The Brat Pack

Someone recently asked me why I like The Breakfast Club so much. I always include it in my list of favorite movies. It's an iconic film for my generation. But as I opened my mouth to answer, I did not have a specific reason to offer. My list of favorite movies includes great films with complex characters and relationships, amazing acting, beautiful cinematography, excellent directing, or some combination thereof.

So what is it about this iconic film that when it flashes before my eyes as I surf channels I must stop and  finish it? Of all the "Brat Pack" films like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo's Fire, this one is it for me.

I guess to start with broad strokes, it's the theme of stereotypes and fitting in and the common enemy of the ridiculous detention teacher. But it is the clever one-liners, witty banter, great music, not-so-typical relationships that give it longevity. How many times have you  quoted the movie over a glass of wine at a party? Ok, maybe it was beer and tequila shots, but it was always epic.

The Breakfast Club came out when I was 11, a time when I was having trouble fitting in. It's a reality check about the boxes in which we place people. While the characters started out as seeming like one dimensional stereotypes, the film reveals more layers in funny ways. I was everyone in that film. I AM everyone in that film. I am the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal. And at the end of the film, you feel like you know that about each of them and they are friends.

Maybe I'm over romanticizing a bad film. I don't care. It's a classic and I will watch it with you any time.

Dear Mr. Vernon:

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... ...and an athlete... ...and a basket case... ...a princess... ...and a criminal.

Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Characters

What is it about the Fall television season that fills me with dread? It's not that I enjoy the endless trough of reruns, made-for-tv-crap, or endless bad movies that pop up during the summer months. Although it does drive me out of the house to do more engaging things.

When I was a kid, I pined for the new TV season. I would await my favorite shows with anticipation and talk about premiere episodes and pilots on the bus in the morning. Whether it was Family Ties, L.A. Law, Growing Pains, Full House (what is wrong with me?), I had something to say about it. Now it's as though the memories of television shows from last season are better than they actually were.

I think I've grown as a viewer (I really hope so anyway). I don't care about the plot as much as I do character development. And if I can care about the characters, and they can pull off even the most ridiculous scenarios, I'm hooked. This is why I enjoyed TV like Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Dr, Who, The Walking Dead, True Blood, etc. The characters, even the secondary ones, tend to have depth, a back story, something that makes me identify with them, or like them. Therefore, I care about whether they are injured, hurt, kidnapped, maimed, or killed. The ridiculous plots, and even more ridiculous plot drivers didn't bother me so much. I took my suspension of disbelief to a whole new level because I wanted to see how my heroes would pull through.

All of these reasons are exactly why I see some shows as complete failures. If you don't give me something to cling to in the first episode or two, you've lost me. And here lies the problem with Sleepy Hollow, the new supernatural series based ever so loosely on the story of the same name. I watched the first two episodes and not only have they given me nothing on the main characters (I have no idea of their motivations and very little history). Even worse, they eliminated the bad guy/arch nemesis after just one episode. How on earth do you only have the headless horseman for one episode???

Dear TV writers (and you movie folks too): please develop your characters, especially your female characters. Quickly. I know you can do this. Please do not create a female character who needs to be saved by a man (Yes I'm talking to you scyfy and Haven). Thank you.