Wherein I Ask Myself if I Like Pretty in Pink

Way the fuck back in the day, the definition of comedy was that people got married in the end. I’m getting the feeling that a similar assumption about specific story elements happens in a certain sub-genre among high school movies where prom is the big (or a big) destination in the plot, either towards the end or at the very end. It’s what goes down in G.B.F. and Never Been Kissed*; the BtVS season 3 episode “Homecoming” had a strong prom-com vibe even though that was homecoming and not prom. Therefore, since prom-coms (if you will) let you know within, like, the first five minutes that their plot arc will deliver the viewer to this school dance setting, I don’t think I’m spoiling anything in saying that the 1986 film Pretty In Pink (click on the photo for IMDB link) culminates with its main characters at the prom. However, spoilers will creep into the paragraphs that follow, so consider this your alert. Then again, spoilers spoil for those who haven’t seen the movie, and some of the things I say here might only make sense if you have seen the movie. Whoops.

Watching Pretty in Pink prompted me to revisit the appreciation I have for the cars in another prom-com, 10 Things I Hate About You. The teenagers’ cars in 10 Things are second hand and not glamorous. I don’t see a justification for the car Andie (Pretty in Pink’s #1-gal) drives if the viewers are to believe she doesn’t have a lot of money – even if it does have dents in it, it looked like a nice car to me, and not just because it was pink.

I weirdly appreciate Andie going back to Blane in the end. I say “weirdly” not because he’s so dreamy or whatever but because Blane going back on taking Andie to the prom was an asshole thing to do. However, going back to Blane in spite of this makes it less simple in a way, and it’s a way that I can appreciate.

I also like that Andie and Duckie never got together. I don’t think it’s a mistake that Andie confronts Duckie about his stuckness at one point in the movie, then confronts her father about his stuckness at another point in the movie. Andie’s father and Duckie have too much in common with being stuck for Andie to be on the same plane as them, really. Andie is not stuck, and the symbology of stuck is laid down too explicitly with Andie’s father and Duckie for Andie to be with Duckie and for it to be satisfying to the viewer me. It wouldn’t have felt right. I think Duckie did some changing, too, so I’m not entirely sure that Duckie would still be an option for Andie if Andie wanted Duckie by the time prom happened.

I can appreciate and respect this part of Pretty in Pink, like I can appreciate and respect a lot of parts of Pretty in Pink: some of the minor characters were great, like the shoplifting kid at the record store Trax who Ione shoots with a staple gun. But do I like Pretty in Pink? If I were to get all superficial and limp-wristed about it, I’d say yes, because the cover’s pink and “pink” is in the title, and I would therefore want a copy to stick on my bookshelf with my other DVDs. But really, as far as a more rational personal preference is concerned, the film is okay, the Psychedelic Furs song that the title’s based off of is alright, and Duckie is hilarious, even if I wouldn’t want to date him either. I can think of several prom-coms I like better, like the aforementioned 10 Things, and Carrie …maybe not Carrie because, despite the prom-aspect, it is, by definition, so extremely not a comedy. Not unlike how The Virgin Suicides is not a comedy, even though their prom is the site of a significant plot point (albeit not at the end of the film/novel).

Speaking of superficiality: Ione’s prom dress was a lot cuter before Andie massacred it.

On a final note, I can relate to the following gif:

* And Grease, and Saved!, and Mean Girls. If you can think of more, you’re more than welcome to leave a comment.