“Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did 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.”
I recently watched The Breakfast Club with my pre-teen daughters. It’s a 1985 movie about five teenagers who attend a detention on a Saturday with people who they would not normally associate with and for a short period become friends.
It had been many, many years since I watched the movie. Back in 1985 when it came out, I too was in high school. There were the jocks or athletic types, the brainy/nerds, the popular kids, the rebels/social misfits, and the odd kids who didn’t belong in any particular category.
In The Breakfast Club film, John Hughes, the writer/producer, focuses on the following character types:
- Allison Reynolds as “The Basketcase” – The odd child who is ignored at home. Doesn’t belong in any particular group. Hides their feelings. Could be characterized as emotionally unstable. Doesn’t let anyone in.
- Andrew Clark as “The Athlete” – The jock. Though he may appear strong and confident, he is mentally weak and constantly seeking to please others.
- Clair Standish as “The Princess” – The popular girl with wealthy parents. Everyone thinks she has an easy life and gets whatever she wants, but deep down inside she’s like everyone else with the same teen fears and desire to be accepted.
- Brian Johnson as “The Brain” – A smart student who puts pressure on himself to do well in school. Has a lot of pressure to excel which has led to contemplating suicide at times.
- John Bender as “The Criminal” – The typical bully, the social outcast with a messed up family life and who may have been abused at home.
Watching the film, I empathized with these characters and their characteristics because they were familiar to me during my high school years. Looking back, it’s easy to see that high school is a transitioning period in a teen’s life, most kids are learning about themselves and where they belong, and most all adults are the true enemy. Lol!
I discovered that today’s teens have similar characteristics as was in the day, over thirty years ago of The Breakfast Club. The only exception, everything that is experienced now is more amplified, more open, more exposed. We have smartphones and social media, and unfortunately, some news travels faster than the speed of light. However, the desires to fit in and stand out are all the same. Young people are still judging one another by their dress and social status.
This movie also deals with some heavy themes that are still relevant today:
- Peer Pressure
- Family Issues
- Stereotypes
- School Rankings- toughest to the weakest link
Kids, please listen up. If someone asks you to tell them who do you think you are, don’t get ruffled up. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what they think of who you are because their views are different than yours, and no matter how you’d explain it to them, they’d never see you as you see yourself. So, don’t let anyone influence you or tell you who you should be. Don’t get stuck living your life being someone that you’re not. The most important question to ask yourself is this: Who do you think you are? Be true to yourself. Be YOU!
There’s a lot of emphasis these days on schools teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT). According to Wikipedia, CRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the US.
According to Professor Crenshaw, she says, “It is a way of seeing, attending to, accounting for, tracing and analyzing the ways that race is produced,” she said, “the ways that racial inequality is facilitated, and the ways that our history has created these inequalities that now can be almost effortlessly reproduced unless we attend to the existence of these inequalities.”
CRT believes racism is present in every aspect of life, every relationship, and every interaction and therefore has its advocates look for it everywhere.
In schools, it will mean teaching our children to think this way and always be looking for racism in every situation and interaction. In our personal relationships, it means that friends and even family members—especially our kids who have already been educated with Critical Race Theory ideas that have been incorporated in our schools—will eventually call each other out and reject one another. Because tolerating racism is also considered a form of racism that would have to be discovered and stopped.
I’ll be honest; I’m not a fan of this kind of teaching for my children. I know that everyone comes from diverse backgrounds; financial circumstances, cultures, and learning abilities. I get that. I’m a first-generation American in my Italian family. When my parents came to the United States in the mid-1960s, they didn’t speak a lick of English or knew how to read or write in English. My mom didn’t even know how to drive, and they came here to Chicago with $400.00 in their pocket, living in a garage for a year, while they worked, taking care of my older sister, and trying desperately to make ends meet.
It was a hard life but they continued to chip away at removing the stereotype of their culture and becoming American citizens. It took years to assimilate. They’ve never forgotten where they’ve come from, our culture and Italian traditions are very strong still, but the American dream became a reality for them.
The social dynamics of being stereotyped into something that’s supposed to identify you is a big issue in high school and middle-schools alike. CRT should be removed from academics, because if we focus on our gender and social upbringing, it will limit a child’s learning in all other studies, such as reading, mathematics, science, etc. Kids need encouragement and empowerment to remove judgment from their perception.
In The Breakfast Club, you begin to see the teens break down their social status and judgments of each other. It teaches that when barriers are broken down and we see one another as individuals rather than our race, and outward appearances, cohesiveness perseveres. This is why the movie was so successful.
Check out these 4 lessons of the movie that I learned. And additional life lessons worth a read.
Even though there is foul language and some sexual references, I believe this movie should be used in high school to discuss family issues affecting kids, sex and drugs, peer pressure, grades, and interaction with others.
Parents, I urge you to watch The Breakfast Club with your kids, and teachers, I recommend showcasing scenes relevant to today’s societal teen pressures.
Click here for some great study questions to use for discussion about the movie.
Musical Inspiration
“Don’t you forget about me” by Simple Minds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A
References:
https://thebreakfastclub-analysis.weebly.com/characters
https://thebreakfastclub-analysis.weebly.com/themes.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory
What is Critical Race Theory? A Brief History Explained – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/10-life-lessons-breakfast-club-taught-all
https://thebreakfastclub-analysis.weebly.com/study-questions.html
Eight Big Reasons Critical Race Theory Is Terrible for Dealing with Racism – New Discourses
