One of my favorite movies is The Breakfast Club. John Hughes, the writer and director has a way of capturing the youth of the ’80s like no other. (I am certain he was single handedly responsible for Jake becoming one of the most popular names in the ’90s because any girl who saw Sixteen Candles in the ’80s fell instantly in love with Jake Ryan and had to have a Jake of her own!)
I am not sure there is a need for a spoiler alert for a movie that is almost 30 years old but here goes…I will be making references to The Breakfast Club so if you think you might be watching this movie for the first time in the near future…stop reading now.
Growing up in the ’80s I am sure we all related to this movie on some level because we saw ourselves in the characters. Were you a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess or a criminal? But it was more than that.
For the first time someone put on film honestly and truthfully the stereotypes we just accept in our society and asked us to question their validity. One of the great messages I took from the film was friendship. That if you took the time to spend a day with someone you could learn a lot about them and maybe take away a new idea or a new way of thinking.
As an adult I am part of a breakfast club of sorts. We get together once or twice a week to touch base and hear about each other’s lives. I don’t believe any of them have spent a lot of time in detention or participated in the taping of anyone’s behind, but a couple have military backgrounds so I won’t swear that hazing isn’t part of their past. Some are very smart and I know could actually build an elephant lamp that would work when you pulled the trunk. Shopping, sushi and make up are not part of our usual conversation but one is moving to Colorado this summer so we have discussed the recent legalization of Bender’s “dope.”
In all I think the most important thing is to find friends who ask you to grow and think and are willing to discuss new ideas. I want you all to find your own Breakfast Club and try to spend detention together as often as you can.
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. That’s the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.
Breakfast Club Essay
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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