kartooner

The Break­fast Club is a movie that can be taken at face value or you can read into a bit more if you want to.

Which is why it’s an excel­lent film and one I highly rec­om­mend for repeated view­ings — if any­thing to see how much all of the actors (aside from Alley Sheedy and Molly Ring­wald) have aged.

Here are some thoughts/notes I jot­ted down as I was watch­ing The Break­fast Club recently (via Netflix’s Watch Now fea­ture) for the umpteenth time:

• Sub­tleties in the act­ing, espe­cially Judd Nel­son (as Ben­der), empow­er­ing a dys­func­tional char­ac­ter with an emo­tional performance.
• Prin­ci­pal Vernon’s feel­ings on the lack of respect he receives from stu­dents, which seems a bit too much like self pity.
• The group as a whole com­ing to the real­iza­tion that while they all seem dif­fer­ent, deep down, they are all the same.
• Seg­re­ga­tion by pop­u­lar­ity and on the other side of the spec­trum, lack thereof, con­tin­ues to exist.
• The Jock and the Geek seem so dif­fer­ent (mind over mat­ter, vice-versa), and yet each share sim­i­lar traits: par­ents have high expec­ta­tions, social norms, segregation.
• The attrac­tions between oppos­ing social “clas­si­fi­ca­tions”; rebel and prom queen, jock and men­tal case.
• Jan­i­tor Carl as the key holder; the eyes and ears of the school, dis­re­spected and yet more lev­el­headed than most.

If you’ve seen the movie please feel free to share some of your observations.