Why Everyone Still Loves The Breakfast Club

Can you technically be nostalgic about something that happened before your time?

Whatever.

Anyone who has so much as heard of The Breakfast Club will understand that the film is iconic. John Hughes most popular high school drama was released in 1985, but the movie still manages to be culturally relevant almost 30 years on.

It’s still referenced constantly.

The Judd Nelson Fist Pump in Easy A

The Dead Breakfast Club in American Horror Story

Using The Brat Pack's dance moves in Community

Another Judd Nelson Fist Pump, this time from Pitch Perfect

Everyone wants to be Judd Nelson, as evidenced by the HIMYM cast

Its prominence and loyal following come down to the fact that The Breakfast Club transcends both its era and its target audience. Most movies about teen angst are scoffed at by everyone but angsty teens. Breakfast Club isn’t your usual high school soap opera about the cool kids being mean to the awkward kids – at base, it’s a film about social- and self-discovery.

Hughes youth-fronted exploration of the self-discovery theme is accessible to all age groups. The teenage characters that propel the story along are loved for two reasons:

First, there is something vulnerable about a person on the confusing brink of adulthood. This is something that Breakfast Club fans either currently understand, or distinctly remember. That vulnerability and youth allows the characters to open up to their peers more readily than older characters might – they’re actively looking for a chance to vent.

Secondly, Hughes portrayal of kids is a lot more honest and realistic than what we see in many other teen movies. This means they are a LOT less annoying than say Troy Bolton of High School Musical, or Torrance Shipman of Bring It On. It also means we take them more seriously.

Take Troy, a basketball star who faces an inordinate amount of opposition when he wants to audition for the school musical. We don’t believe that he could somehow convince his previously appalled teammates to dance and cheer him on at his audition. But in the Breakfast Club, the characters are much more realistic. There’s a fantastic, tense moment when Brian ‘The Brain’ asks Claire ‘The Princess’ if she thinks they’ll stay friends after that day. She admits that she and Andrew ‘The Athlete’ wouldn’t be caught dead talking to the rest of the club in front of their popular friends. And the thing is, at the end of the movie we know that it’s true. They all go their separate ways, and we know that even if they’ve changed each other’s perceptions, they are just five students out of the entire student body.

That doesn’t change the message of the movie – it doesn’t need a shiny Disney ending to be uplifting. Possibly the most iconic part of the entire movie is the final scene, when the club have left detention and said their goodbyes. Bender ‘The Criminal’ strides across the football field and pumps one fist in the air victoriously. It’s a gesture that can be construed in many different ways. In Easy A, Emma Stone’s character suggests that it’s Bender’s gesture of glee at the knowledge that he got to kiss Claire, “just once”. I think it’s partially about Claire, but it’s also an expression of overwhelming excitement and optimism from the most cynical character in the movie. Something important happened to them all in that library and Bender knows that no matter what else happens they’ve all changed.

FuckYeahJuddNelson

Avid fans of the movie have defended the flawless original thus far – but in our current culture of remakes and adaptations, nothing is sacred. I think there’s a good chance we’ll be faced with a remake eventually, and as much as  love John Hughes Brat Pack original, I don’t think a remake would be awful. Granted it would have to be set in the 80’s, or else it’d just be five kids web surfing on their phones for two hours. But because the story and the characters transcend, I think there are a lot of actors and actresses that could make a fantastic Breakfast Club 2.0. Here’s a quick look at some stars who could be up to the task:

Bender (The Criminal)

Judd Nelson as Bender

The sardonic yet irresistible badass of the club. It’d be insanely easy to find a young actor who can play ‘cocky’, but anyone stepping into Judd Nelson’s mismatched shoes would need to embody that intense sense of injustice behind the sarcasm.

Robert Sheehan

We already know from his time as Nathan in ‘Misfits’ that he can pull off the mocking and deflective attitude Bender exudes. Like Bender, Nathan had a tempestuous relationship with his parents. Like Bender, Nathan hid behind his wit, and took all his anger out sardonically on his peers. Now all Robert Sheehan needs is an American accent.

Dave Franco

James Franco’s pretty younger brother. After starring in later series of Scrubs, and 2012’s 21 Jump Street, Dave has certainly proved himself as a comedy actor. Both Franco brothers also have this brooding/kind of stoned look about them that would definitely work for Bender.

Allison (The Basket Case)

Ally Sheedy as Allison

The club’s quiet oddball. The actress playing Allison would need to strike a balance between intense and comedic.  Allison is a compulsive liar and by far the most mysterious of the group, but it does eventually come to light that she is extremely troubled and painfully self-aware.

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence is one of my favourite actresses at the moment. From her role in Silver Linings Playbook as the unhinged Tiffany, it’s clear that she can play the disturbed and vulnerable side of Allison. And from her everyday escapades, we know that she’s awesome.

Chloe Moretz

Chloe Moretz is possibly a little better suited in terms of age. She's proved herself time and time again, most notably in films such as Let Me In, Hugo and Hick. However, she is perhaps most well known for her controversial but hilarious role as Hit Girl in Kick Ass.

…So we know that she can play ‘demented’ relatively well.

Brian (The Brain)

Anthony Michael Hall as Brian

The shy and withdrawn over-achiever of the group. Brian’s ‘nerdy’ act provides some punch lines throughout the movie, but he is possibly the most openly vulnerable of the five. Unless I’m mistaken, he’s the first to cry during the group’s emotional sharing scene, and certainly the only one to have considered suicide.

Danny Pudi

It’s never actually specified whether Brian is younger than the rest of the group, though he certainly looks it. In any case, Danny Pudi, aged 34 and married with two kids, is possibly just that little bit too old for the role. But he is one of the best comedy actors on television, and can totally portray the same goofy naivety that Anthony Michael Hall brought to Brian. Also, he could definitely pass for maybe 18, right?

…Fine.

Jonah Bobo

I’ll admit that I’ve only seen him in one film so far; Crazy Stupid Love, in which he played Steve Carrel’s adorably love sick young son. But I really enjoyed his performance, and I always think it’s really promising when an actor is so entertaining at a young age – imagine how his talent might have improved now, a few years on. Jonah’s CV also boasts a short appearance on 30 Rock, which is more than enough to convince me. He’s definitely got the goofiness, the youth and comedy that Anthony Michael Hall brought to the role. As with the other characters, he’ll also need to bring a sense of vulnerability.

Claire (The Princess)

Molly Ringwald as Claire

The most popular girl in the school: worshipped by all and spoiled by her rich and powerful daddy. Everyone knows a girl like Claire – or at least thinks they do. Claire is a little less naïve than some of the other members; she knows what she is and owns up to it. She also knows that because of her status and her father’s wealth, she can do whatever the hell she likes with relatively few repercussions. This seems to embarrass and thrill her in equal parts.

Emma Watson

So as we all know, Emma Watson is breaking away from her Hermione Watson image with a slew of American films, most notably The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Perks, in my opinion, has the potential to transcend in the same way that Breakfast Club has. It could effectively become the Breakfast Club of this generation. If not because it was engaging, well-acted and affecting, then at least because the book it’s based on is already a cult classic. I also think that Emma could easily exude that same sort of untouchable air that Molly Ringwald attached to Claire.

Ashley Benson

As one of the stars of ABC’s Pretty Little Liars, Ashley Benson is well used to high school dramas. Even though I love her awkward-turned-popular character in Liars (which up until now was a secret guilty pleasure), I would never have considered her for a comedy film until I saw this video. Clearly the girl has no qualms about laughing at herself. I also think that having played the secretly insecure Queen Bee for roughly three years, she’d adapt to the role of Claire pretty well.

Andrew (The Athlete)

Emilio Estevez as Andrew

The seemingly vacuous jock of the group. Like Claire, he’d be considered one of ‘popular’ kids. As is expected of the token jock, his detention was a result of bullying one of the quiet kids. But it soon becomes apparent that Andrew is more compliant than he is vacuous or mean; as Allison points out in one scene, he will always do what he is expected to do. Andrew later reveals that he bullied a kid in the locker room to impress his dad, who had seemed disappointed that his son wasn’t behaving like the stereotypical jock that he himself had been in his youth. Put simply, he is, at base, a nice boy who cares desperately what other people think of him.

Donald Glover

I have another Community casting suggestion. I really like the idea of Donald Glover playing Andrew; on Community, he plays the shallow jock archetype, who once again turns out to be a different person than expected. Early on in the series, Donald’s character is asked if he misses playing high school football, and responds: “I miss knowing what to think.” That line in itself is what Andrew is all about.

Josh Hutcherson

There’s something about both Josh Hutcherson and Emilio Estevez that’s just nice. They seem like the kind of boys who are nice to their little sisters and help wizened little old men to cross the street. In The Hunger Games, Josh plays Peeta, a character who always does what is expected of him to win the approval of audiences. Hutcherson also just has that distinct American jock look about him.

Richard Vernon

Paul Gleason as Dick

Dick is, quite simply, a dick. But you love to hate him, and he’s one of the funniest characters in the film.

Bryan Cranston

I’m not going to give a second suggestion, nor am I going to explain any further than this; it’s Bryan Cranston.

Animated Fish v. On-Screen Mutilation

"Oh God..."

"Oh no..."

"Oh why?"

"Oh God, no, why, my childhood!"

Pixar’s collective filmography is like an emotional theme park; this is widely held as an inescapable fact. Their films are marketed to kids, but they deal with all these deeply tragic subplots that, for some reason, I never see coming. And yet, every time I see a Pixar film, I’ve inevitably got two thick black streaks running down my face by the end of it. So either Pixar knows how to strike just the right balance between innocence and pathos to get its audience going, OR I wear way too much eyeliner.

In any case, I know I’m not alone. 

YouTube comments about the Toy Story 3 Furnace Scene

So we’re not monsters, right? We can all empathise, even if it’s with computer-animated fish. I remember this being a prevalent topic back in primary school, when my peers and I were being urged to develop our essay-writing skills; ‘desensitization in the media’. Back then, I thought the idea was a load of bollocks. It’s just TV, I thought, it’s not real life why would anyone get upset over this stuff? Clearly at the time I didn’t grasp how totally intertwined our everyday lives are with our varying forms of entertainment. We look up to characters from our favourite books and relate to characters from our favourite films and shows. Entertainment can so easily influence our perspectives and perpetuate cultural ideals – it’s both dangerous and wonderful.

As I said, we talked about desensitization at length in school, usually in the context of violence in the media. Amongst our teachers, it was generally agreed that violence had become normalized in a very dangerous way. They believed violent behaviour was so common in entertainment that we’d begun to shrug and move on when it happened in everyday life.

Now, I’m not saying they’re wrong. As a society, we totally have. But these violent films and shows are generally a case of art imitating life, and the kind of gruesome violence we’ve been seeing is nothing new and it’s not as a result of what we’re watching on a Friday night. The Romans had all kinds of crazy torture methods; they used to tie up their victims, slather them in honey and let them drift off to sea where they’d slowly rot and simultaneously be eaten alive by all manner of insects. 

And those guys didn’t even have TV. 

But I digress. What I’m getting at is that yes, the majority of us are totally desensitized to violence and emotional trauma in entertainment. We don’t scream at horror movies the way Hitchcock’s audiences might have, and we no longer groan and cover our eyes when Tarantino’s latest anti-hero skins and hacks at his enemies.

Except... I do.

As soon as that red corn syrup starts spraying around, I cringe and groan and bury my head into the nearest cushion. There’s a scene in Django Unchained where a man is ripped limb from limb by ravenous dogs. At least I think that’s what happened; I didn’t actually manage to watch that scene all the way through. Later on in the movie, Dr. Schultz (played by the magnificent Christoph Waltz) has a traumatic flashback to the incident, and he’s seen flinching and shaking - I can honestly say that that was my reaction, too. It’s even worse when kids die on-screen – I feel as heartbroken as if they were my own nieces or nephews. Looper totally took it out of me, as did Changeling.

So, why do I keep going to see these terribly violent movies? Well, because I appreciate that they don’t censor their stories. For the most part, the films in question don’t just throw in horror or violence or tragedy for the shock factor, they do it because otherwise the story would seem to be set in a weird Earth-like realm where everyone is protected by a magic anti-reality bubble. They do it because it’s a reflection of our world. I think Cher Horowitz said it best; “Even if you took out all the violent shows, you could still see the news. And so, until mankind is peaceful enough not to have violence on the news; there’s no point taking it out of shows that need it for entertainment value!”

Ha! A semi-serious post and I get to reference 'Clueless'! It's the little things...

The idea for this piece originally came from a realization I had about my significant other. He’s rather stoic, and pretty much unflappable. He’d scoff at me for flinching at any horror movie, but when he watched Up for the first time, there was some definite choking up.

To be honest, I’m glad he identified with Carl and Ellie, and I’m really glad that I still can’t stop myself from forming attachments to the ever-illogical stock characters in gory slasher movies. Getting upset about a character’s misfortunes reminds me that awful, terrible things really do happen every day, and it makes me so relieved to know that I’m in no way desensitised.

So yeah, I cried a little when Marlin left Dory in Finding Nemo, and when Sully terrified little Boo in Monster’s Inc, and when Andy’s toys faced the furnace in Toy Story 3 and when Carl and Ellie found out they couldn’t conceive a baby in Up.

Pixar movies make me cry – thank God.

"Irish"

I recently read an article on Cracked about offensive Irish stereotypes. And by recently, I mean two months ago; it was a Paddy’s day piece. The author, Luke McKinney, expressed mild irritation at the ways St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated outside of our little Isle. Occasionally, I read or watch something that really sticks with me, and this was one of those cases. After reading McKinney’s piece, the topic of National identity seemed to pop up everywhere! Call me slow, but it’s only really clarified with me of late how widely held some of these stereotypes are. 

After taking a college module on the Irish film industry, I’ve begun to think of this issue as “The Quiet Man Dilemma”. For those of you not familiar with The Quiet Man, it was one of the first films that portrayed any sort of representation of Ireland, and being a Hollywood film, it enjoyed a lot of exposure so its depiction of us really stuck. The film presented Ireland as a whimsical, magical land whose natives were in awe of modernity, but had no real need for it. And sure, this was sixty years ago, but the sickener is; this patronizing representation is still bloody dominant today!

Much as I love Amy Adams (she’s adorable), Leap Year has to be one of the most offensive movies I’ve ever half-watched. Adams plays Anna, a modern American woman who travels to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend, because (sigh) “Ancient Irish folklore” dictates that if you propose to a man on February 29^th, he must accept. Ireland is more or less portrayed as one long, winding country road, and of course, a dingy little pub. Oh, and everyone wears these hats:

Then there’s the less recent absurdity of Heroes Season 2. The first episode closes in Cork, where Milo Ventimiglia is terrorized by several burly American men, who I genuinely didn’t realise were supposed to be Irish until one of them uttered the word “boyo”. I’m pretty sure I actually facepalmed at this point.

Most recently, Glee introduced the Irish exchange student Rory Flanagan. In the first episode alone, he masquerades as a leprechaun, gushes over the Land of the Free, and sings “It’s Not Easy Being Green”. He also wears green in every single scene. In fact the first outfit we see him in is a green bowler hat, suspenders (no, not the sexy kind), and a green shirt. He’s pretty obviously dressed up to look like a leprechaun.

Just in case you didn’t get that he was Irish. Now, what really gets to me is that Ryan Murphy is of Irish heritage. And not the usual American claim to Irishness (it’s a word!). I don’t mean he has a great great great uncle called Paddy O’Reilly. Murphy actually grew up in your typical Catholic Irish family. He probably even has the fear of God put into him at the sight of a wooden spoon, so why would he write his first Irish character as an effing Leprechaun?

Now, this is really just a therapeutic rant. I can’t actually offer up any real explanation as to what being Irish really means. This probably isn’t the best moment to try to explore it anyway, because let’s face it; this is a terrible time to be Irish. I will, however, offer up some recommendations of a few movies that portray us Irish as real, normal people:

Kisses – A very sweet movie about two urban children who spend a rough night together in Dublin city.

Savage – As its title suggests, this is a violent look at gang culture and masculinity. Very in-yer-face, very gory, and very well done.

Cowboys and Angels – A coming of age film about a green twenty-something who moves to Limerick city and finds himself confronted with a culture of drugs and frivolity.

Adam and Paul – While I haven’t seen this yet, admitting so to my countrymen has always resulted in exasperated groans, so I’m fairly certain it deserves a place on this list. From what I’m told, this is a sweet but sad film with a uniquely Irish humour that explores the growing drug culture in Dublin.

Update: While proof-reading this post, I asked my boyfriend what characteristics he associated with being Irish. “Nothing.” He replied. “I don’t like to generalize.” Then, after a few moments: “I think Irish people are too into brand names.”

Would explain why we’re broke, I suppose. But on a lighter note, here’s 200 Reasons Not to Leave Dublin. Number 60 is a personal favourite, because on the night of my 19^th birthday, I was driven home by this man. 
Oh, Dublin.