Please watch clip, then read ahead.
The year was 1986 and I can't remember what I thought about Andie's actions in that scene but I do remember I couldn't stand Blaine with his whiny denial and lie. That was an example of the worst guy to get involved with in high school or anytime. He was weak and had no strength of character. The slightest dissent from his "friend" Steff, and he not only abandoned Andie but didn't have the guts to tell her the truth, even when confronted.
Yeah, yeah, he was in high school so I should give him some slack. Okay, sure.
However, what about John Hughes and his producers, who instead of producing a movie that was good for teenage girls created a movie that shortchanged us? It cheated us from knowing what kind of guys were worth our time. It didn't champion the guy who was there for her before the preppy rich boy showed up and who was still there after the preppy rich boy flaked. It didn't stand up for the boy marching to his own synthesized drum track wearing his thrift store retro togs. You know, the odd "duck" of our story, the supreme Duckie? No, instead PIP dumped all over The Duckman.
Then the movie went and took all the quirk and sass out of the cool, unique Iona character because she fell in love with a boy. No more punk princess, mod chick, or frothy prom dresses and Aqua Net hairdos for her, oh no, "LOVE" made her into a screamingly un-cool yuppie wearing a white suit with shoulder pads.
Just what was this movie trying to say?
What happened to Hughes' Samantha Baker from 16 Candles who didn't have to change a single thing about herself and still won the legendary and dreamy *Jake Ryan*?
After seeing this movie with my friend Eden, I knew I was very different than John Hughes' test audience.* I left thinking that Molly Ringwald's character was the stupidest girl and if she ended up dating Andrew McCarthy's Blaine all through high school and didn't learn anything she might have married him or someone just like him. Which means that she would have had to make all the decisions in the relationship, ending up resenting the hell out of him (or a Blaine substitute) and eventually having had to start all over after their bitter divorce.
So, yeah, PIP? Not my favorite movie.
* Their scores convinced him to switch the ending and have Andie end up with Blaine. I wonder just how those girls fared in the romance department?
2 comments:
Of course Andie should have ended up with Duckie! I was okay with the Ally Sheady character's makeover at the end of The Breakfast Club (partly because I was distracted by the hotness of a young Judd Nelson and looking elsewhere), but the ending of PIP is NOT OKAY.
Totally agree - I loved Duckie!
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