While looking for gifs to celebrate Molly Ringwald's birthday, I went through a lot of gifs from John Hughes movies. This solidified something that I've been thinking for a long time: Hughes' movies have not aged well, and could be called troublesome if not the overused "problematic."
I'm focusing on his teen movies, which are his lasting legacy:
Sixteen Candles: jokes about Sam's grandma groping her; Sam pining over one guy to her own detriment; Farmer Ted date rapes Caroline; oh, and Long Duk Dong.
Breakfast Club: Bender the verbally abusive "bad boy" is just a misunderstood loner; Allison the freak has to get a makeover to "win" the jock Andy.
Pretty In Pink: Hoo boy. Ducky is at best a Nice Guy, at worst a stalker.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Not quite as troubling, but it's basically "rich kid gets away with whatever he wants."
Some Kind Of Wonderful: specifically designed as a genderflipped Pretty In Pink (although Watts is not stalkery like Ducky)
