Refocus: The Films of John Hughes - (Refocus: The American Directors) by Timothy Shary & Frances Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

This wide-ranging collection examines the films of John Hughes from diverse angles, considering how he depicted young characters, how he revealed the humour of family life, and how his films subtly critiqued social issues such as class, race, gender, education and domestic relationships.

Book Synopsis

The films of John Hughes (1950-2009) have enjoyed popular and critical success alike, from his first scripts in the early 1980s through to his celebrated work later in the decade and into the 1990s. While Hughes is best remembered for his stories about teenagers, such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), almost all of his films deal with comical conflicts within everyday American families. He directed eight films and wrote over thirty in a career spanning a quarter of a century, and is fondly remembered for influencing American perceptions of - and appreciation for - the daily lives of (primarily) common citizens.
This wide-ranging collection examines the films of John Hughes from diverse angles, considering how he depicted young characters, how he revealed the humour of family life, and how his films subtly critiqued social issues such as class, race, gender, education and domestic relationships.

About the Author

Timothy Shary is the author of Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen (Wallflower, 2005) and Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in American Cinema Since 1980 (Texas, 2014). He teaches at Eastern Florida State College.

Frances Smith is Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sussex. She is the author of 'Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie' (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), which combines close textual analysis and critical theory to argue that the genre possesses a distinct narrative and aesthetic.