Icon #48 The Breakfast Club

The most iconic film of the 1980s.

This was always going to be a tricky one, there are just so many films to choose from, but for MC's final topic he went for one that I think he knew would be contentious.

As per usual I've gone with the icon that means the most to me personally and for once *sigh of relief* an awful lot of people agree with me.


When John Hughes died last year I wrote an obituary for him. It remains the only one to appear here on my site and I think that reflects hugely on the impact that his films had on me in my teens. None more so than The Breakfast Club.

It just sums up life in high school as a teenager so perfectly and even though it's set in the States everyone can relate to the characters. A group of kids brought together by a detention that have nothing in common, that have never spoken to one another before, probably never even acknowledged each other that slowly discover that they have more in common than they thought.

It has rebellion, they smoke some gear, which is pretty fundamental for any teen flick that's ever going to be seen as cool. It has the 'basket case' hiding behind her hair, discovering that actually, even one of the school athletes might fancy her. It has the 'brain', who's smart but fucked up by how isolated that makes him. It has the beautiful, perfect, 'princess' who feels pressurised by her friends to lose her virginity. It has the aforementioned 'athlete', who wrestles but hates his over bearing father. And most importantly of all it has the 'criminal', who is just, well, too cool for school.

They argue, they fight, they go on a journey. They are honest about how they perceive each other. Most of all though they behave how kids in high school behave. They revel in their loathing of adults, seen here as the semi cartoon esque Principle 'Dick' Vernon. They revel in their own self loathing and the film never judges them for it, it just says its normal to be that way.

Hughes made films that celebrated being a teenager and I'm a huge fan of the movies he made in the 80s. I'm not a film buff like AT but there are movies that had an impact on me because they connected with me in ways that others, that I also love, don't. Usually because there's one character that I see some of myself in. Go read the obituary piece if you can't guess who that was in The Breakfast Club. Most of those other 80s films, that people suggested today, have a lead character that you 'want' to be. And as much as I love a lot of those movies The Breakfast Club was maybe one of the first films I saw where I thought, 'shit, that guys me!'

Some one called this today on facebook, that the 80s was a golden age for movies and I'll be honest this was a tough call for me. Really tough. There were at least four other movies that I like more than The Breakfast Club from the 80s but in terms of the impression it left, that basically it was ok to be me, nothing else comes close.

'Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.' - John Bender.

Tonight's post is dedicated to (from twitter) @Jeninher30s, @Jackster69, @fionaflaherty, @nicky_t, @lmlc, @peepculture, @Girl_In_A_Box, @NessaLouise, @domcoke, @twosoups, @jaxsensei, @FionaKyle, @D_Forbes, @formulaic666, (and from facebook) Toni, Fizz Gigg, Kate and Pete.

Also dedicated to AT (@maverick99sback). Sorry mate it must be the only film from the 80s you didn't mention, but hope you had a great birthday, GC.