The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club, a cult classic, one of the most recognisable "brat pack" movies of the 80's. Full of the typical stereotypes, but also so informative to teenagers of every generation.

The costumes in this movie are not my favourite 80's movie outfits, they are well suited to the tone of this movie, 5 teenagers trying to find their place in life and break free, or embrace their stereotypes.

The Criminal, dressed in quintessential bad boy clothes, smoking, mismatched, but a good boy beneath the facade. The Jock, in his wrestling gear and religious iconography, his arms crossed to emphasise his muscles. The Weirdo, wearing all black and hair covering her face. The Princess, in girly pink and sporting a general look of discontentment for the majority of the film, until her heart is thawed by our resident bad boy. And finally The Nerd, dressed conservatively, clean and proper, The Nerd is pensive, but attempts to constantly fit in with the Jock and Princess. 

The overall cultural message within this movie is one that has stood the test of time. Fitting in, being a cookie-cut mould, is not it's all cut out to be. Being yourself and embracing who you are as an individual makes you more approachable/likeable than any stereotype does. 

Over-all, I like the cultural messages this movie portrays, but it's not my favourite 80's flick of all time. Shock, horror, I don't love every movie lol. 

Bella xx  

The Breakfast Club Production Design Review

John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club’s setting is so perfect, it can’t be improved. The majority of the film is set in Shermer High School in Chicago and was filmed in North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois. It looks so normal that it could be anyone’s high school, fitting in with the whole idea of the events of the film being a part of an experience. Anyone that has seen the film, especially while they were in school, would consider this as a part of their own high school experience because the characters are so easy to identify with and identify as people they would know. John W. Corso’s setting is so perfect that it feels both timeless and so completely 80s all at once.

The props and costumes express the character’s personalities expertly, and the costume designer Marilyn Vance has thought through each character’s experiences in order to create their look. Each character gets one costume as the film takes place over one day, with each piece of clothing creating a layer that recognises a little part of their personality. As the characters start to get to know each other and let their guards down they start to take off some of the layers, effectively taking away aspects of their look or personality they have constructed as a barrier to other people.

At the end of the film one of Claire’s earrings is given to Bender, and Allison takes a patch from Andrew’s jacket, showing that each member of the group aren’t really that different at all. These moments of recognition and solidarity show that they will remember their time together and their similarities. The set pulls them together into this one group, and although they seem to be different at first their shared surroundings unite them.

Georgia x

The Breakfast Club Music/Soundtrack Review

OMG I LOVE THE BREAKFAST CLUB! WOOOO! JUDD NELSON YOU TEENAGE HOTTIE!!!!!!

 Ok, ok... Sorry everyone…. Let’s begin!

The Breakfast Club (1985), although visually an awesome and enjoyable movie, personally holds the record for one of the worst soundtracks EVER.

Before I wrote this weeks’ review, I sat down and listened to the soundtrack off YouTube. Let me tell you something- when the soundtrack is listened to throughout the actual movie, it’s alright. More often than not the audience is distracted with what’s happening on screen to really pay attention to the music.

But when I listened to it without the visuals, I was in shock.

It’s horrible! The song choices are just… wow…. and I don’t understand how the director and music/sound guys could pick out such crappy music!

I can understand to some extent how these songs go along with the 80’s style of movie but seriously, I really dislike this soundtrack!

The thing that makes me dislike this soundtrack so much is due to what the songs actually sound like. The songs hold no relevance towards the movie and are so ‘disposable’ that one would never think about the song ever again after watching the movie. There’s nothing that really stands out throughout each song which just makes it completely forgettable and irrelevant.

Although I say this, there are two songs from the soundtrack that I want to talk about quickly.The first song is “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds- you know which one I'm talking about; the song that plays when Judd Nelson does his famous air punch…




Anyways, in a review I found by Robert Christgau for The Village Voice (1985), he mentions that the band are constantly trying to distance themselves from that song. That has to make you think. Why would a band which everyone *indirectly* knows about because of the songs’ use within the movie want to disconnect themselves from taking the credit for said song?

The second song is called “Dream Montage” by Keith Forsey. Why I want to talk about this song is because I found that it was the only song on the soundtrack that actually worked alongside the visual in the film to capture the audience’s attention. If you watch this scene, you will find that the music represents each characters emotions within that particular time- something I love to see happen in movies.

At the end of the day, despite my dislike of the music, I love this movie and could watch it over and over again.

#BRATPACKFORLIFE

Ta ta for now,
Micayla