The Breakfast Club / YMMV

Accidental Aesop: Taking today's social issue against sexual harassment into account the movie does provide a wrong message that if you harass someone enough times then you'll eventually get what you want.
Accidental Innuendo: "Grab some wood there, bub."
Adorkable:
- Brian is the brainiest of the kids in detention, and is rather socially awkward.
- While Allison's odd behavior creeps out her fellow detentionees, there is just something strangely charming about a girl who tries to hide under her hooded jacket when frightened or uses her own dandruff as makeshift snow in a drawing.
Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Some consider the actual moral to be "no one actually learned anything".
Alternative Character Interpretation: By the bucketload.
- Was Principal Vernon actually going to beat Bender down? Or was it all an act to prove that Bender isn't as tough as he says he is? Is Vernon a jerkass who abuses his authority to bully the students to satiate his need for power or is he just a bitter Jaded Washout who has be the Designated Villain of the movie?
- Did Bender really back down because he was afraid of Vernon or did he do it because he knew that if he'd struck Vernon then he'd get kicked out of school and choose not to fall for Vernon's trap?
- Does the gang really care about each other? Sure, they formed some kind of bond during detention but exactly how close that bond is is up for debate. Some feel that the day was spent finding new ways to take advantage of each other.
- A case could be made for Brian's parents being Well Intentioned Extremists who were totally in the dark about his suicidal tendencies. But from the brief time we see his mother, she at least is clearly very hard on him.
- Is Carl a Knight in Sour Armor or just as self-centered as the rest of the adults?
- In regards to Alison's infamous Unnecessary Makeover, it looks much worse in hindsight as Claire seems to be doing it not out of any genuine feelings of "friendship" or consideration, but so she'll fit in better with the in crowd and essentially turn the poor girl into a clone of her.^note A more charitable interpretation could be that Alison had some input of her own, since she seems hopeful that Andrew will like it, and initially worries that he doesn't.
- Did Brian bring the flare gun to school with him to commit suicide with, or had he planned on threatening the shop-class teacher with it to get a grade better than the F he received?
- Is Mr. Clark a Jaded Washout who's vicariously living through his son's athletic accomplishments? Or is he a Well-Intentioned Extremist who pressures Andy so much because he knows how great an opportunity a college athletic scholarship is and doesn't want Andy to risk it?
And You Thought It Would Fail: Simple Minds recorded "Don't You (Forget About Me)" in three hours then forgot about it, believing that it and the film it was attached to would be forgotten about after its run. Decades later, people are still pumped up when they perform the song in concert.
Anvilicious: Growing Up Sucks and Adults Are Useless. That being said, everyone is full of Hidden Depths, and you'd be surprised how much people have in common when the masks that they present themselves to the world with are pulled away. The movie pulls no punches in both its emotional highs and lows to deliver this message.
Award Snub: Despite being one of the most celebrated songs of The '80s, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was never nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. The song also never got nominated for any Grammy Awards, either.
Awesome Music:
- "Don't You (Forget About Me)", the theme song performed by Simple Minds. It's thought of as a meaningful anthem for the feelings, emotions, and struggles of teenage romantic relationship.
- The closing credits music too, which was a song — no, an anthemic powerhouse of a funk/rock dancer — called "Heart Too Hot to Hold" by Jesse Johnson and Stephanie Spruill.
- "Fire in the Twilight" by Wang Chung, which is heard during the "running from Vernon" scene, is also delightfully catchy.
- Karla Devito's "We Are Not Alone" for the dance scene.
Base-Breaking Character: Bender. You either love him for being a Jerkass Woobie with Hidden Depths or think he's an insufferable prick who got together with a girl he doesn't deserve and harassed horribly.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- The dance montage late in the film. Nothing sets it up, it doesn't advance the plot and is never mentioned again. One could see it as the moment where most of the group finally loosened up and became capable of opening up to/with each other.
- When the gang smokes Bender's weed, Andy gets super enthusiastic and dances around the library, complete with gymnastic moves like back-flips. If that wasn't odd enough, he then slams a door and breaks all the glass in it. This is never brought up again nor does anyone show any concern about a bunch of broken glass.
- A shot of the Principal's random War Cry in the hallway after drinking from the fountain. It's apparently a chant from Paul Gleeson's high school football team.
Broken Base:
- The makeover that Alison got from Claire, while it is a known complaint of the movie in which some even accuse it of being a rather anti-individual Aesop there are also those who will defend it (see Unnecessary Makeover and Misaimed Fandom below).
- The pairings at the end with Bender & Claire and Andrew & Alison. While there are plenty of viewers who find them to be classic examples of cinematic romance, there are also plenty of those who find one or both of them to be blatant cases of Designated Love Interest that would never last. Those who go for the latter often either prefer alternate pairings or believe they all were just too horrible to each other (specifically Bender & Claire) for any romance to reasonably last. Or on a slightly more positive note, some may find the debates silly by stating that High-School romances normally don't last at all anyways.
- Related to the complaint about the pair-ups for the film consisting of Bender & Claire and Andrew & Alison, a number of fans are upset that this meant Brian was left alone at the end of the film. Many fans defend the decision, debating that Brian didn't "need" a relationship the same way some of the other members of the group got or that because of how he was raised his emotional maturity still needed work (John Hughes himself said Brian wasn't socially mature enough to be in a relationship). Other fans are still angry, pointing out that Brian's maturity level was no less than the other members of the group, such as Alison or Bender, and the other reasons come off more like excuses. The fact that Brian is a nerd, and thus the uncool one of the group, is left alone to write a paper while the other four kids all go make-out clashes with the theme of the movie to some.
Common Knowledge: Everyone knows that Bender crawls through an airshaft to get back to the library. Except he doesn't. As this clip shows, he crawls through the ceiling, not an airshaft.
Designated Love Interest: Many viewers find Bender and Claire's Last-Minute Hookup to be this - while it's true Bender is far from the one-note Jerkass he presents himself as, the fact that his first interaction with Claire is Slut-Shaming her to the point of tears makes modern viewers a lot less likely to think they'd work.
Draco in Leather Pants: Vernon's nastier qualities are often ignored in favour of emphasising him as a Reasonable Authority Figure who's just fed up with a bunch of rotten teenagers. This ignores that he outright bullies the students, locks Bender in a closet, and tries to goad the kid into punching him so he can beat Bender up even worse and claim self-defense to his fellow teachers after the fact. acts that seem even worse nowadays than in the 80s. His sympathetic qualities are mostly Fanon, and it's clear he's not a good person.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Andrew still has a jerk jock father who encourages him to be the bully. Bender still has abusive parents and is poised to spend inordinate amounts of time in Saturday Detentions for acting out because of it. Brian planned to kill himself and there’s no guarantee he won’t revert into suicidality again. While Vernon, who bullies and threatens students, is still the principal. And it’s supposed to be a happy ending because?
Fanfic Fuel: The rather open-ended ending on how it wasn't answered whether if the 5 actually stayed friends or not by Monday in which of course does rely on your stance in the idealism vs cynicism debate. While there are viewers who went for the flat out Idealistic belief that all 5 of them stayed friends and the Official Couples (Bender X Claire and Andy X Allison) did truly last while others believed that they all went their separate ways by Monday. However, there are plenty who Took a Third Option and go with a bit of both. Either on how they all still stay to be friends but the couples didn't last. Or some of them still stay friends while some of them don't (usually it's either Claire and/or Andy that ditches them to stay with their cliques and it's Bender, Allison and Brian that are still friends. However, those who do this option are normally those who ship Bender with Allison). Or maybe those who had already admitted to or exhibited their own coldness drop most of the others (Bender and Claire), while those who said they wouldn't don't (Andy, Brian, and Allison). Also the suggestion / Word of God tidbit that there were several planned sequels, five years apart, revisiting the characters.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- Considering the rise of the Education Mama nowadays, watching Brian's subplot with his family may have this effect.
- The story of Brian bringing a gun to school, regardless of the fact that it's a flare gun, wouldn't sound funny considering the recent school shootings and suicides, if the implication of him killing himself is true, that have been occurring. There is also the fact that Brian would have faced a harsher punishment by today's standards had he brought a gun to school, flare gun or otherwise. More broadly, the idea that he was going to bring a gun and only shoot himself has dated the movie. This was lampshaded by an episode of X-Play where a parody version of this scene had the character reveal he was planning on killing everyone else, but had decided to spare the rest of the club now.
- Threatening someone with a knife, like Bender did, would be grounds of expulsion and even arrest charges in this day and age, even if he didn't use it.
- The pot smoking scene, while perhaps funny in 1985, doesn't age well after the "Just Say No!" campaign of the mid-late 1980s put a major damper on the social acceptance of marijuana use among most teenagers, although recent political changes have swung this back in the other direction.
- Bender's advances on Claire would land him with a sexual harassment charge, or worse prison.
- As mentioned under Values Dissonance, Bender and Andy using the word "Faggot" so casually makes both characters look quite a bit nastier today than it did in 1985. Especially in the case of Andy, as he's not supposed to have the same level of Jerkass exterior that Bender does.
- Brian having a fake ID so he can vote hits harsher after allegations of mass voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Anthony Michael Hall later went from playing the bullied Nice Guy Brian in this film to later playing a downright evil and sadistic version of John Bender with Jim in Edward Scissorhands (and Tim Burton specifically wanted to cast him against type, along with Winona Ryder as his Girl Next Door girlfriend).
- Molly Ringwald indeed "pushed maximum density".
Ho Yay:
- One moment, when Bender tries to psyche out Andy.
Bender: You know, you're kinda sexy when you're angry.
- And during the pot scene, as Andy starts dancing, Brian wolf whistles when he takes off his baggy sweatshirt to reveal a tight tank top.
Hype Backlash: Somewhat inevitable, considering the film's damn-near universal acclaim.
Jerkass Woobie:
- Of all the five kids who have a troublesome background right behind their behavior, Bender in particular counts as such, big time. Andy to a lesser extent, as he's never portrayed as a jerk in the film, but rather hearkens back to something he did.
- Depending on the interpretation, Vernon could be considered this to older viewers. Taking into account the kind of teens he has to put up with it's no wonder he turned into such a cynical individual.
Les Yay: Claire and Allison have their moments, particularly on Allison's end.
Memetic Mutation: The poster.
Misaimed Fandom:
- Allison is admired by some fans for her proto-goth style and unabashedly quirky behavior, and her makeover near the end of the film is often considered an Unnecessary Makeover which replaces the uniqueness of her look with a more conventional, less interesting style. This overlooks the film's depiction of Allison as lonely and unhappy with her status on the fringe of school society, and desperate for attention and friends: in context, the makeover is a welcome gesture of friendship on Claire's part and a visual indication that Allison is reaching out to her peers, rather than the denial of her individuality that it's often taken to be.
- Some older fans of the film like to claim that the film wouldn't work if it was made today, as all of the children would be glued to their mobile devices and tablets for the entire detention. Even ignoring the fact that most schools don't allow students to have their phones and/or tablets during detention, it's still a pretty tall order to state that all six of the students wouldn't have any meaningful interactions with one another during the full nine hours of detention.
Moral Event Horizon: Or at the very least, a major Kick the Dog. Threatening an abused kid in a closed room with a physical beating and using your respective reputations to get away with it in case he tried to tell, really? Then going off to sneak peeks at confidential psychological files — and is caught by Carl, who promptly blackmails him.
Once Original, Now Common: When the film first came out, its use of the Deconstructed Character Archetype for each of the main characters was seen as innovative and influential. Now, with the many deconstructions of the characters being used in many movies, books, shows, and games, the use of the same deconstructions here may cause the film to seem not as special to some viewers.
Parody Displacement: Bart Simpson's famous Character Catchphrase, "Eat my shorts!", was originally a Shout-Out to one of Bender's lines in this film. Now, it's commonly believed to have originated on The Simpsons. ^note
Ron the Death Eater:
- Some tend to look at the teenagers a little too cynically, viewing them all as dysfunctional monsters. This is forgetting the fact that they are teenagers - and it is universally agreed that life pretty much tends to suck at that age and they have plenty of time to mature and grow as people.
- For some who don't see Bender in a sympathetic light tend to paint him as an even worse individual than how he's portrayed in the movie. Cracked for instance interpret that nothing good will come from Bender and Claire's relationship and the film is just the start of a tragic downward spiral for the two. The way some people talk about him makes him sound more like a budding serial killer than a troubled, abused teen.
Ships That Pass in the Night: Believe it or not, it's not all that uncommon for fans to ship Bender and Allison, despite their lack of interaction compared to what they have with the others.
Signature Scene:
- Bender fist-bumping towards the sky on the football field as he leaves detention at the end.
- The dance scene in the library.
- The Teens running down the hallway.
Spiritual Sequel: The Breakfast Club is a morality play about a group of people stuck in detention (which, for them, is a metaphorical Hell) who spend the movie scrutinizing and deconstructing their respective character archetypes and what they did to get sent to detention. In short, it's a non-supernatural teen comedy version of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. Entertainment Weekly, when naming The Breakfast Club the greatest teen movie ever made, explicitly used the comparison. This presentation goes into more detail, specifically comparing Andrew to Garcin as the one who is most susceptible to worrying about how others see him, Claire to Estelle as the vain Rich Bitch, and Bender to Inès as the one who is the most honest about being a jerk. The Breakfast Club ends a bit more optimistically, though, the characters' lessons sticking with them a bit better than they did for their counterparts in No Exit.
Squick: Bender is offhandedly shown brushing his teeth with one of Claire's makeup brushes. Claire is later seen using the brush on Allison's face. Also, when Claire takes out her diamond earring and Bender puts it in his own ear without cleaning it. Anyone who's ever had infected piercings knows what happens next.
Strawman Has a Point:
- While sure it may come off that Claire was acting like a total bitch because of her response towards Brian's comment on if they're going to still be friends when the school week approaches, she has made a good point that given each of the group's social classes, the chances of them remaining friends Post Saturday Detention is pretty slim and pointed out the reasons why it won't be happening.
- On the same vein, Claire is accused of being "conceited" by Brian and looked down on by Bender for pointing out that Brian's friends look up to hers and Andy's, and that him saying "hi" to them on the corridors isn't the same as the other way around. While she does come out as being vain, she's not exactly wrong: if the character' school has the stereotypical clique chain, the backlash a "nerd" would get from his own clique if he approached a "popular kid" is unlikely to be on the same level as the one Claire/Andy would receive from their friends for suddenly befriending someone their clique might perceive as of "lower rank." It's still unfair of Claire to presume Brian doesn't understand pressure, but his peer pressure seems related to keep getting straight A's (and comes mostly from his parents), having little to do with who he associates with.
- Vernon might have overstepped his authority when he threatened to beat up Bender, but considering the crap he pulled throughout the movie (bringing weed to school, destroying school property, and threatening his classmates with bodily harm on more than one occasion), some viewers take his side.
Tear Dryer: Brian tearfully confesses to the others that he tried to kill himself over a bad grade due to the pressure his mother puts on him. Then he admits that he brought a flare gun to school that went off in his locker. This prompts the others to start laughing, including Brian.
Tough Act to Follow: It's widely accepted that the film set such a high standard for teen films that none of the Brat Pack actors involved went on to do anything of the same caliber.
Unintentional Period Piece: Dark wood walls, the wooden railings in the library, the clothes, the music... this movie might as well have defined the mid-80s.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: The movie paints Claire as somewhat conceited and cowardly, especially compared to Allison and Bender, but as an insecure teenage girl with an unhappy home life who knows better than the other kids how miserable the school hierarchy they're all trapped in is. She's also never malicious to the others, only insulting Bender when he's spent the whole time viciously attacking her in personal ways and sexually harassing her. Some fans feel she wasn't a bad person at all and was as honest about them all as Bender but without being as cruel as him. In fact, any time she says anything remotely mean, it usually comes after one of the others has attacked her over her sex life or home life.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Bender might come off as this to the modern viewers. While he was always intended to look like a jerk in the beginning, some acts of his jerkassery aged extremely bad. The fact that he got together with Claire at the end after a whole movie of harassing her also can be seen as more horrific than optimistic since their relationship comes across as an abusive relationship.
Unnecessary Makeover: Many people find Allison Reynolds cuter as the "Basket Case", with her post-makeover look being intensely awkward and dated-looking, frequently compared to The Stepford Wives.
Values Dissonance:
- Both Bender and Andy use the word "fag/faggot" without being punished or reprimanded for it. Today, the word is generally seen as an extremely offensive homophobic slur, but in The '80s, the term would essentially be seen as just another swear, and doesn't imply that either of them were gay-bashers.
- The movie treats Bender's advances on Claire as annoying, but harmless, and they get together in the end. In today's society, where there is pressure on authorities to take such offenses more seriously, it's unlikely they would play it off so easily if it was made today.
- Brian's punishment of a Saturday detention for bringing a (flare) gun to school is shockingly laughable these days. Conversely, for someone who went to a school which never had them, the idea of spending an entire Saturday — indeed, any length of time on a non-school day — can seem like cruel and unusual punishment (obviously not for bringing a gun to school, though).
- There is a relatively minor case regarding the fact that Claire brought sushi for lunch, which serves as a symbol of how wealthy and elitist her family is. Back in the '80s sushi was a far more exotic and expensive dish, but over the years it's become more affordable and gained more mainstream popularity. Granted, as a school lunch it's still out of the ordinary, but not quite to the extent that it was at the time the film was released.
- Vernon's bullying of the students, especially locking Bender into a closet, is meant to show his Dean Bitterman side. Nowadays it would be taken as a sign that he's a sociopath who has no business teaching at a high school, and would be fired on the spot — assuming he didn't get away with it by using the “your word against mine” excuse, especially against a kid with a bad reputation like Bender.
- During the scene where Vernon spills his coffee, a swimsuit pinup calendar can be seen on the wall behind his desk. This would've been borderline problematic even in The '80s, but would be completely unacceptable for a school administrator working with children today.
- Brian's want to attempt suicide is treated as little more than just an explanation of why he had the flare gun in his locker and isn't really focused on, or taken that seriously, especially compared to most of the other teens, who have fewer problems overall than him, minus Bender. This would not only be focused on more if the film were made today with the others more than likely reacting more to the mention that he was suicidal but Brian would most likely be put in therapy for depression rather than detention. Plus probably in more trouble for bringing a gun, flare or otherwise, to school.
Values Resonance:
- Despite all the dissonant issues listed above, this movie still attracts a strong fanbase to this day. There are plenty of high school teens who can easily relate to the Breakfast Club even 30 years after the movie first came out. Molly Ringwald has even pointed this out as she has told stories about how teenage girls have approached her and told her about how the movie was so about their generation in which Molly was rather shocked about it and has tried to tell them that the movie was more about her generation.
- The film also provides an early example of addressing toxic masculinity, even predating the term. Andy’s father has incredibly warped views about manhood, and encourages him to be a bully just like he was in school. Andy absolutely hates him for this and acknowledges that being a Jerk Jock is both bad for others AND his own well-being.
- The movie talks about the Double Standard girls have to experience with regard to sex, how it can often be a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation ("if you say you haven't, you're a prude, if you say you have then you're a slut"). And on the flip side, Claire has a Pet the Dog moment where she tells Brian there's nothing wrong with still being a virgin.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: At first, The Breakfast Club sounds like a fun movie about the misadventures of teens in high school, but it actually contains drug and sexual references and tons of swearing, including words that are considered homophobic slurs today. It doesn't help that the film was spoofed by many kids' shows, so parents may be misled into thinking it's a kids' film, despite the fact that the film is rated R.

YMMV / The Breakfast Club

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