The Breakfast Club

Rating: 5/10 (3 November 2013)

In John Hughes' 1985 film, "The Breakfast Club," several teens at their local high school have been subjected to a Saturday detention in the school's library. From all different walks of life, the film continues to come back to the idea that being an individual is okay as each student is forced to spend the day with each other in this detention setting. The kids all have the typical high school stereotypes, such as: the bully (Judd Nelson), the cheerleader (Molly Ringwold) and the jock (Emilio Estevez). These kids all spend the day exploring the different things and characteristics in each other that all make them different and all make them alike. In the end, even though they all have their misconceptions, stereotypes and disagreements with each other, they all gain a better understanding of the next going forward from their time together.
This film in a lot of ways can be compared to the X-Men film series from the standpoint of the characters in each movie take turns understanding what makes them the same and what makes them different. The X-Men, while all mutants, take a lot of time understanding what makes each mutant different from the next, including powers, geography and age. "The Breakfast Club," while not nearly as fictional as the X- men films, takes the same kind of perspective with these high school kids without the action and violence.
Angles are particularly important in this movie, because there are certain scenes that have to catch a facial expression without dialogue and without soundtrack. The expression may be in relationship to an action being performed by another character(s) and is most prevalent in Nelson's character. He spends a lot of time in the beginning scenes making the facial expression and following it up with criticism of the character that he is making the facial expression at.
Lighting in this movie is not nearly as detailed but is equally important. Because the film's setting is a school, there has to be very bright lighting throughout the movie, because that is the way that most schools are lit. The bright lighting helps give the viewer the feel that they are truly in that setting with the film's characters.
In the end, the characters learn more than they had ever imagined about each other, experiencing their quirks and hearing their stories. The turn those misconceptions, stereotypes and disagreements, and turn them in to understanding.