The Breakfast Club is a timeless classic from the mid-80s. This movie is about five teenagers: a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal, who are all forced to spend a Saturday in detention together. Mr. Vernon, who is the proctor of the detention, requires that by the end of the nine hours they must write a minimum of 1,000 words about who they think they are.
Early in the film, you start to see that none of these students socialize with each other during school except for Andrew, the athlete, and Claire, the princess. The criminal, John, is continuously harassing and insulting everyone, particularly Claire. Regardless of this harassment, when Mr. Vernon returns to the library and asks who broke the door, all of the other kids cover for John. At this moment you can start to see that they are forming a bond despite their vastly different personas. John goes to his locker to recover some illegal paraphernalia, and the other kids join him in partaking in the use of this substance.
The five start to get to know each other personally, specifically their home lives. The movie takes a dark turn when Andrew and John get into a dispute. Andrew calls out John on his rebellious attitude and says it’s a charade. John reveals a cigarette burn on his arm. He reenacts a scene from his house where his drunk father screams at his then continues to beat him. He also tells how he spilled paint on the garage floor and he was burnt with a cigarette as punishment.
From there we learned how everyone got detention and more about their home lives. Brian, the brain, brought a gun to school to shoot his shop teacher after failing an assignment. Andrew was there because he beat up a kid in the locker room and then wrapped his bare body in tape. He did this to make his father proud and confesses that he hates his dad. Claire skipped school to go shopping, with her father’s permission to annoy her mother. She says that her parents use her to upset each other and they threaten each other with divorce everyday. Allison, the basket case, shared that she was there because she had nothing better to do and she’s ignored at home.
Describing this movie to someone who hasn’t watched it is quite difficult, and it’s sounds dull. However, this film perfectly balances humor and the seriousness of the situation. The Breakfast Club depicts the true struggles of high school students whether it’s the pressure of sports or academics, problems at home or school, or just life in general.
Brian agreed to write the essay assigned by Vernon for all five of them. The paper simply said: “Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us… in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain… and an athlete… and a basket case… a princess… and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.”
