Films:
Item 1: Home alone (1990) Director: John Hughes
I have chosen Home Alone as my focus film because it is the John Hughes film that most obviously portrays the idea of dysfunctional family. This shows John Hughes' clear auteur presence as it focusses on the theme that I am exploring. The narrative of the film is based around a young boy who is forgotten by his family and left alone in his house as they go on holiday which clearly highlights the issues surrounding parents and negligence that Hughes often incorporated in his films which clearly portrays Hughes' auteur nature. This item is useful to a large extent because it is the most obvious example of a dysfunctional family in any John Hughes film because it is portrayed as unorganised, busy and careless. I will therefore be able to save this information and use it in my presentation script.
Item 2: 'The Breakfast Club (1985) Director: John Hughes
The Breakfast club is a perfect example of the use of the theme of absent parents, which links into dysfunctional families, as each main character comes from a somewhat broken home. The only time we are introduced to parents in this film, they are in confrontation with their child. In one scene of the film Ally Sheedy's character is shown venting about her parents ignoring her with another character who agrees. This supports the idea that John Hughes continuingly employs the theme of careless or absent parents in his films. The information in this item is useful to a large extent and I will be using it in my presentation script to explain how Hughes explored the theme if dysfunctional families in his films.
Item 3: Weird Science (1985)
This is another example of a John Hughes film that incorporates the theme of negligent parents as the parents of the two main characters are extremely distant from their sons. We see this through a scene where they are caught up in a heated argument about a party they do not want their son to go to, the argument results in the parents being put in a trance and consequently the father forgets that he has a son altogether. This reinforces the idea that the families are created to be dysfunctional in John Hughes films which supports the auteur trait making this item useful to a large extent. I will be able to include it in my presentation script because it is another example of a John Hughes film that incorporates an unsupportive family unit.
Books:
Item 4: Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen
This book discusses The Breakfast Club and how each character's flaw landed them in detention that day. The book discusses how the character Alison, who is labelled as the 'basket case', has self diagnosed psychological problems that are revealed to be "a direct tactic to ignore her parents' ignorance of her." This further supports the idea that the theme of dysfunctional families are prevalent in 'The Breakfast club' as it explains how the character of Alison's downfall is due to being neglected by her parents. This item is useful to a moderate extent and I will be using it in my presentation script because t supports the idea that Hughes had auteur tendencies in the form of including dysfunctional families in his films.
Item 5: Auteur Theory- Buckland - Film - Studies
This book written by Warren Buckland has a chapter that focusses on the 'auteur policy'. It says in this chapter that "an auteur is a director who manifests a consistency of style and theme across his or her films." By this definition, John Hughes would be classified as an auteur because he uses reoccurring themes of absent parents which is an important aspect of the auteur theory. This item is useful to a large extent because it defines what makes an auteur and I can use this definition by applying it to John Hughes and his work to show how he can be classified as an auteur.
Item 6: Theories of authorship pt1
This book explores the theories of authorship and what should define an auteur. In the book it explains an aspect of an auteur being when a director will "consistently express his own unique obsessions" in the case of John Hughes, his 'obsession' seems to be the inattentive parent. This is shown through many of his films which have incorporated a carless parental character that ignores or dismisses this issues of their teenage child. This item is also useful to a large extent because I can use its definition of an auteur to back up the definition I found in Item 5, this will further help prove that John Hughes can be identified as an auteur.
Internet:
Item 7: John Hughes interview 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8BAs5yIScE
In this interview with John Hughes, he talks about how his childhood had its challenges. This, he says, is due to the fact that as a child his family moved around a lot and the moves always seemed to happen just as Hughes was settling in. This could be used to explain why Hughes repeatedly incorporates dysfunctional families through the careless parental character into his films, as he may be able to relate to feeling a bit neglected. I will be able to use this item in my presentation script to explain the reasoning behind Hughes auteur tendencies which makes it a useful item.
Item 8: Don't You Forget About Me: A Documentary About John Hughes
This documentary goes into detail in exploring characters, narrative and the production of John Hughes film 'The Breakfast Club' (1985). When talking about the five main characters in the film, actor John Kapelos says how each of the teens have "already had to put on their armour" before getting to school due to their home lives being difficult. An example he gives is when the characters are getting dropped off for their Saturday detention and "the car drives away from Ally" whose parents clearly do not care about her enough to see her into the school. Kapelos also points out that "Bender has no parent" as he just walks into detention by himself, showing an even more extreme case of child being neglected by their parent and that each character clearly comes from a dysfunctional family background. This again illustrates how John Hughes has portrayed teens without supportive families in another one of his films and I will be able to use this information in my presentation script as it explores another film that shows Hughes' auteur trait.
Item 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ARiam6axnM
This item is a video of an interview with actresses in 'The Breakfast Club' Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. In the video, the interviewer says how all the characters have a "commonality of their parents" and this commonality is that they all have distant relationships with them showing how they are all from dysfunctional families which helps to confirm that Hughes was committed to giving his teen characters less than sufficient parenting characters. This theme is prevalent in a number of Hughes' films and I will be able to use this item to support the idea that John Hughes can be classified as an auteur due to the reoccurring use of dysfunctional families in his films. This item is therefore useful to a moderate extent.
Item 10:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTPWCORxlc4
This video of two film critics remembering the working life and films created by John Hughes. They talk about how in all of his films, the parental figures are useless and they even go as far as to say that there is not one sympathetic adult character in any John Hughes film. This discussion that exposes the films as really targeting parents to look like useless, dismissive characters and the family unit as troubled is another good example of how Hughes has deliberately chosen to create and incorporate dysfunctional families in his films. This item is useful to a moderate extent because it backs up the idea that Hughes consistently used this theme in his films which highlights his auteur trait, therefore I will be able to use it in my presentation script.
Item 11: Ferris Bueller's Day Off John Hughes Commentary
In the directors commentary for the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, John Hughes talks about how in the introduction, actor Matthew Broderick (who plays Ferris Bueller) plays the scene were he is trying to convince his parents that he is too sick to go to school, in a childlike manner. Hughes says that by making the character more childlike in this scene is effective because "all parents have the most affectionate memories of their children when they are children." This suggests that parents grow less loving towards their children as they reach adolescence which is the age group that most of his characters are in, in his most successful films made in the 80s. As we have already established, the parents of teenage characters are significantly less caring, if even present at all. This again supports the idea that dysfunctional families are consistently used in Hughes' films making this item useful to me as it holds information about Hughes' auteur tendencies that I will be able to include in my presentation script, making this item useful to me to a large extent.
Articles:
Item 12 http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/03/john-hughes-201003
This article talks about the life of John Hughes and talks about the commentary on some of his films. "Hughes is 36, but he provides no adults-eye view of teen problems" is what was said in an interview with Molly Ringwald. This is useful to me because it supports the idea that Hughes was continually focussed on isolating teen problems and ignoring the lives of the adults around them for example, their parents. By constantly avoiding adult figures in his films, Hughes was then creating distressful and unsupportive family units in order to emphasise the issues and emotions that his teen characters were going through. This item is useful to a moderate extent because it discusses how Hughes avoided a focus on the families of his characters which is information that I will be able to include in my presentation script.
Item 13: http://www.ew.com/gallery/john-hughes-films-20-questions/469028_5-parents-tend-be-totally-absent-most-high-school-comedies
In this article, the various techniques and aspects that make up a typical teen movie are dicussed, focussing on the importance of John Hughes in this movement of teen film. It has a paragraph about how "parents tend to be totally absent from most high school comedies" which then goes into detail and uses the John Hughes film 'Sixteen Candles' as an example of this where the main character's parents forget about their own daughter's birthday. The article also mentions 'The Breakfast Club' (1985) and how for the majority of the film the parents of all characters are unseen. This technique of ignoring adult characters in John Hughes films helps stress the importance of the teen character's issues. And also subsequently means that all the teen characters are therefore from a dysfunctional family which supports the idea that this is a constant theme in John Hughes. I can use this item in my presentation script to help prove that Hughes has auteur traits, this information is useful to a late extent.
Item 14: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/26/drama.comedy1
This article is about how to decode a John Hughes film and it focusses on how john Hughes uses absent parents as a recurring theme within his films, and uses specific examples such as the 1986 film 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'. The article uses this example by explaining that in the film Ferris' parents are "credulous fools, present only to be the butt of Ferris's gift for whip-smart deception". The article also uses the film 'Sixteen Candles' (1984) as an example of parents being seen as inattentive as the narrative follows the life of teenage girl Sam Baker and how her parents forget about her Sixteenth birthday and the effects this has on her supposed 'big day'. Clearly showing how she does not have a supportive family unit. This item is useful to a large extent because it includes information that supports the idea that Hughes could be classified as an auteur due to his constant incorporation of the dysfunctional family in his film and I will be able to use it in my presentation script.
Item 15: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE7DC123BF93BA15751C0A960948260
This article is a film review for 'Pretty In Pink(1986). When describing main character, Andie's, home life it explains how she lives with her "unemployed father" which shows how he is not able to give her full financial support as he is struggling to live day to day and creates a somewhat distressing family unit for her. This shows how yet another teen character in a John Hughes film has been cursed with an unreliable parent figure and I will be able to use this information in my presentation script making this item useful to a large extent.
Item 16: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/movies/08appraisal.html?_r=0
This article is titled 'The John Hughes Touch' and discusses how John Hughes has influences other people as an auteur. One of the things it explores is how Andie in 'Pretty In Pink' is "neglected" which stems from her having a single struggling unemployed father and therefore being part of a dysfunctional family. This supports the idea that Hughes' films incorporate unsupportive parents and dysfunctional families regularly which can classify him to be an auteur. This item is useful to a large extent because it discusses how the constant use of troubled families in Hughes' films makes him an auteur and I will be able to include this in my presentation script.
Item 17: http://www.atthecinema.net/directors-cut-john-hughes
This article titled 'John Hughes: Director's Cut' explores how his films have similar themes and messages. It states that "the ignored child is a consistent theme within his films" when discussing how many of his films have "negatively portrayed adults and parents as being foolish or concerned with material objects." This is a theme that could be used to classify John Hughes as an auteur due to its consistency. I will be able to include this information in my presentation script because it discusses the incorporation of dysfunctional families in John Hughes films, making this item useful to a large extent.
Item 18: Image from Pretty in Pink http://www.btchflcks.com/2014/05/prom-and-female-sexual-desire-in-pretty-in-pink-and-the-loved-ones.html#.WD2NpDsmX9k
Rejected:
Film:
Curly Sue (1991)
I have rejected this item as evidence for John Hughes continuingly using the theme of absent or careless parents in his films which may classify him as an auteur because the narrative of the film follows a disadvantaged child who is forced to con people in order to live but ends up finding a loving family. This concept of a child finding a caring and supportive family contradicts the pattern of absent parents that has been previously explored in John Hughes films.
Internet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmVYNr0lk0
I have rejected this clip from the 2010 Oscars where a tribute to John Hughes took place because when remembering his work and how he influenced the film industry, he is not described as an auteur and the absence of parents in his films is not mentioned. Instead the celebrities remembering him focus on the influence he has had on teen film and how his films hold important messages that are remembered years after they were made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucj_dADJaE0
I have chosen to reject this interview with John Hughes talking about the casting process for 'The Breakfast Club' because although he mentions how Bender's character is difficult and distant, he does not mention that this problem stems from him not having a supportive parental network. Therefore this does not contribute to the idea that Hughes has uncaring parents in his films.
Article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/john-hughes-teen-angsts-1980s-auteur/article4310797/
This article has been rejected because it talks about John Hughes as being an auteur due to his constant interest and incorporation of teenage life in his films and not the negative depiction of adults and parents that he also creates.
By Connie Bytheway
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