Shermer High School Explained

Shermer High School is a fictional high school, and the nexus for many of American director John Hughes' films. The Breakfast Club (in an outside shot of the school)[1] and Weird Science (printed on the gym teacher's shirt in the coda)[2] [3] explicitly reference it by name. Hughes has stated in interviews[4] that all of his films take place in the same fictional town of Shermer, Illinois[5] and that the characters know and interact with each other outside of the narrative thread:

John Hughes: When I started making movies, I thought I would just invent a town where everything happened. Everybody, in all of my movies, is from Shermer, Illinois. Del Griffith from Planes, Trains and Automobiles lives two doors down from John Bender. Ferris Bueller knew Samantha Baker from Sixteen Candles. For 15 years I've written my Shermer stories in prose, collecting its history.[6]

It is therefore taken (arguably as canon,[7] certainly as fanon[8]) that Shermer High is the school within his other teen movies — Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, National Lampoon's Vacation (all created by Hughes), as well as Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful (authored by Hughes).[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pfeifer . Paige . Iconic John Hughes Filming Locations: Then and Now! . Young Hollywood . 26 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220116110722/https://younghollywood.com/scene/iconic-john-hughes-filming-locations-then-and-now.html#start-0 . 2022-01-16.
  2. Web site: Photo of Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science (1985) . IMDB - Weird Science - Photos.
  3. Web site: IMDB - Weird Science Locations .
  4. Web site: Jones . Chris . Rare archive podcast interview with legendary American screenwriter and director John Hughes . Chris Jones Blog.
  5. News: Moon . Freda . The Teen Streets of John Hughes's Chicago . New York Times.
  6. Web site: Smith . Sean . Teen Days That Shook the World . Premiere . 2015-10-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151002133031/http%3A%2F%2Fhome.comcast.net/~aimsters4/bclub.html . 2015-10-02.
  7. Web site: elearners.com (defunct link) . 6 Bizarre High Schools from Film and TV . 2012-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308164149/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elearners.com/articles/all-posts/6-bizarre-high-schools-from-film-and-tv/ . 2012-03-08.
  8. Web site: 'Verse (Live-Action Film // Shermerverse) . tvtropes.com.