The Breakfast Club (1985)

What do you get when you put a brain, a criminal, an athlete, a princess and a basket case in detention together? The iconic breakfast club. The Breakfast Club (1985) is a comedy/drama genre film that represents American teenagers from varied cliques: John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the rebellious student who is made out to be everyone's’ worst nightmare; Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) is the stereotypical athlete with the temper and the muscles; Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) is the goody-two shoes, straight-A student; Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) is the typical popular girl with a rich family and a shoe-in for prom queen and finally there is Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) whom is the labelled basket case, a person with no care for friends.

The American High School flick gives us an insight into the parents behind the teenagers, the beginning showing that each of them had some sort of trouble with the parents: Claire’s father simply not helping her out of the detention; Andrew’s father enforcing that fact that his family only has winner’s and not delinquents; Brian’s mother pressuring him to study in a detention where studying was clearly not allowed; Allison’s parents completely ignoring her as she gets out the car and John simply arriving without his in tow. Unlike other teenage films where the family behind the popular kids, behind the nerdy kid, behind the rebellious kid, are not shown, director John Hughes had opted to provoke an emotional response from the get-go of the film.

Personally, I really enjoyed the film’s take on cliques, mainly because instead of the generic ‘popular girl is mean to unpopular girl’ or the ‘jock bullies the nerd’, we are given a rather interesting representation of each character that impacts us in a sympathetic way. As the film goes on, we as the audience are offered the background to each character and why they act the way they do. From Allison, the compulsive liar with ignorant parents, to Andrew, the athlete who can’t think for himself with the pressuring father. It’s a dynamic that takes the film’s narrative to a higher level because it’s rare that audiences get to meet so many characters in a single film to worry for, to care for and to route for - on a personal note, I rather like Allison as her costume and mannerisms were rather unique, even for the lonely type.

Obviously the film was representing 80’s teenagers, however, have we really lost those stereotypical roles? Or have they just heightened in society? Well, in the modern day we still hold these cliques names, but the athletes are jocks and the brains are nerds. It’s been 31 years since this film was released and yet we still hold the ideologies of different ‘kinds’ of people, teenagers automatically splitting into their friendship groups the moment they step into higher education. The film even had issues that are still debated today in the teenage culture, like the use of drugs (marijuana) and the talk with Claire about being a virgin - Allison putting it in a way that is still considered in today’s society ‘if you’ve done you’re a sl*t, if you haven’t you’re a prude’.

Overall, it was an amazing film with an even better soundtrack, the casting was brilliant, the plot and the context...it was all just awesome. As a teenager myself, I suggest that everybody watch this and just take in the story behind the movie, the moral. Should you really judge a book by it’s cover? I know I know, it’s cheesy, but it’s true, should you?