The Breakfast Club Sound Review

          Sound is an important factor in any movie and it’s just as important in John Hughes’ movie, The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club has a total of eleven different songs that are played throughout the movie. Some of those songs are: “Waiting” by E.G. Daily, “We Are Not Alone” by Karla DeVito, and “Didn’t I Tell You” by Joyce Kennedy to name a few. The most notable of the eleven songs is “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds which is played in the opening and closing credits.

            In The Breakfast Club there are many different types of sound effects. We hear everything from broken glass and car brakes squealing to screams and the crashing sounds of an air vent. An example of the air vent is the scene where Mr. Vernon locks Bender in the basement and Bender realizes he left his marijuana in Brian’s pants and he has to get it. Bender is seen improvising a joke about a “naked blonde and her poodle” as he’s crawling through the vent until he falls through, after all that commotion and everybody is concerned for him, he then responds with “forgot my pencil.” The sound effects work great with this film along with the sound.

            The language in the movie isn’t too complex, the language fits the time of when the movie was filmed. The designated language in the movie that is spoken is English. An example of subtext is when the characters reveal why they are in detention through their actions, tone, and emotions behind the subtext. This scene is improvised as well and tells a little bit about each character and the reason behind what they did to end up in detention. Subtext is the implicit meanings behind the language of a script.

            During the reaction shots we see each characters reaction’s to what is being said to them. One of the most notable action shots is when Bender and Claire are arguing about each other. Bender tells Claire to never compare his friends to her friends and you can see the anger built up in Bender’s face and then the anger in Claire’s face when she yells back at him. This scene has both long shots because we see all of the characters at once and close ups when we see each character one at a time. The voice – over in this movie is voiced by Brian. In the beginning we hear Brian narrate how he feels about the essay Mr. Vernon wants them to write. At the end we hear Brian narrate once again but this time answering Mr. Vernon’s questions as we see him standing there reading the essay Brian wrote for all of them. During this scene after Brian says his part the other four characters say their part: Andrew an “athlete”, Allison a “basket case”, Claire a “princess”, and Bender a “criminal.” To which Brian responds with “Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.”

            The sound throughout the movie isn’t distorted at all whatsoever. The sound is dense and complex in the movie, there isn’t anything that has to be edited. There is symbolism throughout the use of sound. An example of this is at the end of the movie as “Don’t You Forget About Me” plays in the background as Bender is walking on the football field. The song symbolizes that each character wonders that if they’ll still be friends with each other on Monday when they see each other again. It can also symbolize that Bender found love and confidence. The movie does have a couple of motifs in it: peer pressure and stereotypes. One example of silence in the movie is when all the characters fell asleep and Mr. Vernon comes in and yells “wake up” and then asks “who needs to use the laboratory?” During that specific scene silence is use very well. The Breakfast Club isn’t a musical, but it does have a soundtrack. “The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” is a rock, new wave album that includes songs from various artists including: Simple Minds, Keith Forsey, Jesse Johnson, and many more. The soundtrack is original and is produced by Keith Forsey. “Don’t You Forget About Me” was released as a single and reached the number one position on the US Billboard Hot 100. There are many different types of instruments used throughout the eleven different songs including drums, guitars and bass guitars to name a few. The language is used well in this movie, it is used for both underlining speech and action scenes. The dialogue is both spare and functional and literary and richly textured depending on the scene. Everyone speaks standard dialect there isn’t any accents. The dialogue correlates with the class because each character has an attitude based off of their home life and their group of friends they are a part of. We know what the characters want even thought they don’t talk about it through their actions as well as their tone of voice. There is swearing in the movie, quotes and other words that are improvised. A notable quite from Bender is “Eat my shorts” and an improvised word that Bender came up on his own is “Neo maxi zoom dweebie.” Brian is chosen to narrate at the beginning and end of the story because he agreed to write the essay for everybody.