All they were asking was for us not to forget about them.
The characters featured in John Hughes’ seminal teen film, “The Breakfast Club,” would become representations of the often forgotten and misunderstood groups every single one of us fell into during adolescence.
Popular girl Claire, Shermer High School’s resident bad boy with a hard of gold John Bender, the “jock” Andrew, misunderstood Allison, and brainaic Brian, all longed to be seen for themselves and beyond the stereotypical high school architypes that were unfairly placed on them.
The group of strangers’ lives would change after finding themselves together in detention on March 24th, 1984, where they would not only get to know one another, but also learn valuable lessons about themselves.
Inside ‘The Breakfast Club’s’ Legacy
Not only would their characters become essential popular culture figures, the actors and actresses who brought them to life, would forever be associated with their respective performances in “The Breakfast Club.”
If it were even possible for Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall to become more famous than they were at the time of “The Breakfast Club’s” release, their roles helped cement these members of the “Brat Pack” as cultural figures of a generation.
Part of the reason why “The Breakfast Club” may feel so personal and like the film belongs exclusively to every passing generation, is because the actors had such a hand in making the film into the cultural phenomenon we know today.
The cast were either teenagers themselves while filming or had only recently left teenhood behind, so they knew a thing or two about what it was like to navigate the often tumultuous time in one’s life.
According to Insider as per The Daily Beast, the lyrics from David Bowie’s 1971 song “Changes” which open the film, were suggested by Ally Sheedy, who played Allison.
Ally Sheedy Looks Back
Revisiting teenhood hasn’t been far from Sheedy’s mind lately in more ways than one.
When Sheedy isn’t acting in the new Freeform series “Single Drunk Female” where she plays the mother of an alcoholic, she spends her time as a professor teaching acting classes in New York, according to Cinemablend, as per People magazine.
Her performance as Allison continues to stick in the minds of aspiring actors everywhere! Sheedy has also spoken about her students’ interest in revisiting her iconic roles from the Eighties, a fact of life she happily welcomes!
Of her students, she says, “I’m very open to talking to them about my experiences. And I have an affinity for them so much because they are the age I was when I was working. I’m telling them everything I wish I knew!”
“The Breakfast Club” takes that same notion Sheedy’s students are teaching her, the idea adults can still be influenced by younger generations in profound ways, whether they welcome this notion (as Sheedy does,) or not, (like Paul Gleason’s principal Vernon in the film.)
The ways in which “The Breakfast Club” have influenced cinema and culture at large may have been rightfully re-examined in the wake of a welcomed ever-evolving cultural climate, but its landmark look at a more serious side of our teenage years will forever be etched in the massively important legacy of teen cinema and cinema at large.
We won’t forget about “The Breakfast Club” at all!
