The Breakfast Club | Full Length Reaction
Added 2021-10-03 21:07:38 +0000 UTCComments
I was a 1980s High Schooler. I was also a Fringer, if you will. I was known by everyone, they would say hi and knew my name, but I was never invited to parties. My friends were the weird outcasts. At the time, divorce was still fairly unspoken, though getting more common. I was friends with the kids of divorced parents (though my parents were not divorced, they were 8th grade sweethearts and stayed together, happily, until my Dad died). I was in the Foreign Language Club and the Math League, I was in SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving), the Thespians (Drama Club), Dance and Choir. I was in Track and Field. I was on the Student Committee that put together the requirements needed by High Schoolers in my system to graduate: Community Service requirements. We had a graduating class of 225 people. And I was an A and B student. I also was founder and president of the Dungeons and Dragons Club. In short, I was a nerd/ geek. I was one of the only kids with a computer. And my best friend was my little sister because I had only four friends; the other three were boys who stood out like 'sore thumbs' at school (I'm a female). Any female friend I had were my sister's friends first then let me hang out, too. I was teacher's pet and the kid all the parents liked. But I was not popular. Not exactly a Jock, certainly not a Princess. I wasn't quite the basket case, and the Criminal? Far from it. I was a goody two shoes. I relate most to Brian, the nerd, and having had a father who expected me to stay in school when i was sick (yes, even if I threw up), and expected the highest grades (my older sister was third in the nation on the S.A.T.s and turned down a full ride to Princeton and she's Dyscalculic. That's how important grades were.) This was High School. And yes, it was this dramatic, though I never opened up to others this way. But I recall so many high emotional times. Crying, hiding, feeling triumphant. Learning lessons the hard way. We were always told High School sucked and then were told that college was where you let loose, party, and finally make real friends. Seeing your reaction to the personalities and back stories in thsi film make me wonder jabout the school system now. No, teachers weren't supposed to be abusive, but I recall in my freshman history class the teacher makign fun of my accent (I had jsut moved from another state) and all teh kids joining in. He was a good teacher, but I never forgot hi doing that. Later my Mom explained that while it was shitty, he was probably trying to stop me from my attempts to copy the accents around me (which is what I was doing) and to use my own accent, but it still hurt . . . and it's been over 30 years. I was proud when my Biology teacher offered me the chalk and asked if I wanted to teach the class because I was able to answer every question about the new subject that day, and I refused. later I realized he'd been pissed at me and was trying tog et me to shut up. I didn't take it as an insult until I' gone through counseling for anger issues may years later. I think the other kids knew it was his way of telling me to shut the hell up and stop being a know it all. I had a gym teacher who was sexually abusing the girls in the class and none of us had the gall to challenge her; we thought we had no voice and we just had to accept the touches and stuff. But I had great teachers, too. What I'm getting at is, this is an exaggeration with the emotional reveals to each other teen, but it is pretty accurate with the high emotions of being a teen in High School in the 1980s. The teacher is downright terrifying and I hope few people had to put up with something that bad. But with the way that gym teacher got away with things in my high School, it's possible he's an accurate representation of some teachers. (Don't get me started on my 5th and 7th grade teachers, who were extremely abusive but in a different state/ school system.)
Oouga
2021-10-17 08:07:04 +0000 UTCEmilio Estevez, who played Andy the Jock, was born in 1962, making him 23 in this movie.
Oouga
2021-10-17 07:17:59 +0000 UTCI first fell for Ally Sheedy in "War Games" with Matthew Broderick, when I was about 13.
Sean Novack
2021-10-09 17:46:38 +0000 UTCBorn in 1971 here, I graduated from high school in 1989. This film was spot on for a lot of us growing up, if a little bit exaggerated. This film is one of the things that started breaking down those barriers Ironically, it's 2021 and the Baby Boomers that were the teachers in the 80's are still in charge of the United States after being in politics for 40-50 YEARS! Generation X is still trying to get in and get real solutions in place that the generation of the 60's have been saying they would do for half a century.
Sean Novack
2021-10-09 16:50:45 +0000 UTCI like it that you liked the film. Also great recap afterwards, I really liked that too. π And no it isn't 'word-vomit' at all, but the film has touched you and normally a film is great (or total crap) when you can think and talk a lot about it after watching. π
Chris LΓΌders
2021-10-08 02:54:49 +0000 UTCI didn't want to give away what happens in the "waking up in the car" scene, just in case Sixteen Candles was going to be in a future reaction. She apparently didn't recall what movie the "woke up in a car in a junkyard" (her words) scene took place, so I had to assume she 1. hasn't seen the movie but knows the scene or 2. she doesn't remember much about the movie. I didn't want to spoil anything. I only mentioned that Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald were in Sixteen Candles, which might explain why she made the association, though the two actors weren't in the "waking up" scene. This is just my long-winded way of saying, "yes, I know."
Andrew T
2021-10-06 05:27:18 +0000 UTCI don't think I've ever met anyone that thinks post makeover Allison looked better.
Matt Gwinn
2021-10-06 05:20:01 +0000 UTCYeah, I think your high school life was way different than that of a typical 80's kid. I don't know if it's just generational differences or what, but I get the impression your high school experience was pretty sheltered. Probably why you're so likable. By the way, cigarettes in the 80s were A LOT cheaper because they weren't taxed as heavily as they are now. A pack cost like a buck fifty. Once the government started taking lung cancer seriously they started taxing the crap out of them to deter people from smoking. It kind of worked.
Matt Gwinn
2021-10-06 05:17:15 +0000 UTCI graduated in 89 and you are totally right.
Matt Gwinn
2021-10-06 05:07:39 +0000 UTCIt wasn't Molly Ringwald's character that he woke up with in the car. Also probably not the scene she was thinking of. I think the scene she's remembering is during the dance when they were sitting in the car in the school's auto shop.
Matt Gwinn
2021-10-06 05:05:04 +0000 UTCAlso I graduated with like 90 people in my class.. hahaha
panacamanana
2021-10-05 00:24:57 +0000 UTCHighschoolers are THIS emotional. This movie and things said by the kids in this film doesn't feel crazy to me, and I graduated in the mid 00's. So yeah, school was fucking gross and so many fucking assholes. Allison did look better in the previous look. It's like.. lets make this gorgeous person gorgeous.. it's like uhhh ok?
panacamanana
2021-10-05 00:22:42 +0000 UTCOh thats where the song comes from
Kelvin
2021-10-05 00:21:06 +0000 UTCβYeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.β - The Dude lol, kidding. People take this stuff too seriously. Don't change your reactions for us. If I wanted to watch someone react to a movie exactly like I did then I wouldn't be watching someone nearly 30 years younger than me react to them. It's fun watching a younger generation experience these movies for the first time. Also, this is Gandhi'sNightmare. I'm glad you got a laugh from the name.
JayF
2021-10-04 23:00:38 +0000 UTCA good follow up is the movie βSt Elmos Fireβ. Some of the same actors, it touches on the confusing times after schools up for a group of friends.
ChrisDelaySWE .
2021-10-04 21:16:54 +0000 UTCEach person has a different experience throughout life. I wasn't super emotional during highschool. I personally became more emotional AFTER highschool. That's why I asked these questions in the movie! I just had a different experience during highschool but that doesn't make me out of touch in my opinion!
VKunia
2021-10-04 20:36:41 +0000 UTCYea, Iβd remove ALL MENTIONS of βare high schoolers really this emotional?β Because newsflash, YES? To keep being so surprised makes you seem super out of touch. Teens are people with human emotions.
Kelsey Roberts
2021-10-04 18:37:12 +0000 UTCYou can most definitely choose between your parents. Also, you must have had a really privileged childhood if you canβt relate to Bender.
Kelsey Roberts
2021-10-04 17:41:53 +0000 UTCA graduating class of 3000, V? I would have been lost. Mine in 1982 barely hit 50,π
Bruce Bromley
2021-10-04 06:08:10 +0000 UTCWhere's the Froot Loops?
Matt
2021-10-04 04:03:10 +0000 UTCI graduated high school in 1988, so yes, these were what you could consider to be archetype teenage roles in high school, somewhat idealized. There is crossover between them, I could myself have been considered a criminal athletic geek outcast (I didn't play well with others, so not considered popular in the prom queen sense) When this came out it was a huge thing to talk about, not in the sense of the message of the film but rather what particular role we all played, who was the Bender, who was the outcast, etc. Thing is, I don't think many were willing to admit that they were, in a sense, just kids, with their on pressures that each could relate to...it was more important to maintain the clique identity first and reinforce that. The undercurrent of authority doesn't always equal respect because of how you were treated based on your archetype, that was something we all understood. On top of that, if you hadn't seen the movie and everyone else had, you were the loser, and were bombarded with quotes from the movie to reinforce that, because you didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Ally Sheedy was my crush, and if you were to add Wargames to the watchlist you can see why as well. I have seen this film so many times I can quote it verbatim, I found myself doing so even though I haven't seen it in quite some time.
deskmerc
2021-10-04 01:32:27 +0000 UTCEverything you said about molds was spot on. I'm going to keep suggesting "Say Anything" and hope it does well in a poll. It also has a high school them and very relatable characters. Keep breaking molds.
Sir_Dalagad
2021-10-04 00:18:27 +0000 UTCI think the movie you were thinking of in which Brian and Claire "woke up in a car in a junkyard" was Sixteen Candles. Both actors, Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald, were in that movie. There were a couple of scenes involving Anthony Michael Hall in a car, but in case you haven't seen it yet (other than that scene), and Sixteen Candles ends up in your reaction queue, I'll leave it at that.
Andrew T
2021-10-03 23:35:49 +0000 UTCI like Allison's original look better!
Tyler Gorash
2021-10-03 23:28:45 +0000 UTCFun movie aside from them downgrading the girlβs look with the ending lol
Kelvin
2021-10-03 21:35:54 +0000 UTC
