I'm reading a fantastic book that I think you all should check out called You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation. I have always loved John Hughes movies, and as a kid, without realizing it, The Breakfast Club was the film that made me start really appreciating good dialog, and it would make me want to see a better class of films at a young age, eventually making me want to become a writer: I was reciting long passages from The Breakfast Club while other kids were only getting off one liners like, "He slimed me."


However, as well as Mr. Hughes seemed to understand and portray the high school experience, the truth is, all he really showed us was the white high school experience. There were nothing but Caucasians in detention that day in The Breakfast Club. The only Black people in Weird Science* were the stereotypically Black guys in the all black bar, who were meant to be scary. The only person of any ethnicity other than white from Sixteen Candles I can remember was Long Duck Dong, the extremely stereotypical Asian kid who was complete with a gong banged every time he was on screen. The worst of all was Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which the only people of color were the ones dancing at the parade and the Black and Latino guys working in the garage, who take the Ferrari for a joy ride. I don't recall any homosexuals in his films. Ducky from Pretty in Pink was close, but we were meant to think he was straight.

Am I wrong about this, seven readers? Anyone have any other examples?

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*Weird Science was snubbed by this book with the author saying the following: Weird Science, though written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, doesn't get much attention herein because, though it's still a late-night cable TV fixture, it has virtually no cultural resonance." I couldn't disagree with this more. The story is about two dorks in high school who are resolved to just live their lives in obscurity and misery until one day when a woman they create on their computers helps them learn who they really are. As a guy who desperately wanted to get laid and be cool in high school, this is a story that "resonated" like a motherfucker to me, plus it's underrated in how funny it really is. Perhaps it's just a guy movie, but that being said, if there's no Weird Science because it's a guy movie, then there should be no Some Kind of Wonderful, which is included in the book, because that is a straight-up chick flick.