So THAT'S why riding my bike by her house never worked!
Isn’t she? That’s really the question that “Pretty in Pink” asks over and over again. Andie is just odd enough to not fit in with the cool kids, isn’t she? Andie’s worth leaving Steff and the other Richies behind, isn’t she? Andie is worth obsessing over even though you know it’s never going to go anywhere, isn’t she? Isn’t she pretty in pink? The answer, over and over, is yes. Andie is THE girl next door who you just know is going to grow up and be the happiest among all the people who survive high school. She’s in control of her life in ways that her father, her “best friend” Duckie and her boss Iona just plain aren’t. But before I get ahead of myself…
A Brief Synopsis of “Pretty in Pink”: I’m actually willing to wager that I might be one of the only people left in America who are my age who didn’t know the plot of “Pretty in Pink” before today, but here goes. Andie is a high school senior who’s mom has left her and her father behind. They live in lower middle class poverty but she’s still the ideal girl next door. She works at TRAX where her boss, Iona, tries to lead her on the right path to eternal happiness, even as she struggles with her own. She’s in love with Blane, a guy with all the money in the world and the asshole friends to match. Miraculously, this isn’t the story of a girl pining for the boy she knows she’ll never have. It’s the story of two people who are struggling to be together in an world that doesn’t approve. Call it “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” in the world of an 80’s high school, but “Pretty in Pink” is all about figuring out where you fit into the high school ecosystem…and then figuring out that the high school ecosystem means nothing. As with all great teen movies, it all comes down to Prom as Andie has to use it as a vehicle to figure out how her relationship with Blane can grow, her relationship with Duckie can change and her relationship with her father can move on as his relationship with her mom comes to an end. Basically, it’s a relationship movie with high school as the backdrop and the best of 80’s music as the soundtrack. In the end, Blane tells of Steff (nice name, asshat), Duckie comes to grips with his burning love of Andie, Andie’s dad finally puts her mom behind him, Iona finds true love with the guy from the Pet Store and Andie and Blane share one final kiss as the music swells and the credits roll. It’s perfection in celluloid and I’m sad that I didn’t see it until now.
Why is it a PCBS? “Pretty in Pink” is part of the pantheon of John Hughes films (which are actually being honored on the Oscars as I type this) that are seen as the best of what teen films can be. But for me, it’s much more about the Duckman. Sufficed to say, I was a slightly awkward kid in middle and high school. To say that I can relate to Duckie is a bit of an understatement. A couple of touchstones to get my point across: When I was in middle school, I had a huge crush on a girl that was nice enough to pretend that she knew that I existed. I went through all the regular middle school nerd machinations to try and get her attention (mix tape, carnation delivery, etc.) but one day, for some reason, I thought that the thing that would impress her was a picnic with glass bottle cokes (stay with me). Unfortunately, when you’re 12 you don’t really have a lot of chances to get a girl alone to have a picnic…so you eventually convince yourself that it would be cool to do it in the 5 minutes between 6th and 7th period on her way into the one class that you have together. I showed up with a picnic basket (plastic) with croissants (from Sam’s Club wrapped in wax paper) and two bottled Cokes. I thought it would be the epitome of classy…it was instead the equivalent of Duckie waiting outside of the club for Andie knowing full well that he’d never get in (thanks to Andrew Dice Clay…who invited that guy?). A second example is actually even more painful: One of the most life changing nights of my young life was actually cut short-ish…by model UN. I thought I needed to get at least some sleep but I still ended up falling asleep more than my fair share of times the next day during Model UN (more like Robert’s Rules of Sleeping Disorder…amiright?). My UN partner wasn’t impressed (sorry, Nicki) and my coach was even less so (sorry, DeCarli). But still, it all helped me be all that much more the Duckie. While the Duckman chose to express his feelings through Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness”, I chose to express myself through the intricate lyrics of Bob Seger and Tom Cochrane. If Cusak’s character in “High Fidelity” was torn between which songs best represented his love for his women, Duckie and I were willing to latch on to the first pop track we found that basically expressed our feelings and desires. In essence, it was/is everything terrible that Duckie represents.
How does it look in the rear view mirror? Honestly, it sparkles. Whether it the highlight of everything that’s wrong with the clique system or the spotlight on the awkwardness of teenage flirting (remember that Blane creates a computer program to initially reveal himself to Andie), “Pretty in Pink” is a fabulous representation of everything that’s weird about high school. I wish I’d seen this when I was 16 so I could do two things:
- Learn all the words and dance moves to “Try a little Tenderness” to impress all the girls in my high school
- Embarrass myself by going through a pork pie hat phase.
“Pretty in Pink” serves as both a blueprint for and cautionary tale against the way that I acted in high school. I’m sure there are more than a few Andie’s out there who would have loved if I hadn’t ridden by their house all the time on my bike (or in other forms of transportation). I left more than my fair share of Duckie voice mail messages on machines and with little brothers. I also didn’t know a good thing when I had it, like Blane. “Pretty in Pink” does a great job of highlighting everything that’s wrong about high school…as well as everything that seems oh so right.
Final Thoughts: It’s not like it’s any secret that I think “Pretty in Pink” was a great movie. It’s a study in high school inequities as well as a chance for James Spader to flex his crazy muscles and Gina Gershon to randomly show up in the back ground of a scenes for no particular reason. It’s everything that I want from a teen movie with Annie Potts to boot. For me, it shines a light on everything that was wrong with me in high school…except for a pork-pie hat. It’s heartfelt, reluctantly romantic and strikingly different for 1986.
Which brings me to a rebuke of sorts: shame on you, “Summer Catch.” You basically fooled me into believing that you were a good movie about someone from the poor side of town rising above the town-instituted class system to be in a meaningful relationship with someone from the rich side of town. Shame on you for ripping off “Pretty in Pink.” Same goes for you, “Dirty Dancing.” I’m putting baby in the corner for ripping off the basic premise of this movie. At least Andie was her own person. She didn’t even flinch when one of the club’s regular dance partners got preggers and she had to fill in….I may be mixing my metaphors.
Regardless of how many times it’s been ripped off (cough…”She’s All That”), “Pretty in Pink” is still the first and best in it’s class.
