The “definitive 80s teen movie” (Empire), The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985) is set during the dreaded Saturday morning detention, where five students make the most unusual and unexpected friendship when they discover that they all have one thing in common – the time-old teenage fear of imperfection.
Representing each high school stereotype, the punished pupils consist of Claire, ‘the Princess’, Andrew, ‘the Athlete’, Brian, ‘the Brain’, Allison, ‘the Basket Case’, and John, ‘the Criminal’.
Miserably, they each take their place in the library for a day of total boredom, writing an essay on, Who they think they are. Ironically, the time the kids are given to explore this idea, offers its own indirect, and somewhat enlightening answer to a question which had seemingly aggressive and patronising connotations.
The confinements of the film’s setting gives each member of the group the chance to reveal their darkest secrets, and also, their true selves. From the manner in which they conceal and eat their lunch to the way they react to John’s stupid bully-boy behaviour, the absence of any real ‘action’ allows for conversation to play the main part in forming a genuine analysis and deconstruction of the group and the characters they’ve been forced to play.
The film therefore perpetuates a very interesting and heartfelt message about identity – as each kid explains how they ended up in detention that day, they reveal a side to them which no one expected. Perhaps the biggest revelation is Brian’s, whose loveable innocence is a mask hiding his true unhappiness. The other members of the club have never had the chance to get to know him through identifying him ‘a member of the physics club’, and it is only now when he admits that he’d been found with a gun in his locker, that we begin to understand that even thought seemingly ‘perfect’, everyone has there own inner torment. As each member of the club reveals a new truth they crush the expectations of their stereotype, including Allison, whose actually only in detention because she, quite simply, had nothing else to do that day.
A tale which explores the true meaning of teenage angst and the irony of feeling so isolated in a world where so many others feel the same way is what makes The Breakfast Club such a wonderful, two- dimensional teen movie. My only criticism is that it did lack that typical comedic aspect which often makes these films so hilariously relatable. Then again its themes didn’t require the same sort of laughs, and its emotional engagement made the whole thing (even though made in the 80s) so much more innovative and interesting, that I hope more of today’s successors are inspired by it.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Flooks & Bilms 