Death is a Photograph

Season 1, Gen X — Episode 27 — Sixteen Candles (1984)

Death is a Photograph

Show Notes

DPP ventures into the North Chicago suburbs as it broaches its first John Hughes film — Sixteen Candles (1984).

What does adolescence look like in the affluent upper middle classes for Gen X? What role does the family play? What did dating look like for those coming of age in the epoch?

Find out in today's episode.

More from Death is a Photograph

Oct 11, 2026

Patreon here. [https://www.patreon.com/c/deathphotopod]

Sep 27, 2026

After a year, your hosts are ready to wrap Gen X. Season One is at a close. What did we learn about the self-professedly forgotten generation? What has Banksy to do with the spirit of the age? And, most importantly we answer the question that started it all: how did the dirty girls end up in the K-Hive?

Sep 13, 2026

DPP is back, baby — and this time for an encore. Chase and Sam thought they'd round out the season — find a 'capstone', if you will — for the last year. That pediment takes the form of Chris Smith's fly-on-the-wall documentary American Movie (1999).

Aug 2, 2026

Out of Office

Jul 30, 2026

Fear the coming of the trilby. Yes, that's right — today, in the last episode of our first season, we're looking at Gen X accelerating towards middle age and a crash encounter with those coming up behind them: millennials.

See all episodes →