Who Are You?

Lessons From John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" (1985)

Image by L.E. Wilson from RedBubble based on work by Luka Akure on Pixabay

Writer, director and producer John Hughes made some remarkable films, including Pretty in Pink (1986) and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), both of which are treasures. One good but imperfect¹ movie of his that also delves into the emotional lives of teenagers is The Breakfast Club (1985).

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The Breakfast Club (1985) is a drama written and directed by John Hughes about a group of high school students who are sent to detention for breaking various school rules and learn that they share many of the same difficulties, including peer pressure, class discrimination, and family trauma.

• Life Lesson: The categories you fit into aren’t your identity; you are still an individual who is able to choose.

  • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

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What’s striking about this movie is that the characters are real and natural, which is a testament not only to the writing, but also to the strength of the actors. This is no small feat. Most movies lack this kind of authenticity, and therefore make it difficult for audiences to relate to the protagonists. What’s even more impressive about The Breakfast Club is that this character development is done mostly through dialogue and in one room, much like a play. We get to learn about the kids, their backstories, their faults and strengths, at the same time that they are learning these things about each other. It’s a brilliant plot device.

But what do they and we really learn? This is the question at the core of the The Breakfast Club, which starts with the authoritarian Vice-Principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) asking them each to write a 1,000 word essay that describes “who you think you are.” His motivation may simply be to punish them, but when he gives out this assignment he tells them that “maybe you’ll learn something about yourself.” And indeed, this burned-out educator’s words turn out to be prophetic, because that is exactly what happens.

The movie opens with a song recorded by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” that was inspired by a scene in the movie. And the lyrics give us a roadmap of what’s to come:

Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone dancing, you know it baby.

Tell me your troubles and doubts,
Giving me everything inside and out.

The song continues to play softly in the background as Brian, one of the students being held in detention, reads:

Dear Mr. Vernon, 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. What do you care? You see as as you want to see us.

This is one of the truths that is revealed in the movie. People see us how they want to see us, and we see others as we want to see them as well. In other words, we find ourselves being put and putting others into rigid categories that separate us. But if we, as the characters do in the movie, were to tell each other “our troubles and doubts” revealing “everything inside and out” what we’d find is that we aren’t that different from each other, and that the reason for the division is an illusion.

The kids in The Breakfast Club attack each other and they stand up for each other. They are from different cliques and reveal their hostility to one another in different ways, but when it comes to undermining the authority figure, Vice-Principal Vernon, they stick together, even refusing to rat out the bully who torments them all. It’s another representation of the “in-group” vs “out-group” categorization, with the movie hinting that Mr. Vernon was once like the rebellious kids he now resents.

So it turns out that all the characters are like part of a bickering but loyal to each other family, and isn’t it a family we all belong to? In the end, the reason John Hughes films work is because they are relatable, even if on the surface you may think you have nothing in common with a bunch of teenagers in detention at a high school in 1984.

But in these characters we see ourselves, and we see our shared humanity. We see the divisions and the difficulty—the obstacles that prevent us from getting along. And we see the beautiful uplifting, yet fleeting and fragile possibility of harmony—if we didn’t forget that we have more in common with each other than it seems.

The lyrics continue in the ending scene:

Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by? [...]

Don't you forget about me,
As you walk on by.

Will you call my name,
When you walk away?

Or will you walk away?

It’s a touching reminder of what’s really at stake: our individual identities. Although we may belong to a particular group or groups and can easily be put into categories, we are nonetheless individuals capable of deciding who our friends are, as well as the kind of person we want to be. We always have that choice.

So, choose wisely.

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1. The Breakfast Club is imperfect because it contains some harmful messaging that includes romanticizing abusive relationships (Bender and Claire), promoting the idea that looks are more important than personality (Allison and Andrew), and that drug use is liberating. It’s disappointing that John Hughes created a movie where a young woman is viciously berated for most of it by an unapologetic vulgar bully whom she then falls in love with. Likewise, it is a bit strange that the nonconformist aloof girl is pretty easily persuaded to change her appearance and in so doing automatically becomes acceptable as girlfriend material, irrespective of her inner character. Lastly, the glorification of drug use, a problem that has led to the utter devastation of entire families due to addiction, is jarring, discordant, and unfortunate.