For Your (Re)Consideration: Pretty in Pink is John Hughes' Most Daring and Arguably Divisive Teen Canon

Pretty in Pink is a modern high school iteration of a centuries-old formula: lovers divided by social order, navigating pride, prejudice, and performance before arriving at emotional clarity. That this 96-minute romance comes from one of the most brilliant teen-film minds of the 1980s, John Hughes, instantly cements its status as a classic.

Directed by Howard Deutch, Pretty in Pink is awash with enough 80s touchstones — from its iconic soundtrack featuring Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” to the era’s unmistakable fashion — to convert even the most skeptical Gen Zer. As it celebrates its 40th anniversary, a rewatch of Pretty in Pink feels as much a story about class struggle as it does a snapshot of its time. It premiered during a period of heightened political awareness, a time when even pop culture carried subtle ideological weight and class distinctions were impossible to ignore. There have certainly been better outings from Hughes, both as writer and director, but Pretty in Pink wears its ambitions on its sleeve, which can sometimes be a little too long and familiar, however bold.

Pretty in Pink is a Quintessential Teen Love Tale

Pretty in Pink’s romantic tale is as old as recorded romance, charged with all the fire and foolishness of adolescent love. A loves B, and B loves A, although neither is brave enough to wholly pronounce or commit to those feelings. The “whys?” can be found in the opposing social spheres: B is born in a silver crib and fears the disapproval of his privileged caucus. A is from the humblest of beginnings and courts the thought of the union not being accepted by their own circle, talk more of B’s. As always, it’s a love triad and not a duo. In other words, there’s the third not-so-secret admirer who shares A’s social standing but feels overshadowed by B’s polish and status.

Pretty in Pink casts Character A as Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), a fiercely self-possessed, thrift-store-styling teen who navigates a high school teeming with smug affluence. She’s also everything good about 80s fashion, sporting a Margaret Thatcher-inspired ginger hairdo and a penchant for all things pink. Character B is the blue-eyed “not like the others” wealthy lad Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy), whose frustrating susceptibility to peer pressure might be the only thing undermining his meekness.

Character C, Duckie (Jon Cryer), might be the most interesting of all. He isn’t presented as particularly bright (at one point, he suggests the Warsaw Pact took place in Germany), and his class clowning isn’t enough to win most ladies’ (or guys’, for that matter) hearts for sure. However, thanks to Cryer’s performance, it is enough to command the audience’s affection, which is arguably lacking in Ringwald and McCarthy due to a sheer want of chemistry.

Characters in Pretty in Pink Cope With Denial

When Duckie says “This woman is suffering inside; that’s all there is to it,” about Andie Walsh, he’s clearly mistaken as to the roots of his assumptions, but the source of her pain, but obliviously accurate about its existence. Coming home each day to a single, unemployed father (Harry Dean Stanton) still in denial about his wife’s elopement, Andie is intimately familiar with what happens when reality is postponed, whether it be the forever-existence of class humiliation or love. “You can’t go on living every day in the past,” she tells him, not necessarily as daughter to father but also as an emotionally older person addressing someone emotionally stalled.

That lesson quietly shapes her own romantic arc. Andie wants to believe love can transcend class, that Blane’s world won’t ultimately reject her. It only takes a few days of cold air between her and her lover for the message to sink in. Not one to waste a tear over spilt milk or botched El Dorados, Annie settles for courage and self-respect. Even Duckie eventually catches the memo and comes to terms with the fact that wishes aren’t always (if they are ever) horses. Duckie, Andie, and her father aren’t the only ones in denial. So is Blane’s best friend and co-proletariat, Steff (James Spader), who can’t accept the fact that he couldn’t woo Andie with the deep pocket and obnoxious aura that had hitherto made him successful in his endeavors.

Pretty in Pink Stands Out in John Hughes’ Filmography

Anyone who had their teen years in the 80s will almost certainly be familiar with the name John Hughes. He was to that decade what Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight novels) was to the 2000s: a defining voice in teen culture. His canon includes films such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink, all of which feature Ringwald in significant roles. Unlike the former two (chip in 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful as well), Pretty in Pink foregrounds social stratification and teen hysteria — with all the insecurity, pressure, and emotional turbulence that come with it — so much so that some have dismissed it as mere classist propaganda.

It’s a good thing the original ending Hughes envisioned, which leaned toward a more conventional love-triangle resolution, was ultimately axed, much to his ire. It wouldn’t have worked in an era as vibrant as when it debuted and certainly not now, and Hughes would have certainly not beaten the classists and misfits lover” allegations.