Breaking down stereotypes

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2012)

The Breakfast Club is a new classic that is holding up well to the test of time. The film revolves around five teenagers; Emillio Estevez as a wrestling star, Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson straight "A" student, Judd Nelson as John Bender the thug with a criminal past, Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish the popular princess, and Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds the anti-social basket case. These five teenagers are forced to attend an 8 hour Saturday school for their various crimes against the school. These five individuals, deprived of contact from their normal social groups, are forced to communicate with each other. During this communication they learn that they are not so different after all. They learn that each person is an individual with their own individual struggles and difficulties. The movie tries to break down stereotypes and show the viewer that you can't always judge someone based solely on what group you identify them as belonging to. It strives to show us that you need to past the stereotype to find the individual underneath. Just like his movie Pretty in Pink Director John Hughes tries to teach us about looking past first impressions to find the real person. Hughes uses several key points in the story to show us the friendship developing among this group. The first scene is when Bender removes a screw from the door causing it to slam shut and not remain open. This causes the view of the room to be obstructed allowing the group freedom to move about the room. When the group is confronted about why the door is closed they chose silence and risk getting in trouble instead of telling on bender. One of the most telling scenes is when the group has snuck out of the detention room to retrieve pot from John Benders locker. After one of the most frustrating scenes in the movie, a Scooby doo like chase in the hallways, with rapid shots showing the group trying to escape the principal, Mr. Vernon, played by Paul Gleason. The group realizes that they are trapped and cannot successfully manage to return to the room without getting caught. Bender then decides to take the fall for the whole group and runs down the halls making a huge ruckus in order to distract the Mr. Vernon. Bender, despite his reputation as a bad boy criminal, shows his friendship for this new group of individuals by protecting them from trouble. Hughes also used space to bring the group together in the mind of the audience. In most of the shots he has it lined up so that when one actor is the focus of a particular moment, there is always another actor in frame. The way the group sits in the library for detention. He is always trying to bring them closer together. I think the film itself best describes the theme of the movie. "The film itself outright states the theme of the movie at the end "You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and most convenient definitions. But what we have found out is that each of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal" "