The Breakfast Club

I got the movie at JB Hi Fi as a Christmas present. To myself. I'd already seen in before. Its about self esteem.

What does that mean self esteem?

Its the way a person feels about themselves.

Like in the Breakfast Club there's a group of teenagers who feel like other people don't understand them. There are wonderful types in that group. The Jock. The Spoiled Princess. The Basket Case. The Brain. The Criminal. Its like these different people have come to define themselves by what they do, sport, fashion, their insanity, intelligence, or deviant behaviour (which means doing what they're not supposed to do).

Interestingly, on their day long detention together at Shermer High School, Illinios, their teacher Richard Vernon gives them a 1000 word essay to write about the topic "who do you think you are". I don't like him, the teacher Richard Vernon, he swears at one of the students, the criminal guy, and locks him in a closet. Some teachers do that all the time do they? Maybe they get frustrated because they want students to learn one thing, but loose sight of the bigger picture that they are learning in their own way. Like the way the students learn from each other when they're on detention.The criminal guy tells him to "eat my shorts!", like Bart Simpson.

While they're in detention they learn that they have more in common than they think. They turn out to be more complicated than we might think. They're not just the superficial things they do, but all have their own struggles and hopes as well. Allison, the basket case is not really crazy, she's just a liar, Andrew, the jock, is not very original, Bender, the criminal, has a troubled past, Brain is actually very anxious about school, and Claire is not as sophisticated as she seems.

While they're in detention they also find out they all have trouble getting along with their parents too. I think its not unusual for people growing up to have conflicts, or fights, with their parents. They have a lot of hard emotions. Like anger, and fear and have a lot of thoughts in their heads about if their parents love them enough. Claire says her parents use her to get back at each other, which means they're not thinking about her, but trying to hurt one another themselves. Brain says his parents aren't very caring.

Its all about teenagers. And about their lunch. Claire eats a fancy box of sushi. She's fancy as well in the film. Andy has three sandwiches, a quart of milk, a bag of choc chip cookies, potato chips, an apple and a banana. Brian has a soup, apple juice and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off. Alison puts sugary snacks on her sandwich. Its a bit gross isn't it. Why would anyone do it?! Bender doesn't have anything. But it turns out the teenagers are more than what they eat. Brian's essay at the end says there is a little bit of each type in everyone. Like Andrew says, "we're all pretty bizarre". There's no such thing as normal. He says that when they're in the confession circle, which is where they tell the whole gang the hidden truth about themselves. Which is what they keep on the inside, fears and insecurities. Andrew confesses how much pressure his father puts on him to win and how that made him attack and humiliate another boy.

I wan't to know more about Claire. Claire's personality type is spoiled and snobby. But she doesn't want to admit she doesn't have much experience with boys. Bender is trying to tease her about that at the beginning. But by the end of the film he has given her a hicky, and she gives him her earring. I like how she does Allison's make up, and makes her look very different. She's transformed. And Andrew (played by Michael J Fox) falls in love with her at the end.