2 Comments

I was going to write something right up until a minute ago about the differences between the John Hughes movies of the 1980s and Dave's favorite National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. Only problem is John Hughes was behind National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as well. I guess my bigger point is I think Hughes normalized rich people and rich people's culture in the mainstream of American culture like it was never done before. Yes in National Lampoon's Christmas there is the snobbish neighbor Margo who ends up becoming the but of the whole movie along with cousin Eddie the redneck. But many of Hughes' other films like Home Alone, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Uncle Buck, Plains Trains and Automobiles, etc. are films about rich people. Yes, John Candy is kind of inserted as a Tim Walz figure into the story of Uncle Buck and Steve Martin's character in Plains, Trains, and Automobiles kind of starts as a snob(Martin is described as a snob while Candy is slob) but the majority of main protagonists are all rich people who remain very rich at the end of the story.

**Also important in my opinion to mention Hughes adjacent movies(movies that other filmmakers made in the same time period) that tended to take place in Chicago also featuring rich people and there kids like Adventures in Babysitting and Risky Business.

Expand full comment

A cavaet about Uncle Buck. If Tim Walz had been allowed to be himself he would have been the Democratic Party's Uncle Buck. Unfortionately, he wasn't allowed.

https://youtu.be/OA-FmsSdSMY?si=OGBgWkngvBdOrn6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ibO5kob3OQ

https://youtu.be/72c29cwSGz4?si=aziv8nyK0h8Ix-vv

Expand full comment