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Pretty in Pink's Iona - coolest new wave chick on the block.  |
IONA! So I'm totally trying to kick PTSD out of my system by working through the fire and preemie stuff in therapy. If you can't go over it, you can't go under it or around it - you gotta go through it. Isn't that what we learned from singing Going on a Bear Hunt around the campfire? I believe that is the deeper meaning. I've tried to walk around it for almost two years now and while that's starting to sound like a 'long time ago' it isn't when your life is split in two. Before fire:::after fire.
See? I can work The Fire into any conversation.
Even one about Iona from Pretty in Pink, because when the PTSD therapist lady asked me to describe my personality and I said, ehhh I guess like a John Hughes character, she threw me one better by asking, Which one?
Well, the answer was OBVIOUS but my mind when blank. Who was that secondary character in Pretty in Pink? You know the one...not Jena, but the other one...
She blinked.
The second I left I remembered her name. IONA. Because I have watched that movie 82472058u98 times and am truly obsessed. I love every line. I love the characters, the quotes, THE DUCKY, the costumes.............the only thing I don't love is the ending (WHY WOULDN'T SHE CHOOSE DUCKY?!) and that dress.
The soundtrack is perfection. Left of Center. Susanne Vega wrote that for girls like me. When the Psychedelic Furs sing Pretty in Pink (back when songs were sung before movies, remember?) and they talk about Caroline saying, this is it - that's the end of the joke - my heart breaks into a million pieces and I'm back in high school eating lunch in a bathroom stall (again) because my family just moved (again) and I am alone, left of center (again). She's gone, but the joke's the same.
But don't even start me on The Furs, I'll be all post-punk goth-crying-in-the-corner listening to Ghost in You (angels fall like rain...). I love that song.
Phew. It's emotional! I guess that's how it evolved into emo.
So there's Iona. The girl with a dozen different styles to match her mood and each one fits perfectly imperfectly. She works in a record shop filled with late-punk/new wave. Her apartment is an explosion of her personality dripping down the walls and she'll turn on Otis and The Association (Cherish) at the drop of a dime. She tells Andie she'd been "wishful make-upping." Annie Potts' greatest role, though my husband might say it was in Ghostbusters.
...am I really like her or do I just wish I was?
I just want them to know that they didn't break me.- Andie
The perfectly imperfect movie for us left-of-center girls.
Who is your John Hughes character?
Some dude named Ducky.
ReplyDeleteDear DH,
ReplyDelete"When the Duck laid that kiss on me last night, I swear my thighs just went up in flames! He must practice on melons or something." - Iona
Yes, her.
ReplyDeleteI knew about the whole best-friend-in-love-perfect-for-her thing before I watched the movie, so I thought they were going to end up together. But... as I watched it it really became more and more improbable that they'd get together. They just were not made for each other and Blane was a better pairing.
Not just that Ducky wasn't for Andie, but even more importantly, Andie wasn't the one for Ducky.
He deserved better :P .
(And Iona's dress was better "before".)
Oh, Ana, you are so right. I think I wanted Ducky more than anything - like, he's the one I would choose! The Blaine plot did make me fluttery, that whole "Uptown Girl" in reverse thing that was so popular at the time. I guess depending on my mood is who I would choose. Hah.
ReplyDeleteSome Kind of Wonderful. I'll have to re-watch and judge that one next ;D