliate.