The Breakfast Club By John Hughes: Don’T Judge A Book By Its Cover
People need to stop forming an opinion based on the outside appearance of an individual. In ‘The Breakfast Club’, five high school students from different cliques meet at a weekend school detention for eight hours. Within the hours pursued for detention, they all discover the many similarities they hold between each other. It expresses the stereotypes and high school cliques of the students whom have different expectations from their peers and family. During the detention, they all sit in a circle, giving each other a chance to express who they really are. The full body, low-angle shot of the characters in the library implies the labels they have for themselves based on their social standings. The dull facial expressions shown on each of the characters faces indicates the darkness in all of them and the type of suffering each individual endures due to the pressure of their stereotypes and social groups.
Claire believes it is only Andrew and her who feel the pressure placed on them by friends. She didn’t know that Brian had issues that are similar in magnitude to their own. When Brian began explaining his story, the camera moved to an eye level shot, expressing to the audience the regret and anger he feels in himself, shown through his tears for failing a class. He soon comes to the realisation that he doesn’t need to have the perfect grades to be accepted in society and by his parents. How would you feel if you had the mindset to have perfect grades for your parents to accept you?
Allison is regarded as the basket case due to being eccentric. In the beginning of the film she is seen wearing black clothing, which confirms the initial impression of her personality and attitude. The use of black signifies that she is bitter and possibly depressed. She hides behind her hair as a shield to hide her insecurities and has difficulty being social. Her parents disregard her completely, resulting in her unusual behaviour and appearance. After they were all accepting of each other despite the social differences, Claire gave Allison a makeover. The eye level shot accentuates how Allison changed both physically and mentally throughout the film. She goes through a significant transformation which shows that she has come to an agreement of accepting her appearance. She wore a white dress with a white headband which removed her hair from her face. Allison doesn’t feel insecure anymore as it is vivid through her bright smile and the change of the colours of her clothes.
The use of high-key lighting allows the audience to have positive emotions about Allison’s transformation. Each of the characters manage to overcome the hardships they encounter at home, school and amongst each other. They emerge into different people, people who don’t care about other’s opinions. At the end of the film, they all realise that each and every one of them is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.
