2009-08-06

RIP, John Hughes.

What do you say when a friend you've never met leaves before you get a chance to thank him?

There are plenty of things you CAN say, and most of those have already been said, on various websites and news programs. John Hughes made movies about teenagers. He made those movies FOR teenagers. He made them for me, for my sister, for my friends in Drama Club and for the kids who made fun of us.

"So it's kind of...social. Demented and sad, but social."

In ninth grade, my friend Missi and I would pass notes back and forth in homeroom, notes almost entirely comprised of quotes from "Sixteen Candles." We'd sit at our desks and shake with suppressed laughter.

"Fred! She's gotten her BOOBIES!"

Very few films in recent history have the wealth of hilarious quotes as do the handful that John Hughes made in the mid-to-late-eighties. Anyone born between - say - 1967 and 1978 can spew them on command. I know I can.

"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind."

I'm approaching 40, but I don't ever want to not feel that pang when Blane and Andie smile at each other over the computers, or when Sam emerges from the church and sees Jake Ryan standing there in front of his sporty little red car. No matter how many times I watch these movies, I get those pangs. My life wasn't ANYTHING like that of these characters, and yet it was.

"If you give off signals that you don't want to belong, people will make sure that you don't."

And so what do you say? What do you say when a friend you've never met leaves before you get a chance to thank him?

You say: "Thank you."

Thank you.

lisamcc at 7:45 p.m.



3 comments so far
missi Williams
2009-08-07 18:02:14
that surpressed laughter... I swear it got me through those terrible jr.high and high school years...I am soooo sorry for your loss Litsa...he made things sooo easy for us in hallways that were soo..."demented and sad..." hang in there sister...you'll get through...
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Mumma
2009-08-07 22:12:19
Read this earlier today...when I heard and saw the news on the tv, my first thought was that Lisa would surely write a tribute to the man who was responsible for those great films. I loved them too and enjoyed watching them with you guys when they went to video..."Hello, Hot Stuff."
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Lynette
2009-08-08 00:23:39
I think I know what movies I'll be watching when the boys go to bed tonight. I was born in 1965 but totally got all his movies. That's because I think people mistakenly think "adolescence" stops at 18 or something. Once, a college professor read a list of adolescent traits to us "oh so wise" college kids because we were going to be high school teachers. Everyone sat snickering at his list. You know, because we were all SO above all of them. But I remember listening and going...wait...that's all of us!!!!
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