In attendance is a "princess" (Ringwald), an "athlete" (Estevez), a "brain" (Hall), a "criminal" (Nelson), and a "basket case" (Sheedy). Each person had their on personality and taste at the beginning of the film. What followed was a triggering hour of gaslighting, evasion, belittling, martyrdom, faux allyship and more. Another interview that no one asked for, insulting and triggering black women everywhere, horrible. The nerd does everyone’s work by writing the essay, and is the only one who doesn’t get the girl. Full stop! The brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal — these are the beloved archetypes of The Breakfast Club, an iconic John Hughes film that defined the American adolescent experience in the 1980s.It dealt thoughtfully with themes like alienation, family dysfunction and abuse, peer pressure, and societal expectation, showing just how difficult the high school … The severity in which character face … Sugar, spice & everything rice. I’d be remiss not to mention Charlamagne’s own history with rape allegations, particularly a 2001 rape investigation (which has been dropped, though that does not, by default, prove innocence) involving a 15-year-old girl. Though Simmons claimed to feel “muted” following the influx of coverage surrounding his allegations, I’d argue that the survivors have been outright muzzled. Later he also mocks her 'sushi' lunch and when she asks where his lunch is, he says that she is wearing it. Entertainment created by rich white men is no longer what the masses want to see. It was late Tuesday night and I was scrolling my timeline when I saw the following tweet, promoting the next episode of The Breakfast Club, set to air on Wednesday morning: Show co-hosts Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee sat with Russell Simmons to discuss his new life in Bali, veganism, police reform and the late Andre Harrell. Who’s really “muted” here? Offers may be subject to change without notice. Because she was underage at the time, a body double played Claire in that scene. The hosts of “The Breakfast Club,” particularly Charlamagne and Envy, have a tendency of using their microphones as a voice-box for the small-minded. Breakfast Club where it is implied that Bender touches Claire (played by Ringwald) inappropriately. The Time’s Up Foundation wrote a reporting guide refuting several of Simmons’ quotes in the interview, including his assertion that only “six or seven” women have come forward with allegations against him (it’s at least 15 at this time), his dismissive statements noting that the stories are “25 to 40 years old” (when it often takes time for survivors to come forward for a variety of systemic- and institutionalized-based reasons) and the ridiculous idea of “toxic femininity.”, “Black survivors endure a number of historical, cultural, and systemic barriers to being heard, supported, and believed,” Time’s Up wrote. *DJ Envy voice* Morning everybody, it’s three obtusely insensitive radio personalities providing a platform to an alleged rapist while further erasing and silencing the black women survivors on one of the largest black-led media platforms in the nation. Equipped with the uncanny ability to make a Disney reference and a double entendre in the same sentence. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. On Friday, April 6th, Molly Ringwald penned an essay for The New Yorker reflecting on some of her classic ’80s films through the lens of the #MeToo era. Full stop! I am sure that most of you have seen the iconic movie The Breakfast Club. I’m tired of living under the burden of a brolic rape culture. Prom queen Claire(Molly Ringwald) has pressure to conform from her friends, as well as issues with her parental unit. I’m tired of the very platforms that are supposed to represent me constantly shitting on those who most closely represent me. Identity has always been a problem in society. Staff Writer, Entertainment at The Root. The Breakfast Club is hella problematic and needs to be shut down, posthaste. In the era we live in, it’s sometimes hard to think back on some of the things we once loved. However, the one thing that everybody seems to overlook in their glowing nostalgia of a time with nylon and when people thought Duran Duran was cool for some reason is that the movie doesn’t make any sense. Would the co-hosts create an environment that was welcoming to these black women in the same way they soothingly prepared Simmons for the inevitable question about the documentary? Simmons has been dubbed the “godfather of hip-hop,” and was the epitome of a gatekeeper. The Breakfast Club is by no means a bad movie, it is just that there are a few big issues that cause me to just dislike it. She simply allows herself to question what may or may not have been an appropriate approach to telling stories about young women. Fighting for more is important. But, of course, we all know why he was there: to discuss the sexual assault allegations against him in HBO Max’s documentary, On The Record, which follows survivors Drew Dixon, Sil Lai Abrams and Sheri Sher. Stereotypes The stereotypes in The Breakfast Club are seen in the characters and the social groups they are a part of. On the Record has been a very long time coming. Seriously, though, enough is enough. The movie takes place on Saturday March 24, 1984 at Shermer High School in Illinois. The actress re-examined the teen film, about five misfit students held in detention on a Saturday, while questioning its director John Hughes … I guess I could say that I’ve...lost my appetite for breakfast. [There is an] abandonment that occurs,” Abrams said. Enough is enough. Abrams has confirmed that The Breakfast Club did not reach out to her, the other survivors or any documentary representatives to appear on the show. Breakfast Club film contained a wide variety of behavior and stereotypes. The essay does a fantastic job of balancing how she feels about Hughes’ legacy and what he gave to her. 4 Reasons Why “The Breakfast Club” Kind of Sucks. Hello Giggles may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. You’d think a 26-year-old teen movie would bore the hell out of today’s high school seniors, but these kids were riveted. Charlamagne has readily admitted that his recent controversial interview with Rush Limbaugh was a “waste of time,” in an interview with Stephen Colbert. But over thirty years later, The Breakfast Club is still celebrated as an iconic eighties teen film, and its problems have gone unnoticed, until now. Andrew is a wrestler and his dad is always pushing him to do better. The rape investigation, specifically, raised concerns to the point that there was a petition to get him fired from the show. ... You do everything everyone tells you to do and that is a problem. His critical reputation has only grown since he died, in 2009, at the age of fifty-nine. Yet, I have to ask: would they have even felt safe enough to appear on the show, anyway? Hello Giggles is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Peer pressure is clearly shown multiple times through out the movie, on various occasions it is also talked about between characters. And yes, it matters that people to reflect about what they said and did in the past. A problematic, self-hating jackass with a history of spending lot of time dehumanizing and disparaging black women and gay folk. Ringwald was inspired to write the essay after watching The Breakfast Club with her young daughter. A […] The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes.It stars Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy as teenagers from different high school cliques who spend a Saturday in detention with their authoritarian assistant principal (Paul Gleason). ", Ringwald’s essay hits on specific instances that made her and her mother uncomfortable as a young person. Its Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads, “The Breakfast Club is a warm, insightful, and very funny look into the inner lives of teenagers”. The breakfast club highlights a variety of pressures that are placed upon teenagers through out high school. There is still so much that I love in them, but lately I have felt the need to examine the role that these movies have played in our cultural life: where they came from, and what they might mean now. People create terms or stereotypes that become the identity of another individual. Hughes’s films play constantly on television and are even taught in schools. I was showing the movie A Breakfast Club to my students this week. He goes to Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois. Sure I’ll write your essay. “Not just the calls you get from people with ulterior motives, but the absolute silence from the people that you thought were your acquaintances and friends. We have a shorter fuse for racial injustice and gender inequality. As far as I’m concerned, The Breakfast Club has long since (always?) The interview opened with the obvious—Simmons’ current location in Bali. Further, if you’re going to host an alleged rapist for the sake of having an honest conversation, the very basics include holding the interviewee accountable to answer tough yet necessary questions and providing the same opportunity for the accusers. The Breakfast Club takes place at an Illinois high school, where five dissimilar students are sentenced to spend a Saturday detention session together. Like many people in the black community, I’ve tuned into The Breakfast Club, lured by certain guest appearances—in several cases, it was the only black-led platform those guests appeared on (which makes it difficult not to report on it, given my job). With the #MeToo movement and a general greater sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, many of us are — rightfully so — more sensitive than we used to be. Films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles are iconic. It’s powerful, meaningful, and so well-written. On this day, five very different high school students meet at the school to serve detention. Movies. The Breakfast Club. The comics, shared by The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God, ... and the difficult work of finding music to listen to that isn't somehow problematic. Molly Ringwald has been praised for airing her concerns about her 1985 film The Breakfast Club, which she has said is now “troubling” to her due to scenes involving sexual harassment. Movies and television shows (and music) that used to be fine are no longer acceptable. We've begun to understand that "stereotype threat" is harmful to children and adults alike; even seemingly benign stereotyping can be harmful to education and development. These black women have been abandoned. These stereotypes are conveyed through the clothes they wear and the way they act. Overall, The Breakfast Club truthfully renders the problems that adolescents face in high school in regard to their identity. Molly Ringwald has acknowledged the 'troubling' side of The Breakfast Club. Further, journalist and bestselling author Elaine Welteroth spoke up, directly calling out The Breakfast Club for further suppressing the conversation around the need to protect black women, especially given their responsibility as a leading black media outlet. The most obvious problem The Breakfast Club addresses is stereotyping. The stereotypes also represent how the members of the Breakfast Club see one Andrew has good reflexes. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. That was two years ago—and here we are today. The Breakfast Club weed scene. They simply allowed him to allude to having to “get away from the media,” and let it be. The Blacker the Content the Sweeter the Truth, 13" MacBook Pro With Apple M1 Chip (256GB), emotional conversation about police brutality against black women, he has joked about the “Spanish Fly” incident. "I think that it’s ultimately the greatest value of the films, and why I hope they will endure. Finding older films newly problematic is not a new experience, such as the rampant sexism in Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, or the racism in old Westerns. I’m tired of black pride meaning the protection of cis-hetero black men at the expense of those who do not identify as such. So, to then further waste everyone else’s time going from one Rush to another—“Uncle Rush”—with a heaping side of triggers was alarming, to say the very least. Andrew Clark was the stereotypical athlete. Though John Hughes' The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles have become beloved films since they were released in the ' 80s, actress Molly … Forced to deal with the issue of stereotypes and lack of a healthy relationship with their parents, teenagers struggle to establish a … We are continually demanding more justice from our entertainment. Hello Giggles is part of the Meredith Beauty Group. Someone finally listening to women whose entire careers and livelihoods have been destroyed for the sake of silence does not equate to him being “muted,” but OK. Still, despite their fair share of major mishaps (the horrifyingly transphobic aura of their Janet Mock interview was a major tipping point for me), there seem to have been far more pressure to protect this large black platform, similar to the mass protection of black men within the hip-hop community (as explained in On The Record). The Breakfast Club (1985) Emilio Estevez as Andrew Clark. I’m tired of yelling my frustrations and critiques into a void. I believe that communication played the biggest part in the movie. Neither he nor his family can accept an F. Delinquent John Bender (Judd Nelson), while tough on the exterior, masks a difficult home life. “We need OUR media to give voice to the Black women who are the most DISRESPECTED, UNPROTECTED, and NEGLECTED people in America.”. During this pivotal moment for Black liberation, Black women and survivors should not be discounted @breakfastclubamm” Welteroth tweeted. We’ve recently seen actors who have worked with Woody Allen come out and apologize for looking the other way in regard to his abuse allegations. Ringwald is the iconic face of many of John Hughes’ most famous films. The biggest problem I have with The Breakfast Club is the concept itself. It does not come with a scheduled agenda that prioritizes cis-hetero black men above black women and/or members of the LGBTQ community. We demand diversity. She created one of the most interesting long-form pieces about #MeToo, focusing on The Breakfast Club and other huge fan favorites. Menu. The idea that he has been muted when not only was he a voice, but the voice, is asinine, at best. Universal Pictures, Molly Ringwald penned an essay about why she finds. Instances like the scene in The Breakfast Club where it is implied that Bender touches Claire (played by Ringwald) inappropriately. Nerd Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) excels academically, but is failing shop class. |, A purple shampoo hack that will truly keep your blonde hair from going brassy, 10 Reasons Why You're Dreaming About Your Ex, 7 ways to clean gunky earrings to make your bling sparkle like new, 10 tricks to make your hair look super shiny and healthy, Fire, water, earth, or air—here's what your zodiac element reveals about you, 15 ways your relationship changes after the honeymoon stage ends, 15 movies about love that are actually super depressing. Copyright © 2021 Meredith Corporation. The conversations about them will change, and they should. Credit: Regardless, these women should’ve been given the power and choice to make whatever decisions they felt they could. For actors, this presents an interesting perspective. Beyond the unfortunately standard silencing of…. But as Ringwald points out, “that clarification seem[s] inconsequential.”. I’m tired. But, when Simmons explained the reasons behind his move (apparently he has a talent agency in Asia and he is building a yoga studio for teachers), neither of the co-hosts pressed him about the suspicious timing, aside from one question (to which Simmons denied there were any civil or criminal charges against him). For example, he pinned Bender to the floor while he was defending Claire. Black Lives Matter doesn’t (nor shouldn’t) come with an asterisk. Introduction The breakfast club movie reflects on a Saturday detection of a group of five students at Shemer High School who share their stories in a forced company. The five main characters were coined as a criminal, jock, basket case, brain, and princess (The Breakfast Club). As a … Trigger Warning: This article contains details from an interview with a man who has been multiply accused of sexual assault. John Bender and Allison Reynolds tease Claire by asking her if she is a virgin and that Bender bets that she has never kissed a boy on the mouth or been felt up 'over the bra, under the blouse, over the panties, shirt unbuttoned, no bra, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat...' Claire is evidently affected after this exchange. It is rare for an actor to look back and question the director that gave them everything. The Breakfast Club has been popular for its accessibility, but has it ever been safe for black women? I’m tired of black women being roadkill, even in the name of black pride. It’s up to the following generations to figure out how to continue those conversations and make them their own—to keep talking, in schools, in activism and art—and trust that we care.". We thank Molly Ringwald for continuing the conversation. "I made three movies with John Hughes; when they were released, they made enough of a cultural impact to land me on the cover of Time magazine and to get Hughes hailed as a genius. The 1985 movie The Breakfast Club showed the effects that stereotypes have on people. Time to skip The Breakfast Club for the Brunch Crew. In a recent interview with The Root, Abrams reflected on the aftermath of coming forward, a decision that was many years in the making. We’ve finally started to listen to and amplify the experiences of other people. Later when J… Looking back on your work and realizing that you may have been complacent in content that was not responsible is tough. Time to skip The Breakfast Club for the Brunch Crew. Looking back on our favorite childhood movies can be an interesting experience. been a platform for misogyny, homophobia, queerphobia, internalized anti-blackness, etc., a culture that is set largely by show’s main host Charlamagne Tha God. Antonio Brown Addresses Problematic Behavior + Ben Roethlisberger By Joseph Geballa Feb 14, 2020 In the midst of his current public battery and burglary case, Antonio Brown found some time to stop by the Breakfast Club. 1. Additionally, he has joked about the “Spanish Fly” incident and recalled eagerly watching the R. Kelly child pornography tape. We’re tired. But, I’m tired. “Immediately before an emotional conversation about police brutality against black women on The Breakfast Club this morning, Russell Simmons peddled numerous myths about sexual assault, stereotypes about black women, and distortions of facts in denying the multiple sexual assault allegations against him.”. 3. Ringwald doesn’t talk down or apologize or backtrack for John Hughes and his legacy. I’m not talking preppie little white kids either. Your dream is a symbol of a bigger problem. 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