DETENTION

Now think back to a time where you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time and the consequence was you being put in detention, sound familiar?

The next film I will be talking about is The Breakfast Club

We are put into a more relatable setting of a High School library where five students are spending their Saturday in detention. In this John Hughes classic we feel attached to these characters as they are completely different and we cant help but relate to at least one of them. Criminal: John Bender (Judd Nelson), princess: Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), Brains: Brian Johnson (Anthony Micheal Hall), athlete: Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), and basket-case Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), we can't help but picture ourselves in one of their shoes.

Right off the bat about half of these characters are unlikable and, that's kind of the point. We either feel annoyed or angered by how they act to one another. For example when John is back talking to his strict vice principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) he sentences him to a couple extra weekends of detention. We the audience are thinking "Oh my god, he's just someone acting tough just to impress others." or Brian who is unwilling to let loose even a little bit as he is hesitate to talk or interact with the others because Vernon said "No talking".

This is just the start as eventually the group do start to actually kill time by dancing, telling stories, and smoking marijuana for the first time. We are actually enjoying ourselves as we watch them wreak havoc in the library and they start opening up. This is where the tone of the movie shifts as any other teenager would.

I'm more than sure we’ve all looked at someone in the halls and though "Wow, he has it easy" or "look at him thinking he owns the place just cause he plays sports", but did it ever occur to you that maybe you and that other person are actually alike in some ways? That's what the students find out when they start opening up to one another. They see each other differently based on how the school views them, but no one thinks of the problems they face. John comes from an abusive family, Claire is under pressure by her parents, Andrew can't think for himself, Allison is a huge liar, and Brian feels he always has to make high grades no matter the cost.

Its here where we start seeing ourselves as the characters as we understand what they are going through as we have gone through it, or are currently going through it. They see that no matter how different they seem to be they face similar problems. During their detention sentence they start to make each other feel positive about one another, and reassure themselves that they're all going to be okay.

We start feeling joy and sympathy when we see them coming together. that is until Brian brings up the reality after 3 o clock. They will all go their separate ways and act as if nothing had happened between them. No one argues with Brian about it because that's the harsh reality. At the end of the day their different and what they experience is a one time thing under certain circumstances.

Towards the end of the movie we see changes in the characters. John is more sensitive for his peers, Allison due to a makeover by Claire now feels beautiful and sparks a romance with Andrew who has build up confidence in himself. Brian learned its okay to let go every once in a while, and Claire now sees’s different man in John as she not only kisses him but also gives him her earring to show her new feelings for him.

Vernon finds a paper Brian had left them stating how they are labelled with stereotypes when in reality each and every one of them is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal; and we feel as though we are too.