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The Breakfast Club: Innocence Endures

© Jen Davis

Ask anyone who was a teenager in the 80s who John Hughes is, and they'll practically recite his biography. With credentials that include writing, producing and directing, there is no doubt that Hughes is an 80s icon.

John Hughes became a writer for National Lampoon magazine in 1979. Inspired by the success of "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978), written by fellow magazine alum Harold Ramis, Hughes took a shot at screenwriting. "National Lampoon's Class Reunion" (1982), "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), and "Mr. Mom" (1983) were his first screenwriting credits, and their commercial appeal enabled him to direct his first feature film. That film was "Sixteen Candles" (1984).

With titles such as "Weird Science" (1985), "Pretty In Pink" (1986) and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), John Hughes became synonymous with "teen movies." He tapped into middle class suburban life and sensibilities so that his stories were believable and engaging. In particular, he portrayed teens in a way that was completely relatable to his audience. It is widely agreed that when it came to the thoughts and feelings of teens as depicted in the movies, John Hughes got it right.

Nowhere is this more evident than in "The Breakfast Club" (1985). Hughes generalized his characters into five types: the brain, the jock, the princess, the misfit and the criminal. I'm sure everyone who has seen the movie could see themselves in at least one of the characters. I know I did. Although at my high school the labels were a bit different, I fell somewhere between the brain and the misfit. At the beginning of the movie these five types are portrayed as having very little interaction with one another, unless it was in a derogatory way. Cliques just didn't mix, and felt there wasn't any common ground between them. Then Brian (the brain), Andrew (the jock), Clare (the princess), Allison (the misfit) and John (the criminal) are forced to spend a Saturday in detention together. That's when things start to get interesting.

During the course of the movie the characters spend time talking and relating to one another. In their own way, each feels diffident and alienated. In their own worlds, they have been neglected, abused, ignored or bullied, not only by other teenagers but by their own families as well. They realize that although they may seem completely different on the outside, on the inside they are all experiencing the same things. Inside, where it matters, they really weren't so different from each other.