The pressures in teenage lives

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2011)

In the film 'The Breakfast Club' we see five teenagers that come from different cliques come together for a Saturday detention in high school. The cliques that they come from is the 'Brain' Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), the 'Athlete' Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), a 'Princess' Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), a 'Basket Case' Allsion Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), and a 'Criminal' John Bender (Judd Nelson). Throughout this day they taunt each other, make jokes, and party, this helps them come to an understanding of each other and become friends by the end of the day.
This may seem like a typical teen movie except it really hits home not just during 80's but, for every generation that has come after. They did not want to go to the school and on some levels were concerned with being cool and fitting in, not getting along with their parents but wanting to please them at some levels. The pressure they have from their peers, during the scene where they were all sitting on the library floor and Brian asks if they will still all be friends come Monday. Claire said no, that they would say hi to them and then cut them down when they walked away so their friends would not make fun of them for talking to the others.
This film touches base with the pressures these teens go through at home. Claire's parents use her to get back at each other. Brian's parents expect perfection, Andrews father expect him to be a winner and put down those who are not. Allison's parents ignore her, and John's parents are physically and mentally abusive to him. Most of us could relate to one if not more of these teens home lives which makes this film feel more personal having that insight into many lives. Staying in the time period of the 80's the film 'Pretty in Pink' you see many of the same teen issues of fitting in and the pressures that come with it. When two teenagers start to like each other and they are from opposite sides of the tracks. When Andy Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy) want to start dating and their friends put pressure on them about how it is not right due to they are not in the same clique. At the end they decided that they did not care and some of their friends changed their minds and others were still against it.
The theme song for this film fits it perfect 'Don't forget about me' by Simple Minds. In this song it talks about telling your troubles, and how love is strange, these two things happen in the film when they all tell each other their problems and when Andrew and Allison and John and Claire have connections with each other from more than a friendship. When the song says 'will you recognize me?' this is told during the scene when Brian asks if they will still be friends on Monday. The song really relates to the fact in the movie that some are worried what will happen when they are in school with their other friends will they say each other's names? Or just walk on by.
During the dance part of the film when they were playing the music in the library the camera shows the actors in a long, medium, and close up shots, this shows them dancing alone defining them from different cliques. Then we see them dancing together in long shots this helps to show that even though you can see from their appearance that they are from different worlds in this school, it shows that they are connecting with each other through the music. When they dance together you see John and Allison, then the three guys together, then the two girls.
The Breakfast Club depicts what kids go through from the pressures of teen life not just from the 80's but today and generations to come. People can find themselves in one if not more of the characters and relate to the problems and pressures that they are going through.