Great Character: Andie Walsh (“Pretty in Pink”)
With teens going back to school after winter break, guest poster Jason Cuthbert figured it would be appropriate to examine John Hughes Teenagers during the month of January. Today: Andie Walsh from he movie Pretty in Pink.
Back in the neon, big hair MTV era of the 1980s, many of the female coming-of-age movie roles were unfortunately relegated to topless teen obsessions in raunchy Rated-R romps. But screenwriter/director/producer John Hughes, the Principal of Three-Dimensional High Schoolers, gave Molly Ringwald, The Radiant Ruby Red Valedictorian of Teen Princesses, her big breakthrough role in Sixteen Candles. Hollywood’s cameras finally traveled beyond the girl’s locker room (creepy when you think about it) and into the complicated adolescent lives of the fairer sex.
Molly Ringwald has often been cited as John Hughes’ muse, with three collaborations: Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) and finally Ringwald’s most famous appearance — Pretty in Pink (1986) directed by Howard Deutch. With Pretty in Pink, Molly Ringwald had it all: a John Hughes screenplay during his prime, a cutting edge New Wave music soundtrack behind her, a compelling movie poster that could have easily been an album cover, a complimentarily pink trendsetting wardrobe and a sensitive yet strong character in Andie Walsh that Ringwald truly embodied and personally related to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiONiEZVmzI
Pretty in Pink from IMDB:
A poor girl must choose between the affections of her doting childhood sweetheart and a rich but sensitive playboy.
With Andie Walsh’s handcrafted pink prom dress replacing Cinderella’s glass slippers, Pretty in Pink modernized the “rags to riches” fairy tale with “working class versus wealthy” social dynamics unfolding in high school. Andie is a fashion-forward self-styled music head working at a record shop managed by her older friend and motherly stand-in Iona (Annie Potts), equally the fashionista.
Andie’s thrift shop remixed ensembles clash completely with the prevailing preppy dress code that dominates her suburban school. Not being able to financially furnish her closet with high-end garments or a luxury BMW first car like her classmates causes Andie to visually and socially stand all the way out from her peers.
ANDIE WALSH: “You know, it’s so insane that someone you’ve never met, never talked to can be your enemy.”
Only Andie’s childhood male friend Duckie (Jon Cryer) seems to be cut from the same clothe as Andie in the fashion department. But when Andie finds his “more like a brother” friendship evolving into romantic desires, her “working class versus wealthy” dilemmas now extend beyond just school into the relationship realm when a “richie” kid named Blane (Andrew McCarthy) makes serious plays for her affection as well. Andie is hyperaware of her economic disparity; even going as far as not wanting Blane to find out that she lives in a lower income neighborhood.
ANDIE WALSH: “You’re ashamed to go out with me. You’re terrified that you’re goddamn rich friends won’t approve.”
Along with Andie’s blue-collar divide at school and in her love life, her father’s depression stemming from her mother permanently walking out on them three years prior is an additional level of weight that suffocates Andie’s tender emotional state. Andie has transitioned beyond just being her daddy’s daughter, but also his foremost confidant, the upward elevator for his self-esteem and even his alarm clock when pity won’t pull him up towards a better job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHTPahkN6M
As Andie and Duckie’s friendship deteriorates as her opposites attract dating with Blane continues, Andie must face her self-conscience fears that love may not conquer all as prom approaches closer and Blane seems to appear more distant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l7LGK2hnQw
Andie Walsh is not just superficially “pretty in pink,” she is also academically driven, ambitious, loyal and non-promiscuous — role model qualities for teenaged girls rarely provided in modern movies. This is a girl becoming a woman, a daughter becoming a nurturer and a person becoming an individual.
If there is one singular slogan to sum up the advanced maturity that Andie Walsh is rewarded with during her journey through high school’s madhouse hallways it exists in her powerful proclamation to attend the prom by herself:
ANDIE WALSH: “I just want them to know that they didn’t break me.”
For her creative commitment to exploring her own stylish individuality, her unapologetically self-respecting attitude and her fearless formation into a woman she can be proud of — Andie Walsh is one pretty GREAT CHARACTER in John Hughes’s pantheon of pubescent personas.
Hughes did so many things right as a writer, but for me it’s his characters that shine through. Case in point, Andie Walsh. Being an adolescent is so much about exploring one’s own identity and Andie is a great example.
I can still remember sitting in movie theaters amidst a sea of teenagers watching John Hughes movies like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Some Kind of Wonderful. It was amazing how dialed in Hughes was with that particular age group.
Any John Hughes fans? What are your thoughts on Andie Walsh? Why not stop by comments and share them with us.
Thanks once again to Jason! You may follow him on Twitter: @A2Jason.
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