John Hughes made a certain type of high school movie, and then it stayed static for 30 years. The only thing that changed was that maybe it was found footage or maybe it's a little snarkier, but the actual language that kids live in today, like with texting, motion graphics, the internet and that whole hashtag culture doesn't exist in movies today. It's left on the floor.
Joseph M. KahnI don't turn Britney Spears into a star. I have to spot that these people are going to be stars, in the future, and say, "Okay, these guys have cultural validity and they're going to pop."
Joseph M. KahnIt's a fusion of almost everything, in the way that I think society today tends to take cultural memory. Because there's an internet, it's on there forever. I think that's the way kids see the world today. They actually speak to each other using retro concepts now because the internet culture has kept that memory alive, constantly.
Joseph M. KahnIf you look at Cinderhella, from a production design aspect, I tried to find an interesting, iconic character, having her face wrapped up in bandages. That was funny. On the dream logic level, you'll see the parallels of that interesting connection that I made. There's a reason why she's called Cinderhella.
Joseph M. KahnIf you really like a movie these days, you don't watch it once, especially if you're a kid, because you have a different relationship with media. You expect that to be on your hard drive, and it will look just as good, any time you watch it. It's not like VHS, where you watched it a certain amount of times and it started fading away.
Joseph M. KahnKids today are sold so much, by corporations and media and commercials and advertising and music videos, that I do. A lot of times, they retain that stuff and wear it, and that's the concept of a hipster. It's about owning it and redefining it, on your own level. It's a way of retaining control and meaning, in a world where you're being told to think in a certain way.
Joseph M. KahnI'm not interested in the director's commentary stuff. I think that stuff is really boring. And, if the director explains too much, it takes a certain mystery away from the interpretation that is very important for the audience to have. The audience should have their own interpretation.
Joseph M. Kahn