By: Sophie Centazzo
Mean Girls. The Breakfast Club. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. What do all these movies have in common other than being cult classics? They are all based in the northern suburbs of Chicago; an affluent part of the Midwest that has the fifth largest Jewish population in the country. I’m native to a town called Deerfield, a hub for Jewish families. I spent most of my childhood here and experienced a lot of things most people wouldn’t growing up in other small towns. Friday night plans were always delayed due to Hebrew school obligations. Every summer, kids would be sent to sleepaway camps in Michigan or Wisconsin to hangout with other Jewish kids from far away lands, like Long Island or Los Angeles. I went to a bar or bat mitzvah EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND, and sometimes two or three. A grand total of 86 for my entire middle school career. This is the norm for kids that grow up in this area and since this experience is so niche, why isn’t it covered more?
John Hughes is from Northbrook, Illinois; the town directly next to Deerfield and another town with a large Jewish population. Even though Hughes is not Jewish himself, the majority of the population around him was. If you grow up in this area and you’re not Jewish, you take on the role as an honorary one. You attend all the bar/bat mitzvah services, you celebrate holidays with your friend’s families, and you’ve even probably been to at least one of your friend’s Bubbie’s shivas. You understand the lingo (Yiddish) and you know the rundown of what it’s like to grow up Jewish. Just ask the marvelous Mrs. Maisel herself, Rachel Brosnahan. She has stated that growing up in Highland Park (the other town next to Deerfield) has prepared her for that role because she grew up understanding and immersed in Jewish culture. A little problematic that that role didn’t go to a jew, but I digress. So, my question for the ghost of Mr. Hughes is WHERE ARE WE??? This area is famously proud of being majority Jewish, so why couldn't you have made Ferris Bueller a NJB? Samantha Baker's parents could have forgotten her 13th birthday instead of her 16th. The Breakfast Club could have very well formed in a Hebrew school class (with bagels and lox involved this time). So many small, niche things could have been added so that people from this area could point them out and feel like you’re really placed into the life of the North Shore.
Our only representation doesn’t even come from a John Hughes movie, but from Mean Girls. The most famous Jewish American princess on screen, the one, the only, Gretchen Weiners. In my opinion, Gretchen is the closest character that is accurate to how high school girls in the North Shore actually act. I know that sounds mean, but it’s true. A rich girl, who is loyal to the queen bee is a perfect example of how most of the popular teenage girls act around here. I was definitely a Janis Ian type growing up, so you know I’m super fucking awesome now. But, is that how I want myself being represented in the media? A pink skirt wearing, lying, spoiled bitch, who also happens to be Jewish? THAT’S NOT ME AT ALL!!
If you’re reading this and are from the North Shore, you definitely understand what I’m talking about, but for those who aren’t, John Hughes’ movies have been LYING TO YOU! I guess because I wasn’t alive in the 80’s I don’t understand that culture, but what I do know is that those high schools were definitely full of Jewish kids who were future lawyers and doctors who definitely work for Northwestern Med or North Shore Medical Group now. Why not have a story about a Jewish kid growing up in a town that is 85% Jewish? I guess the world will never know the true understanding of what it’s like growing up in this place.
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