The film transcends generations because no matter which decade it is, we all share a desire to rise above "the establishment."
I started writing this column in hopes that, somehow, I’d be able to pick up on the social and political hot topics that come up in movies and discuss them in a way that makes them relevant to actual real life issues that interest me. In certain ways, I have been fulfilling my goals and in other cases I’ve not.
Upon reviewing my old articles, I’ve come to understand that yes, a newspaper column is the ideal place for politics to be discussed, but I’m not really interested in talking about ideologies all the time. Odds are there’s bound to people who agree with me. The Reel World is for them.
Anyway, typically I try my best to write exclusively about movies that are on Netflix because it seems to be the most readily available movie resource to the majority of the people on campus. This week’s movie is not on Netflix, but I thought it deserved to be brought up.
The Breakfast Club, a 1980s drama about five strangers from different high school cliques, has extended beyond the normal realms of atypical cult films. Fans still wildly celebrate it even now, 30 years after its initial release.
The Breakfast Club is arguably just as famous now as it was back then. It’s one of the most widely discussed movies ever, and I think this is purely because of how universal the theme of the movie is.
As Michael Anthony Hopkins said at the end of The Breakfast Club, “You see us as you want to see us ... in the simplest terms and 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.”
In the film, that statement is being proposed to Mr. Vernon, the overseer of the detention period. When the students ask him, who for all intensive purposes represents the adult population at large, not to assume they are different individuals because they come from different walks life, that is also addressing the teenage population. The Breakfast Club understands that young people feel separated by petty, obvious differences but, in the end, we all share a desire to rise above "the establishment," and, therefore, we are the same.
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This past weekend, someone made a jab at me and said that if The Breakfast Club ever does get adapted for my generation, it would just be a bunch of kids using their phones for two hours. I took serious offense to that.
I completely agree that our generation (and the rest of the world, to be fair) is becoming more and more dependant on technology. However, I do not feel that this compromises our ability to be interesting people with hopes and dreams and ambitions.
In a perfect world, there would be no Mr. Vernons and the youth wouldn’t be discounted for following trend. But we are.
So go ahead and embrace your generation. It’s not like anyone else will.
Kaitlyn McGarvey is a freshman studying journalism. What do you think about The Breakfast Club? Email her at km451814@ohio.edu or tweet @McGarveyKaitlyn.
