Parental Guidance: Confronting Family Structures in John Hughes Films

Abstract

While most people consider films written or directed by John Hughes to be primarily focused on young adult relationships and the dynamics that occur within that age group, Hughes’s films also feature an underlying commonality in which the typical nuclear family structure is confronted and challenged. In films such as Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, teenager/parent relationships reveal themselves as the true crux of each story masked by the surface appearance of teenage angst and heartbreak. The problematic, familial relationships examined in Hughes’s films are what allow his works to prevail as relevant today, even decades after their original release.