Howard Deutch and John Hughes thought they had "Pretty in Pink" all tied up at one point. The director and writer/producer, respectively, shot the ending, finished the final edit and rolled out a version for feedback.Forget love. Girls want cute. The mistake that Hughes made - to the extent it can be called a mistake given how successful the movie was - is that if Duckie was going to get Andie, he needed to up his socio-sexual status.
Much to their surprise, audiences actually really disliked the film's ending, to put it mildly.
“The ending didn’t work in the test screening … That shocked everyone because the architecture of the story was that love endures and overcomes everything,” Deutch told The Huffington Post about the original ending, where Phil "Duckie" Dale (Jon Cryer) and Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) end up together.
“The girls in the test screening didn’t go for that. They didn’t care about the politics; they wanted her to get the cute boy. And that was it. So we had to reshoot the ending," Deutch said.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Bow before hypergamy
It doesn't matter what the narrative logic demands. For women, the fairy tale demands that the cute guy gets the girl, not the loser gamma:
21 comments:
I never "got" Molly Ringwald. She was sort of funny, but not beautiful.
But then again, this was the 80s, where the male leads were frequently prettier than the female ones.
IN DEFENSE OF DUCKIE
I recently re-watched this flick with the Mrs., and Duckie wasn't nearly as gamma as I remembered. His character develops over the course of the movie. Toward the end, he picked a fight in school with preppy 80s antagonist James Spader.... and was winning until teachers broke it up. Then he ends up banging the kinda hot 30-year-old boutique owner. Keep in mind that this is a high school kid.
By today's standards, he's either a budding alpha or sigma.
there is no way to define Alpha / Sigma which includes allowing others to tag you with a name as stupid as 'Duckie'.
"he needed to up his socio-sexual status"
He never did. This continues at "Two and a Half Men".
O\T…breaking in the nephew out slowly so as to not shell shock him with new ideas…
I sent my neph (OSU 20) Rollo’s SMV axis and told him that while his purchasing power (or in the context of this post socio-sexual status) is stacked against him now, he’ll peak way later in life and can keep on peaking if he acquires the resources, great health and appearance that lifts SMV, such as charisma and confidence. The script gets flipped and the old school previous generation of women knew this cold. Not now. Now, social media at every turn tells the 30-40 even 50 something post-wall that (by orbiting clueless WKs, betas, gammas, deltas, ect) she’s beautiful no matter what despite the fact that she’s divorced, planning a cash and prizes exit strategy and so on or that more often than not her sense of understanding is warped by social acculturation and the FI social mores. Rollo is right to make the claim that the current polarization gap will widen increasingly as it is hard to have a conversation about the differences between our biological needs (biomechanics) running up against the winds of egalitarian equalist(s) run amok. How does it shake out? Already, Western marriage rates are collapsing, births, ect?
Mike C (Danger & Plays) recent posts about getting the Gorilla mindset about cutting out the negative psychic energy or distractions as a means to improved life are spot on. That includes having a sharp filter as to the type of women that’s going to be aligned with your mission…which is another part of the learning curve.
Pretty in Pink wow, haven't thought about that one in decades. The hottest bartendress (beauty brunette) in town back in the day told me out of the blue that I looked like the cute guy in PiP. She used to wear these hot white boots with fur at the top. Had a smoking hot body, think she was 25 at the time. Easily a 9.
I had just turned old enough (18) to drink and my buds that I was hanging out with flipped when she said that. Gotta be honest though, I never hit it. Was running a stable of 3-4 girls just out of HS at the time. Missed opportunity now thinking back on it. Timing and effort thing.
This is interesting and sad at the sad time...
No amount of Game gets Andie. Duckie could 'up his SSS' and sure, Andie might react to the money, confidence, or celebrity. Probly marry him, start calling him Cuckie-Duckie. Hello Rick Ocasik.
But girls like cute guys and guys like cute girls, and if you watch closely, and watch long enough, you'll find that doesn't change much, dollahs or no dollahs, presentation or not. This can be structured-out, of course, with trad courtship, marriage, etc. But that ain't today's reality.
now I know who to blame. I liked the original concept and thought the ending was contrived.
Hughes screwed up the story structure from the female stand point.
He started off with a standard trope for a female romance. The girl who is low on the social scale wins over the guy who is high on the social scale. You don't promise girls a Cinderella story and than tell girls at the end of it. No, Cinderella turned down the prince after the shoe fit and accepted her status on the social scale. She married Baldric the Dung-Gatherer. They had fifteen children and she died of cholera at age 35 BECAUSE THAT'S HOW THE REAL WORLD FUCKING WORKS YOU DUMB BITCHES, JUST ACCEPT YOUR PLACE.
Remember this thing was being marketed to girls not guys. This isn't a matter of Game this is matter of bad story telling on Hughes part.
Hughes ALWAYS let his 1960s Classicist politics interfere with his storytelling.
Admittedly, I can't think of a single Boomer film maker who didn't do the same damn thing.
I might posit that the ending of Disney's Beauty And The Beast, where women preferred the bouffant-but-masculine-killer Beast to the blue-eyed prettyboy at the end; states that they prefer masculinity over cute as well.
@Ingot9455
The Beast also had money and a castle.
Gaston had a cabin with a bunch of antlers all over it.
It wasn't a hard a decision.
Ingot9455 said...
I might posit that the ending of Disney's Beauty And The Beast, where women preferred the bouffant-but-masculine-killer Beast to the blue-eyed prettyboy at the end; states that they prefer masculinity over cute as well.
Beast's Human form, Prince Andam, was one of the best looking, and prettiest, princes Disney has ever designed. We got to see a picture of him at the very start of the movie, so we knew how he looked "beneath" the monster. He was better looking than Gaston. Also, Gaston was a looser for not getting together with the hot triplets, who were prettier than Belle, and pining for her instead. I knew this while watching the movie as a child, so I'm not sure why Disney didn't understand this.
I'm not saying you are wrong about girls not caring as much for looks, but looks are important. if they weren't, good-looking guys wouldn't be used for marketing purposes. Perhaps that is a good way to proxy alpha?
Kristy Swanson is much hotter then molly ringwald so Duckie did well. Plus molly ringwald wanted Blane so Duckie always would have been her second choice and he would have known it.
Proof that society is lying to women day in, day out. The more modern media you consume, the less of a clue you have of what goes on inside a man's head and body.
I feel terrible for this generation of women.
Personally, I never had any interest in John Hughes movies. I wouldn't say Hughes failed however, as the target audience still loves his movies. I just recognize I am not his target audience. I mean really, Molly Ringwald? Kristy Swanson was hotter then and has actually aged far better than most of her contemporaries (including James Spader).
Duckie wound up with BUFFY???? (Never saw that movie.)
Holy Crap... yeah... better off than with Ringwald by FAR.
What I'm saying is that the Beast is a massive stud while the Prince is a prettyboy. And Belle, twining his hair at the end, clearly pines for the Beast.
It's a damn fine point about the money, castle, and status though.
Mercedes Lackey even specifically wrote a Beauty and the Beast take-off where the Beast stays the Beast at the end because of it.
Another illusion shattered.
"What I'm saying is that the Beast is a massive stud while the Prince is a prettyboy. And Belle, twining his hair at the end, clearly pines for the Beast."
Fiona choose Shrek as an ogre over his human form......
@littl3x
Gaston never tried to woo Belle. He believed she had no other choice, which appeared to be correct until the Beast entered the story. Mocking her father was what ended his chances at winning her heart.....which he was never after.
@Gunnar von Cowtown I recently re-watched this flick with the Mrs., and Duckie wasn't nearly as gamma as I remembered. His character develops over the course of the movie. Toward the end, he picked a fight in school with preppy 80s antagonist James Spader.... and was winning until teachers broke it up. Then he ends up banging the kinda hot 30-year-old boutique owner. Keep in mind that this is a high school kid.
By today's standards, he's either a budding alpha or sigma.
Until he loses the Oneitis, he's a loser. Alphas and sigmas don't chase girls. They allow themselves to be caught by the best girl available.
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