Madison Zierk
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 Sec. 0002
16 February 2010
The Crowned Prince of McDonnagh Electric Meets The Crowned Princess of The Noble Poor
Pretty in Pink tells the story of a working class teenage girl named Andie who questions her need to go to her senior prom and in the process falls in love with a “richie” named Blane McDonnagh. This movie focuses on a wide gap of social classes in Andie’s high school. It seems that every student is either a member of the working class or a member of the upper class. Pretty in Pink doesn’t show any kind of resemblance of a middle class (unless you want to say that technically the teachers in the school could be considered members of the middle class). Either you’re rich or you’re poor.
Andie grew up in what most people would consider to be a typical working class home. Her mother left her and her father when she was young. Her father never holds on to a job for any length of time, and as a result, works many different odd jobs. From the very beginning of the movie Andie is nagging at her father to get out of bed and start job hunting. Andie, on the other hand, is “hard-working, ragged but clean, and intrinsically noble” (Allison 115). She focused herself on her schoolwork and even earned some scholarships. When she isn’t at school Andie works part-time at a record store. Her money is barely spent on recreational items. She is known to make all of her clothing and is often praised by her fellow working class friends and her father about her “latest creations”. The only people who don’t praise her hard work was the other half of the school, the “richies”, the upper class.
It’s not hard to tell who in the school has money and who doesn’t. The poor girls wear dark colored, worn-looking outfits that had a grunge, punk, and off-the-wall look to them. The rich girls at school wear preppy outfits that are white or pastel colored. Before class and during lunch the poor kids sit outside while the rich kids rule the hallways. This deep class segregation amongst the school causes a silent uproar when Andie and Blane first start talking. Whenever one of them crosses over into the other social class’s territory they immediately receive poor judgments from the members of that certain party. When Andie goes on her first date with Blane she dresses up nicely in an attempt to impress him and not look so poor compared to him. From the very moment they walk into Blane’s friend’s party she receives criticism. One girl at the party says to her “Nice pearls. This isn’t a dinner party honey.” (Hughes) This separation between the two social classes is what eventually causes Blane to break up with Andie within days of asking her to the prom. Instead of moping about and crying over Blane breaking up with her, Andie decides to make a prom dress and go to prom with or without him. Her reasoning is that she wants to “let them know they didn’t break me” (Hughes). The they in that remark refers to all of the rich kids who ridiculed her for being different, for being poor. In the end Andie goes to her prom to avoid feeling bad for not going and wins back the love of Blane. In the end Andie holds on to a sense of who she is while winning the affection of someone who the upper class would deem to be superior and legitimate (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 96)
Works Cited
Allison, Dorothy. "A Question of Class." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 112-19. Print.
Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Social Categories, Classifications, and Structural Inequality: Macro and Global Levels." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 95-96. Print.
Pretty in Pink. Dir. John Hughes. Paramount, 1986. DVD.
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 Sec. 0002
16 February 2010
The Crowned Prince of McDonnagh Electric Meets The Crowned Princess of The Noble Poor
Pretty in Pink tells the story of a working class teenage girl named Andie who questions her need to go to her senior prom and in the process falls in love with a “richie” named Blane McDonnagh. This movie focuses on a wide gap of social classes in Andie’s high school. It seems that every student is either a member of the working class or a member of the upper class. Pretty in Pink doesn’t show any kind of resemblance of a middle class (unless you want to say that technically the teachers in the school could be considered members of the middle class). Either you’re rich or you’re poor.
Andie grew up in what most people would consider to be a typical working class home. Her mother left her and her father when she was young. Her father never holds on to a job for any length of time, and as a result, works many different odd jobs. From the very beginning of the movie Andie is nagging at her father to get out of bed and start job hunting. Andie, on the other hand, is “hard-working, ragged but clean, and intrinsically noble” (Allison 115). She focused herself on her schoolwork and even earned some scholarships. When she isn’t at school Andie works part-time at a record store. Her money is barely spent on recreational items. She is known to make all of her clothing and is often praised by her fellow working class friends and her father about her “latest creations”. The only people who don’t praise her hard work was the other half of the school, the “richies”, the upper class.
It’s not hard to tell who in the school has money and who doesn’t. The poor girls wear dark colored, worn-looking outfits that had a grunge, punk, and off-the-wall look to them. The rich girls at school wear preppy outfits that are white or pastel colored. Before class and during lunch the poor kids sit outside while the rich kids rule the hallways. This deep class segregation amongst the school causes a silent uproar when Andie and Blane first start talking. Whenever one of them crosses over into the other social class’s territory they immediately receive poor judgments from the members of that certain party. When Andie goes on her first date with Blane she dresses up nicely in an attempt to impress him and not look so poor compared to him. From the very moment they walk into Blane’s friend’s party she receives criticism. One girl at the party says to her “Nice pearls. This isn’t a dinner party honey.” (Hughes) This separation between the two social classes is what eventually causes Blane to break up with Andie within days of asking her to the prom. Instead of moping about and crying over Blane breaking up with her, Andie decides to make a prom dress and go to prom with or without him. Her reasoning is that she wants to “let them know they didn’t break me” (Hughes). The they in that remark refers to all of the rich kids who ridiculed her for being different, for being poor. In the end Andie goes to her prom to avoid feeling bad for not going and wins back the love of Blane. In the end Andie holds on to a sense of who she is while winning the affection of someone who the upper class would deem to be superior and legitimate (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 96)
Works Cited
Allison, Dorothy. "A Question of Class." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 112-19. Print.
Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Social Categories, Classifications, and Structural Inequality: Macro and Global Levels." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 95-96. Print.
Pretty in Pink. Dir. John Hughes. Paramount, 1986. DVD.
It's kind of funny how to me how love story movies in the 80s always end with a happy ending no matter what. It seems like kind of a difficult thing to just forgive and forget when your boyfriend literally breaks up with you because your family doesn't have as much money as him and he's embarassed to be dating you. If Duckie wasn't so annoying I would say she should have just stuck with him.
ReplyDeleteYeah. While I was writing my blog my brother asked me if I was Team Blane or Team Duckie. I told him if I was Team Andie. I liked Blane but I didn't love him. I love Duckie but he's only made to be a friend for Andie. I love it how at the end of the movie after Andie and Blane made up Duckie catches the eye of some random girl at the prom. At that moment Duckie completely forgets that he's been in love with Andie since the beginning of time and does his Ferris Bueller walk-off to be with this girl. There was clearly so much more I wanted to discuss about this film that I didn't get to due to the word count restrictions. Despite it's flaws, this movie is still my second favorite movie of all time. Choosing this one for my blog wasn't a hard choice for me.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever seen parts of the movie, I didn't know he breaks up with her in the end. I think there's also something to be said about the fact that in the film, even though the audience is supposed to sympathize with the protagonist, other characters don't seem to see anything "noble" in her poverty. Having her work hard in and outside of school makes us feel like we can stand behind her.
ReplyDelete