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Was John Hughes a Klan member?

Started by R. Hopkins, September 27, 2004, 11:27:34 PM

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R. Hopkins

Maybe nothing that bad, but I mean think about it.  The only minority in his movies with a prominent part was an asian kid that they said was from Japan, but his name fit in more with Chinese nomenclature...and as per the 80s stereotype, he was obsessed with sex with a white girl.  After that, blacks and hispanics in his movies were either hoodlums or carjackers with little or no speaking parts.  I thought he was a SNL golden age writing alumnus.

George

I don't think he was in the Klan or any such non-sense.  Those movies were made about suburban Chicago school kids (mostly) and meant to be clean and carry wide appeal.  I don't think they were meant to be racist or elitist, just entertaining.

Most of the characters were a very generic version of a stereotypical group of kids.  Jocks, preps, nerds, outcasts....you name it.  I think most directors and writers of that time stayed away from minorities to avoid further perpetuation of possibly negative stereotypes.

If you exclude John Hughes movies, you see that through many other popular movies of that time.  Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Three o'clock High, Can't Buy Me Love, Loverboy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Valley Girl......all with virtually no minorities.

AndyC

I agree. Those movies weren't racist. That's an outrageous assumption to make about Hughes, based on so little evidence. It's like people who go around casually labelling people fascists and Nazis, without any idea what that implies. It's unfair to those so labelled, and it trivializes the wrongs of the people who really deserve it.

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Fearless Freep

Going from "there aren't many minorities in this guys movies" to "is the guy in the Klan?" is a bit of an inappropriate leap

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raj

Yeah, otherwise Woody Allen would be the only Jewish member of the Klan.

Chopper

man you made the biggest film mistake ever: reading too deep into a Hughes film, lol. ;)



Post Edited (09-29-04 05:36)

mr. henry

hughes' movies...a lot of them...take place in typically white chicago suburbs...so i don't find his movies that biased...had he placed them in other suburbs, the characters would be predominantly aother race or creed...black, mid-eastern, etc...the suburbs are definitely more diverse today, but there are areas in the city...and suburbs...that are predominantly "something."

it's the write what you know thing probably...spike lee deals with black people, irish directors deal with irish topics, etc...

bill cosby didn't write white sitcoms??? did he...it's pretty simple...

-mr. henry
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Yaddo42

Just echoing what others have said, it is a bit much to make that suggestion based on his films. I mean John Hughes using stereotyped characters of any race, class, age, background, or high school social group in his movies that were aimed at teen audiences? There's a big non-surprise. That lumps you in with Jay and Silent Bob moving to Illinois to sell pot because they didn't see any pot dealers in John Hughes films. And they were just characters written to think that in order to explain their appeareance IN another movie and it was a funny joke about two none too bright characters.

Then again I've never been able to stay interested in "The Breakfast Club" to watch it through to the end, and hate most of his other movies anyway. So I have a hard time giving a s**t even if Hughes were trying to put subtile messages in his movies.