The Breakfast Club, a film that proves we are more than what we appear to be

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2015)

"You see us as you want to see us...in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct?"
'The Breakfast club,' a wonderful film that perfectly depicts the five main social groups. The brainiacs, the sporty kids, the weird outsiders, the popular kids, and the troublemakers. In the 80's, this was all there was. You were part of one of these groups and that was it. The year is now 2015, 30 years since the release of the film, and yet it is still regarded as a film that accurately depicts what high school is like. But how can that be? Can high school really be the same now as it was in 1985? The answer is yes. School cliques and social statuses do still exists, they're just not exactly the same as they used to be. But although these cliques may have changed and people may belong to more than one of them, they're still around and that's why the breakfast club is still regarded as a realistic portrayal of high school.
I've always been a huge fan of the film. I'm not sure what it is about it that I love so much. Maybe it's the dynamic and relatable characters, the simplicity, or maybe it's the message. This film does more than just entertain, it gives us a glimpse into the lives teenagers and shows us what lies behind all of our conventional exteriors. It shows us that there is so much depth and meaning beneath our surfaces and that our true selves can be a lot harder to discover than we may think. The director, John Hughes, does this in such a beautifully simple and casual manner too. The entire film takes place in the one setting that revolves around all of the main characters, school. Sometimes as I watch, I feel as though I'm in the library with them, learning about their lives outside of school and the hardships they face on a day to day basis.
One constant that I've found lies within the film is the fact that all of the adults in it have something in common: they've grown up; and just like Allison said, "When you grow up your heart dies." All of the adults except for one, Carl, the school's janitor, who seems to be the saving grace of the film and living proof that not all adults have to be so clueless and cruel. Probably because being the janitor means being " the eyes and ears of this institution." He's the only one who understands what they go through and how they truly feel for he is a constant first-hand witness of what their lives are really like, unlike Vernon.
Vernon is the Principal of the school and is made out to be the antagonist of the film. He is a character who is grumpy, tired, and fed up with idle teenagers that every year seem to become more and more nettlesome and unwilling to behave and treat him with the respect that he feels he deserves. The person who knocks some sense into him is our favourite janitor, Carl. He enlightens him and tells him that the students aren't the ones who are changing, he is. But is Vernon really the bad guy he's made out to be? Well if you think about it, it's not his fault that the students did what they did to get into detention. In fact, instead of just letting the students off with a warning, he threw away an entire Saturday so that they could sit in school and think about what they had done and why they were there; and remember that essay he wanted them all to write? He told them all to write one thousand words describing who they thought they were, something that I thought sounded absolutely ridiculous when I first saw the film. But the entire story is about them discovering who they really are. So really it's because of Vernon that they were all there together on that Saturday and it's because of him that they spent the day attaining a deep understanding of who they are. If you really think about it, without principal Vernon, there would be no breakfast club.
I've yet to hear of someone who has disliked the movie. It really is a film that is enjoyable for any and all audience members. A film that reminds us all that we are so much more than our appearances and the cliques we belong to. A timeless classic that has been enjoyed by many and will be enjoyed by many more. It's fun to watch and yet also contains a deep and beautiful meaning; and it even has a catchy and memorable song to play over the final scene, which is always a nice touch.