RIP John Hughes

[Supa Scoopa]

Relax, would you? We're safe as kittens.

[nadsat droog]

Sincerely, John Hughes

[scamboogah]

Sincerely, John Hughes

I'm just enough of a cynical asshole to think this might be bullshit.

"I make these movies for you. Really. No lie. There's a difference I think you understand."

"He told me, again, how important my letters had been to him all those years ago, how he often used the argument "I'm doing this for Alison" to justify decisions in meetings."

For some reason, these two quotes set off the crazy alarm in my head.

[RubelT]

---

These tights itch!... These things stick to your butt!

[dorothy mantooth]

I'm just enough of a cynical asshole to think this might be bullshit.

I am MORE than enough of a cynical asshole to think it might be bullshit. But I don't. When he said, "I write these movies for you," I imagine that he meant 'you' in a broader sense (you=youth), but I absolutely believe that he wrote it.

It's a nice story confirming that he was not only a sickly talented writer, but a sweet and humble man. A man who actually LIKED teenagers. Now THAT is crazy.

[pg13]

I don't think the story that Alison spins is bullshit...I think she did have a special, unexpected long term correspondence with John Hughes.

I do hope she NOW realizes what a crazy, obsessive and overly-demanding teenage fanatic she was at the time. Expecting a film director to read and respond to endless missives about your high school issues? Being mad when you receive the standard automatic response to said letters? Contacting other people in the business when you don't hear from this exceedingly patient and generous director promptly enough for you?

You have to wonder if one of the reasons that John Hughes so quickly and so determinedly dropped out of the public eye and began to keep his involvement in the film industry much more quiet than in his heyday might not only because he was angry that John Candy had gotten crushed by the machine...but because he was worried about all of the people who felt more than just an enjoyment of his films...that there might be some demented fans out there who were so vain they think these movies were about them--and who knows what they might be capable of?

"I'm doing this for Alison" indeed.

There's such a fine line between something that is some kind of wonderful and something that is bat shit crazy. I hope that as she looks back with the perspective of an adult that Alison can see that she was extraordinarily lucky to have had any contact with this man, at all.

pg--The common take is that the studio ruined "Pretty In Pink" by reversing the original plan to match up Andie with Duckie, sending Andie and Blane into an unearned supposedly happy ending. I've always thought that it was instructive...to let us Duckies know that we might think of ourselves as perfect in every way for our Andies, only to have Andie not want us...but want the Blanes instead. There is no "deserve" in love...and it would have even been MORE instructive if Duckie would have ended prom night crushed and miserable instead of getting a consolation prize girl...but then THAT would have been a truly unhappy ending that no focus group could love.--seattle

[isoS]

I always thought overeating and lack of exercise killed John Candy.

[crlygrl]

I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious.

[Simmeon]

I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious.

Love it. One of my favorites.

[Trial]

I always thought overeating and lack of exercise killed John Candy.

John Candy was crushed by the machine. The VENDING machine

[suavepebble]

Between grief and nothing... I'll take grief.


RIP

[KevinLee]

[pg13]

Between grief and nothing... I'll take grief.

Great...


pg--I wanted to find the right Sloane Peterson picture to make the above movie line reference make sense, but found out that there are a lot of topless Mia Sara pictures on the internet, and plenty of "where are they now" pictures...but I couldn't grab the one picture that matched the line. I must now admit that I've failed at teh internets--seattle

[Jawa]

Hey, asshole disliking everyone's posts, you missed #31-#32.

I disagree with pg13 regarding his take on Allison's correspondence. I don't know, I like how art can bring people together.

Yes, there is a creepy aspect when someone feels entitled with a creator because of how their art affects them, I but I didn't get a sense of that with the correspondence.

I don't know, I just found it... inspirational. When this kind of bond forms, it makes me proud of being human.

[pg13]

I disagree with pg13 regarding his take on Allison's correspondence.

Fair enough. It's not like I knew either of them.

pg--Some of the best art makes it feel like a direct conversation between the person that is making the art and the people consuming that art. It makes it feel like that...but that doesn't mean that it actually IS a direct conversation. Seems there are plenty of consumers of art who mistake the magic of an artistic connection for an actual connection. I worry whenever an artist then goes ahead feeds that mistake and makes an actual connection. Sometimes it's sweet and other times it gets all stabby in the end. I think you can have a personal reaction with art that seems to speak with you without blurring the line between the makers of that art (and their reasons for making that art) and your own real life.--seattle

[Jawa]

Fair enough. It's not like I knew either of them.

pg--Some of the best art makes it feel like a direct conversation between the person that is making the art and the people consuming that art. It makes it feel like that...but that doesn't mean that it actually IS a direct conversation. Seems there are plenty of consumers of art who mistake the magic of an artistic connection for an actual connection. I worry whenever an artist then goes ahead feeds that mistake and makes an actual connection. Sometimes it's sweet and other times it gets all stabby in the end. I think you can have a personal reaction with art that seems to speak with you without blurring the line between the makers of that art (and their reasons for making that art) and your own real life.--seattle

Yeah, I hear ya.

That being said, I am stealing "Feeding The Mistake" for a future novel title.

[Having Fun!]

A famous ASTer once prank called kurt cobain a few times because he/she was in love with him. Now he/she is famous. Its a teenager thing.

Having Fun! -- I tried to mailbomb Craig T. Nelson -- Chicago

[isoS]

That person was self-deprecating when telling the story, realizing in retrospect how nutty he or she was being. For as amazing as Alison's story was, I am with pg in wishing she had included some adult perspective on her actions as a teen. Instead, there was a subtle but pervasive implication that it was totally normal and fine to badger a famous filmmaker into responding to fan mail. Like she deserved his attention somehow. (And, meanwhile, no hint of awareness that there must have been hundreds, even thousands, of teens in her exact position who were not as lucky to develop a relationship with Hughes.) Or maybe she's just not a very good writer, and failed to convey that she, too, thinks it's funny how ridiculous her demands were.

[Berliner]

Yesterday was the first time I realized that John Hughes and Garry Marshall are two different people.

[scamboogah]

Yesterday was the first time I realized that John Hughes and Garry Marshall are two different people.

Really?




Shade tippin'...