Why Teens need to watch The Breakfast Club

DEDICATED TO SUMER ODOM - Who shares my love for this film and is a great example of someone to change your life.

Lets be honest, growing up is hard. If you look at many films and TV shows, they rarely ever show the real difficulties of growing up. Sure, in TV series you have a few plots that involve some mishap or loss but all seems to be ok within a few episodes. If anything the only programme that has nailed life as a teenager and the journey of growing up is the UK hit show Skins. Before Skins was around the only film I feel teenagers need to watch to know that growing up isn’t all fun and games and that someone else understands similarities of adulthood is the 1985 hit Breakfast Cub.

Granted, Breakfast Club is coming up to its 30^th anniversary and should be seen as outdated but it’s more relevant than ever!

I’m going to name a few reasons why all teens need to watch this film at least once and why it impacted on me so much.

NOTE: Spoilers for Breakfast Club within the article.

First I’ll give a little background on the premise of Breakfast Club. 5 Teens from different social groups in high school all share a morning detention. Even though they have nothing in common socially, they have more than they think in common in other ways.

Also may I add, I’m aware im adhering to stereotypes and generalising teens into groups but it still makes valid points.

 The High School stereotypes are represented perfectly:

Now a days, stereotypes of high school clicks and personalities have changed but the core of these personalities are still around just with different terms. Breakfast club cast the perfect actors/actresses to play these stereotypes, equally the script has the characters emotional and personal differences represented perfect too. I’m going to go through each character stereotype and why their representation resonates with real life counterparts.

Brian – (Nerd/Geek)

Ahhhh Brian, brilliantly played by Anthony Michael Hall is portrayed as the typical geek in Breakfast Club. The thing is with Brian I find he is more relevant today then before. Geeks are always the punch bag when it comes to stereotypes, even in times where it’s deemed cool to be a geek, actually the difference between geeks and Hipsters (Wanna-be geeks) are massive, I could do another article on that alone but that’s not why we are here. Geeks are classed as young teens who love science fiction, play with games (like World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons) and collect rare toys and are highly intelligent and lack social skills. Hang on, that’s exactly how Brian is portrayed in Breakfast Club. He is the most socially awkward around the other four teens and tries to be useful but comes of as awkward and annoying. I think our geeks of the 2000’s can still relate to Brian. Brian tries to fit in by trying to join in convocations and conforming to what the other teens start doing like leaving the detention area without permission and smoking pot. That’s what makes him relatable to the so called geeks, he has morals and tries to fit in, but he cant have both and unfortunately like teens these days they would rather try fit in like Brian. Even at the end when friendships are established he is still used a monkey to write the essay for the group, another classic stereotype to geeks, they are used by popular kids to do their work and that makes the geek feel like they are friends.

Equally another quality that Brian gets right in Breakfast Club is the stress of grades and maintaining an expectation. One of my favourite scenes in the film is Brian’s speech about maintaining grades and the stress of slipping up and failing his parents. I know a lot of people who are highly intelligent and make one slip up and beat themselves up so much, it’s not needed and that’s why that scene is so powerful.

Claire – (Princess / Miss Popular)

Claire portrayed by Molly Ringwald is the groups prom queen, again the portrayal is so spot on in Breakfast Club. Claire in the beginning of the film is only interested in talking to our other so called popular character Andy. It’s well know school rule that popular kids can only talk to other popular kids and to do anything otherwise would be condemned as social suicide. Like the stereotype of Princesses, Claire is my up her own backside. She doesn’t feel the need to care about any of the others and would rather be spending Daddy’s money. This is one of the strongest representations because unlike the geek stereotype, the princess, miss popular representation is exactly the same as it was back in the 80’s, we all think that because an girl is attractive and talks to a lot of people, she obviously is popular and sleeps with many people and wouldn’t give the time of day to lesser known class mates.

Andy – (Jock/ Prom King)

Again another solid stereotype, like the princess representation, the jock stereotype is still very similar to how it was back in the 80’s. Andy’s character played by the legendary Emilio Estevez is shown to be the tough guy who can talk the talk and will stand his ground against someone who has the balls to argue back. That is exactly how it is in high school these days. Jocks are represented as aggressive, lack intelligence and competitive. Andy’s character is almost a spitting image representation. These days I will say the “lack of intelligence” part to Jocks has slowly disappeared as sometimes it’s the highly intelligent ones who are classed as jocks because they focus on sports rather than education because they think their intelligence will let them sail through classes. Another portrayal done well in the film is the Jocks dislike towards geeks. Andy is cold and ruthless towards Brian at the beginning and Brian’s need to impress him is shown ineffective.

Allison – (Basket case/ Social outcast)

Something to be at school almost as worse as a geek is a basket case or social outcast. There is something so great about Ally Sheedy’s performance as Allison, purely because acting as an outsider is a hard task to achieve. We all had that one kid in high school who will sit alone, writing in their book or reading to themselves and are never seen with friends. Allison nails this representation, purely because she doesn’t give a damn, social outcasts are talked about by all stereotypes and mocked and the outcast doesn’t even care. Allison is so oblivious to all digs and cheap shots because she is in her own world, like most typical basket cases. It’s rather sad that this representation is even around to be included but that’s the harsh reality of school. Some teens don’t make or don’t want friends.

Bender – (Criminal / Thug)

Perhaps the most fascinating portrayal of stereotypes in both, Breakfast Club and real life. Judd Nelson’s portrayal of John Bender is the films most memorable, and it’s obvious why. Every class in high school has one teen that looks like a criminal or admits to doing various thug like activities. The Stereotype intrigues me as, like in Breakfast Club the Criminal has a social group and is almost portrayed as popular for the wrong reasons, yet is outcast like the basket case. Bender is the perfect representation of a thug that carries all these characteristics. He is known by the other four teens but they all dislike him, he also calls out the other teens stereotypes and asks them why they almost chosen to be that stereotype. It is a perfect representation of the criminal, they don’t care, they will say it like they see it and most importantly, not is all as it seems.

The truth behind, stereotypes and differences are shown:

One of the greatest (personally) things about Breakfast Club are, when all five teens start talking about their lives and school problems. Again as mentioned in the first section, Bender is the only one to have the balls to call the others out on things. The underlying message of Breakfast club is that these stereotypes are false, and whilst teens have characteristics that make you fit a certain personification, it doesn’t mean you are that representation down to the tee.

Queeny is innocent:

Bender starts on Claire by abusing her about her stereotype of the Princess and how she is the school queen and if she didn’t turn up, school would shut down, he continues to comment on her earrings and how she obviously didn’t work for the money and Daddy brought her diamond earrings for his little girl, causing Claire to lash out. He also pops the question that all high school teens dread, “are you a virgin?” which as a queen of the school she would be stereotyped to of slept with many boys but in fact she admits to the group she is indeed a virgin. This is one the best things about breakfast club, it takes the assumptions and gives you the truth. Most teens assume because an attractive boy or girl is popular, they have slept around or do drugs and much more but really that is a small percentage.

The Jock who hates sport:

Disproving the stereotype that Jocks care about sport alone, Andy confesses to the group that the only reason he does wrestling is so his Dad will be proud and won’t be seen as a quitter. He also then tells the group unlike the convention that Jocks pick on Nerds and abuse them, Andy felt guilty or his actions that led him to detention. His peers pressured him and the expectation to live up to his fathers great stories collapsed on him and he caved thus abusing a Geek. This is one of my favourite (some what relatable) scenes in the film. Andy is afraid to be himself and do what he wants because his parents and peers have set a bar and he is scared to fail his Dad and be outcast by his friends. This is still a problem around high schools these days, children work to live on their parents dream and expectations and is scared to fail.

Basket Case adds fuel to the fire:

Allison final begins to talk to the group half way into the film. When confessing truths about themselves and why they fit into their stereotypes, Allison admits she is a compulsive liar and accepts she is an outcast and adds fuel to the fire, rather than let the rumours get to her. Something that makes the film special is when Claire takes Allison to get a make over, show how beautiful Allison really is. This is another underlying message that beauty in everyone and only takes one person to see it.

The Geek can’t always maintain expectations:

Andy’s confession is a close second in my favourite moments from Breakfast Club but Brian’s confession is the icing on the cake for me. He breaks down to the group explaining to the group the pressures of maintaining expectations and keeping on top of grades is just as hard as keeping popularity. Like princess and jock stereotypes, nerds also have a friend group and showing intelligence is the bond that keeps the nerds friends, he explains that his parents have a bar set on Brian and when he failed to achieve a grade in Workshop his Grade Point Average lowers and he failed his parents are peers thus giving him thoughts of suicide. People who assume geeks are always clever, could not be more wrong, they work just as hard to achieve grades and sometimes put even more pressure on themselves to achieve because they know they should achieve well.

The Criminal who cares:

After giving stick to the entire group about their problems, it finally comes to Bender and what makes him so different and why he chose to act as a criminal and thug. It turns out he never intended to be like this but coming from a abusive home where he is beat and parent don’t care for him, he assumed the whole world was the same, so assumed if no one cares, neither should he. Underneath the hard exterior, Bender has heart and longs for real friends and someone who cares for him.

All Stereotypes underneath, are the same people:

The message that Breakfast Club so powerfully delivers, is that no matter what background you come from, no matter what stereotype you adhere to, you aren’t so different. As the film progresses the five teens learn that their similarities are closer than they thought.

The main similarity the teens share is the stress and broken relationships that they have with their parents. They fear that they will end up becoming their parents. Even though they all have different problems, the pressure of living up to expectations, the lack of care from their parents and the fear of becoming them, brings the group together as they realise they aren’t so different. Be the pressures of living up to a parents expectation of intelligence, passion for sport, maintaining an image or the lack of care from parents, the teens realise we all have problems and having stereotypes that label us makes life no easier.

The harsh reality of school:

The best part about the film is near the end, Brian asks the group, after detention, once they resume school the next day will things change and will they be friends?

Now the cliché obvious ending would be that the group all act as best friends and their fellow class mates are shocked and the high school stereotype would be banished.

BUT

Andy takes a page from Bender and admits that even though they have bonded and are aware of each others deepest secrets, talking to one another would be social suicide and won’t happen. Claire insists to Brian she would say hi to him in the hall way, Andy knows for a fact that won’t happen. Even with the fantastic ending of Andy kissing Allison and Claire kissing Bender, the fact is my friends things will go back to the social norm and perhaps the friendships will be secret kept for that day only. The harsh reality is if you belong to a social clique, you haven’t got much room to befriend other ones unless you risk losing your main social group. That’s what makes Breakfast Club so damn good, they could have gone the Hollywood route and the group become friends which forever changes how stereotypes are looked at but they didn’t. Granted in the years that have followed, teens have a lot more room to befriend various groups of people but they have core “Stereotyped” groups they belong to. Equally I know from experience that talking to someone different or socially accepted somewhere else can change your views on things and give you more understanding into people’s lives and reasons for choosing the social clique they are in, perhaps it’s not always choice, remember that.

I love this film and it’s interesting how this film takes on high school and the problems between teens and the relationships of both peers, teachers and parents but its realistic and that’s what makes it so relatable to me.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and I also hope that if you have watched Breakfast Club, it resonates as well as it did to me.