The breakfast club is a timeless 80s classic coming of age film. The film follows 5 teenagers who meet and intertwine during a Saturday detention. The teens also represent a different stereotypical high school niche. John the rebel, Clair the princess type, the outcast Allison, Brian the brainiac, and Andrew the jock. As the teens interact and explore each other's different walks of life they learn the lesson to not judge one another and that friendship can be formed despite differences once acknowledgement and a common similarity is found.
C.A.M.S (camera angles, movements, shots)
- wide shots: Since a big group of 5 is being followed and filmed together, wide shots are commonly found to capture the full group.
- low angles: In library scenes that where the characters are sitting on the floor they low angles are used to capture this.
- high angle shots: In the film, the principal is the common enemy and symbol of superiority against the students, when he addresses the students a high angle is shown to signal superiority.
- low angle: John the rebel, often feels as though he is powerless which is why he turns to his rebel image. Towards the end of the film, he is shot form a low angle as he walks the field making him appear powerful.
C.L.A.M.P.S (costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, setting)
- costumes: Since the film takes place in the 80's typical 80's staples were used. Longer skirts for the women, tighter jeans on men. However typical teen clothing was used. For each of the archetypes of the Breakfast Club teens, their wardrobe/costumes reflected this. Andrew the jock simply wore a Varsity sports jacket with a tank top to expose his muscles, jeans and sneaks, Claire the Princess archetype wore a girly baby pink blouse with a long skirt, boots, and a chic purse to emphasize this archetype. Brian the brainiac simply wore a crewneck sweater with jeans, his scrawny appearance helped the outfit accentuate his nerdy-ness, Allison the outcast wore an all black ensemble to keep herself hidden to better fit her archetype. Lastly, John the revel wore a very lax outfit as he is a "normal" teenager yet he sports loose clothing to fit his archetype.
- lighting: General school lighting was used since the film took place in a high school library.
- makeup: Makeup in the film was used specifically on Claire and Allison. Claire had already been prepped with makeup to further accentuate her Princess archetype. Pink feminine makeup was used for her to have her look more feminine and princess-y. Allison never wore any makeup as she was dedicated to being an outcast and wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible. Later in the film, Princess Claire gives Allison a makeover to have her touch into her feminine side.
- props: Since the movie takes place in a school, the common props are backpacks, desks, pencils and paper. Lipstick is another significant prop in terms of Claire as well.
- setting: Common settings of the movie are the overall school atmosphere, specifically the library.
- The element of overcoming/addressing a common issue to reach maturity is used in coming of age films. I really liked how this film handled diversity to address their issues with each of the characters. The main protagonists each represents different groups of people, those who are nerds, jocks, outcasts, and princesses and in a typical high school setting these archetypes wouldn't be expected to interact.
- An element I did not too much appreciate was how extreme the character archetypes were. Andrew the jock was very arrogant towards the other characters along with John the rebel/basket case. The characters were just very extreme in their archetypes, however on the flip side it helps to bring out the moral lesson, despite background differences friendship can blossom.
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