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From: thoma@reed.UUCP (Ann Muir Thomas)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: The Breakfast Club
Message-ID: <1152@reed.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 23-Mar-85 04:38:01 EST
Article-I.D.: reed.1152
Posted: Sat Mar 23 04:38:01 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 26-Mar-85 06:39:36 EST
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Lines: 48

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
The criticisms of The Breakfast Club are not unfounded. The characters ARE
stereotyped, and the movie obviously is targeted towards teenagers. It also
contains sequences that are commercially oriented, especially the dance
sequence towards the end which obviously will be presented as MTV material.
HOWEVER 

*****THIS IS A MOVIE THAT ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN WHAT GOES ON*****
*****IN MIDDLE-CLASS HIGH SCHOOLS SHOULD SEE.

including just about every teenager I know (I'm lucky enough to be beyond that
categorization, at least in terms of real-time.)

I've seen TBC twice, with people from my high school, and even though we are
supposedly beyond that age, it got us thinking...and I hope that it has te same
effect on all those kids who are seeing it.

What would I change about it?? The ending. Being somewhat offbeat myself (sort
of a cross between the "recluse" and the "brain") I wish that the characters 
hadn't been so definitely paired off at the end, with the "brain" losing out
as usual. Claire(the "prom queen") and John (the "criminal") seem to have a
basis for a relationship in her desire to rebel. But I didn't like the
implicit message of the makeover of the "recluse" into a "beautiful" girl:
that a girl has to pretty herself up to be desireable. None of the MALE
characters had to go through such a radical change to fit into the movie's
conclusion. Maybe I'm being idealistic, but that's just me. A valid question
is "What if the 'recluse' had been male?" .....one alternative ending that
my best friend suggested is keeping the makeover sequence, but allowing the
girl some vestige of her other look, and ending the movie with friendship and
possible relationships between her and both the athlete and brain characters.
But that's not what the kids want to see...

FLAME ON*****
Here in this pseudo-intellectual environment of Reed College, most people
would consider themselves far too enlightened to even think about seeing
such an obviously commercial movie. C'mon, where's the *REAL* "Joe (or
Joesephine) Reed"?? Not too far away from high school, for the most part.
And whoever verified that Reed wasn't cliquish???
FLAME OFF*****

(my apologies to the non-Reedies out there!)

I repeat, The Breakfast Club, despite its flaws, is worth seeing.

Ann Muir Thomas

"Will you stand above me, call my name, or walk on by me"--Simple Minds
"I'll be mellow when I'm dead!"--weird Al Y., via Tony F.