The Breakfast Club
During the pandemic I made a film called Detention 101. It’s a reimagining of The Breakfast Club (Director: John Hughes, 1985) in modern times with adults. The Breakfast Club is the iconic detention film about white classism and I do think it’s important to realize that’s what it is about even though it revolves around a group of teens. I think it is much like Catcher in the Rye in that you can get something out of it at any age. Many people who have read Catcher in the Rye as a teen and later as an adult have found they come away with different reactions and pick up on different things. The same is true for The Breakfast Club. Why? Because it doesn’t hold any punches about the people being depicted on screen.
I have to say when I saw that film, I really connected with it. It was bizarre because I was at a sleepover party and I remember having an outward reaction to the film and an inner reaction that was quite deeper. Many people in the room had seen it before. It was the first time I watched it and I remember focusing on how everyone else was reacting to it and trying not to cry or say “That’s me…that’s my life on that screen. Oh my God, I am not alone. Why am I just learning this now?”
I think it hit me so hard because it was the first film that had characters that reflected who I actually was not who I might want to be someday if I had a magic wand. It wasn’t set in some magical place or revolving around some fantastic storyline that would never happen in real life. It was just real life. (Do want to mention, I found it odd even as a teen that there were no people of color in the film. I grew up in the Bronx so it was bizarre to see that all the students were white but again, I think the film is focused on white classism.) I particularly connected to the Ally Sheedy character and the Anthony Michael Hall character. I’m part geek and part weirdo, was bullied throughout seventh and eighth grade, and spent my teens completely feeling out of place most of the time. (Truthfully, I still feel that way as an adult but only some of the time.) It was amazing to see, I was not the only one. I mean here, a grown man created a film that spoke to me. He told me (and millions of others) that no one really fits in and that no one has it all figured out and that it’s not you causing the situation. It’s society…it’s the class structure of the human race.
The film has characters that are true to themselves and who are bold enough to reveal their innermost secrets and fears…the things we all work to hide. It showed how disjointed we all are, how misunderstood we often are to each other and how wrapped up we are in our own lives. Assumptions are made, bullies thrive and we all go along just trying not to sink into full-on avoidance of other’s mode without ever really understanding the people around us. Most of the time, we don’t even try.
John Hughes said (I’m paraphrasing) that he wrote the script because he knew how it felt to be a teen and even as an adult those experiences were with him always. It’s an honest view of humans who are not all good and not all bad and are just trying to make it through to another day without too much pain and angst knowing some is inevitable.
Whatever you may think of the movie, it has an authentic voice. Films with authentic voices speak to people. They are bold and unafraid of putting ideas and feeling out to the world.
That’s what makes great art.