The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

1985

Director: John Hughes

Writer: John Hughes

97 Minutes

It took exactly two days to write the script for The Breakfast Club. The great John Hughes was a master at effortlessly completing his stories, knowing full well the intention and motivation of each character. In this film, there was a brain, athlete, basket case, princess, and a criminal.

And the Simple Minds song, ‘Don’t You Forget about Me.”

In the scene above, the five strangers have collected together to explain their stories and reasons for being in detention. We know what they’ve done, but now we need the why. And through this interaction, they pour their hearts out to each other.

Claire (Molly Ringwald) cut school to go shopping, but she's there because she suffers from problems at home. Her parents use her to get back at each other and the expectation of being “perfect” is too much, thus she seeks negative attention.

Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) had a flare gun in his locker that went off. He carried a gun to school because he failed shop class. He cannot fail. And he’s there because he couldn’t handle that pressure.

Andrew (Emilio Estevez) taped a guys butt cheeks together because his father wants Brian to mirror his adolescence “fun.” His father was a winner and the pressure to be number one dominates Andrew's life.

Bender (Judd Nelson) pulled the fire alarm because well…wait not. He doesn’t have a good home life, school life, or social life – he has nothing, going nowhere and suffers from it all.

Finally, Allison (Ally Sheedy) didn’t do anything. She didn’t have anything better to do on a Saturday, but she’s there because she wants a connection to reality – something absent from her life.

All these characters have problems, but like Andrew says, “Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all…”

But the scene above is the moment – a low point – that all the characters realize they are not the labels the student body has placed on them, but individual people with individual issues.

There is the connection.

Having problems – like family, pressure, reality – is what connects all the characters in The Breakfast Club. Moreso, having problems is what connects audiences to this film. Finally, we are given a story we can relate. This is a story with problems, similar to the one we face, but fair enough away that we can enjoy.

For the audience, this is the ultimate escape: our problems faced by other people.

This is a film for every generation. From the pimple-faced freshman to the stock broker adult, we all went to high school and we all had problems. Moving past them is what’s essential in life.

Unfortunately, some never understand that.

But, these characters are given a chance to vent, connect, and realize how special each other are and find solace that their wasted Saturday was not so wasted.

In the end, John Hughes gives you this:

“Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal...does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

But, don’t you forget about me…