Don’t You Forget About Him

Quick  break from some time-off  for a brief note about John Hughes.   References to his work and influence have popped up on this blog from time to time, whether the trivial (Cameron Frye’s house going on the market) or the serious (the rough social side of high school).   While he’s rightly being remembered for a lot of films today and for helping to launch more than a couple of careers, it was his films about high school that were truly genius.   Films about high school and adolescent angst are a common genre and most are forgettable.   Yet Hughes got that age and the awkward sometimes agonizing cross-pressures and was able to translate it to film.   It’s easy to give us candy in films about high school but Hughes gave us spinach.  And he still made it taste great, too.   Although he’d been out of the public eye for some time, his work still mattered and remains relevant.