The Breakfast Club Writing Review

     “Screws fall out all the time, the world’s an imperfect place.”  Is directed by John Hughes, The Breakfast Club was released on February 15, 1985. It takes place on Saturday, March 24, 1984 at Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois. The Breakfast Club is a film about five high school students who sacrifice a Saturday in detention and while they are there, the realize they have a lot more in common with each other then they think they do. They also find out the reason why they are all there in detention. The title of the film, The Breakfast Club comes from the nickname given by the students and staff at New Trier High School for students that serve detention before school and are known as being the designated members of “The Breakfast Club.” A son of one of John Hughes friends attended New Trier High School and that is where the inspiration comes from.

            The five students who serve Saturday detention are John Bender, the “criminal” with the bad attitude, Claire Standish the rich “princess”, Andrew Clarke the popular “athlete”, Brian Johnson the typical “brain”, and Allison Reynolds the weird “basket case.” “In the simplest terms, a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.”

            Two of the themes in the film are stereotypes and peer pressure. Stereotypes is the main theme in the film because we see it throughout the whole film. Each of the five characters are stereotyped into a different group. Bender is sort of like a bully and he is higher up compared to some of the characters. This is shown when Bender walks in and sees Brian in his seat, Brian moves quickly showing that he is scared. Bender doesn’t have a good home life, at home he gets ignored by his parents and because of that he acts out and rebels, hence his bad attitude. Bender is also disrespectful, this is shown we he continues to argue with Mr. Vernon and he tells him “eat my shorts.” He can also be seen as emotionally unstable because as he is discussing to the rest of the group what life is like at his house he build up his anger and the music gets louder as he walks away from them. Claire Standish is used to being the center of attention, being spoiled, and not being reprimanded when she should be. Claire also values her level of popularity way more then she should too. She also feels as if her parents use her to get back at one another, her mom will tell her one thing and her dad will tell her another. Everyone thinks that she lives a happy life when in reality, her parents argue all the time and she takes that out on herself. An example of Claire not being reprimanded is the fact that she decided to skip class to go shopping. Claire says to her dad “I can’t believe you can’t get me out of this. I mean it’s so absurd I have to be here on a Saturday! It’s not like I’m a defective or anything.” This shows that Claire is used to getting her own way no matter the situation except this time. Andrew Clarke like Claire, is used to being the center of attention. Andrew is a jock that is influenced by his dad and how his dad used to cut up and goof off when he was in high school to cut loose himself. He also can’t think for himself. Andrew comes off as popular, but on the inside he is weak, he tries to live up to being the best in his dad’s eyes, which is why he decides to goof off. Brian Johnson is the typical nerd, he can be seen with his backpack and books. He is a member of many clubs including the physics, math, and chess club which are all “academic” clubs. Sort of like Andrew, Brian is pressured from his parents but in his case, it’s to get good grades which is why he doesn’t seem to have too many friends. An example of this is when his mom drops him off at school she tells him that he “better use your time in detention wisely.” Allison is ignored at home and seeks attention, she’s also a compulsive liar. Allison comes to detention to seek attention and because she has no friends or anything better to do. Peer pressure ties in with stereotypes because each of the characters are pressured by their parents and friends to be a certain way or act a certain way. Peer pressure and stereotypes help deepen the movie and make it more relatable too because many teenagers in high school are succumbed to that.

            Most of the scenes in the film are funny and witty, but there are some emotional scenes as well. The music and sound of The Breakfast Club is great, one of the more notable songs of the film is “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Mind. The song is significant in a couple of ways. One way is because the song is played towards the end of the film as all the characters are leaving detention they wonder what is going to happen to them on Monday and if they are all still going to be friends. The song is saying that when we all go back to our regular lives on Monday, don’t forget about us. The song is also significant because at the end of the film, we see Bender walking on the football field with his fist in the air, showing his love for Claire and his confidence too.

            The film does a great job transitioning from one scene to another. An example of this is in the beginning of the film during the title sequence as “Don’t You Forget About Me” is playing in the background and we see all the actors and actresses names, we then see the quote “ …And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through. – David Bowie” and after the quote appears the screen shatters like broken glass with the sound of broken glass and then takes us to the opening scene. As we see the opening scene and hear Brian’s voice as he tells us what day it is and explains that even though what they all did was wrong he’s crazy to make them write an essay on who they think they are. We then see many different parts of the high school from the hallway, to the computer room, to the lockers and then finally the students getting dropped off for detention in the morning. This is important because as Brian says “a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal” we see a photo of each room that describes something about each of the characters.

            In the beginning of the movie we hear Brian answer Mr. Vernon’s essay question in first person point of view as well as the end of the movie as Brian says it again, but this time all of the characters say the word that describes them. Throughout the rest of the movie, the film is told as subjective point of view as we watch the movie and see what happens between all the characters.

            The acting in this film is phenomenal all of the actors and actresses did a great job. The Breakfast Club isn’t too literary being that it isn’t based off of a book. For the most part of the movie the dialogue is stylized except for two parts. One is when Bender is crawling through the air vents and he tells the joke about the blonde lady and her poodle. The other is when all of the characters are sitting together on the library floor telling each other the rea reasons why they are in detention and their personal lives. Both of those scenes are improvised as John Hughes told them to. Overall, The Breakfast Club is an amazing film that I would definitely recommend to watch, on a scale of 1-10 it’s a 9.