The Breakfast Club
Perhaps John Hughes’ greatest triumph, The Breakfast Club
takes us inside the lives of five high school students who have been imprisoned
together for a Saturday of detention.
Ever since its release viewers have been relating to the plights of these students. While they are each unique, chances are one of them will remind you of
yourself. The geek, the jock, the
popular girl, the bad boy, the possibly mentally disturbed loner – high school
had them all. What the film shows though
is that we all have parts of each of those characters within us, and that is
what brings us together.
“You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in 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.”
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Dude! No way! Yes way!
Man, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is one righteous movie. Two high school misfits find themselves on an
amazing journey through time, and through it
they discover the joy of history, forge an ever better friendship, and cement
their place in history as some of the greatest rock musicians of all time. Bill and Ted’s adventures do promote
something positive though – no matter who you are or what you are going through
you can always have an impact on the future.
Your music might even be the basis for an entire civilization!
“Hi, welcome to the
future. San Dimas, California, 2688. And I'm telling you it's great here. The
air is clean, the water's clean, even the dirt, it's clean. Bowling averages
are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water
slides than any other planet we communicate with. I'm telling you this place is
great! But it almost wasn't. You see, 700 years ago, the two great ones, ran
into a few problems. So now I have to travel back in time to help them out. If
I should fail to keep these two on the correct path, the basis of our society
will be in danger. Don't worry, it'll all make sense. I'm a professional.”
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
We all want to get away every now and then. Ferris Bueller’s crazy high school escape is
a great way to live vicariously. Who
doesn’t want to dance in a parade, go to a baseball game, go swimming, or drive
a sweet car? More than that though,
Ferris and co. remind us that we CAN take a break. Life is here for the living, and usually the only thing keeping us from loosening up is ourselves.
“Life moves pretty fast.
If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Back to the Future
Back to the Future explores the nature of high school in two
very different eras. Like many great
high school films, it examines the relationship between teens and their parents,
but with quite a twist! Marty McFly gets
to see who his parents were at his age, and from them he learns an important lesson –
even the smallest of decisions can have a huge impact on your future.
“Marvin, you gotta play. See that's where they
kiss for the first time on the dance floor. And if there's no music, they can't
dance. If they can't dance, they can't kiss. If they can't kiss they can't fall
in love, and I'm history.”
Sixteen Candles
When you’re a teenager it sometimes feels like everything
that could go wrong will go wrong.
Actually, that happens as an adult too, except the problems are
generally a bit more serious. The plight
of teenager Sam is one we can all relate to, but it’s fun to escape to a world
where the biggest problems are all about boys and getting the proper amount of
attention on your birthday. True to life
though, in the movie everything somehow works out.
"Would you stop feeling
sorry for yourself? It's bad for your complexion."
Footloose
Sometimes you’ve just got to dance. There will always be people who don’t want
you to dance, but what they think isn’t important – just dance. Even dancing in anger is better than not
dancing at all.
"I just don't know if I
believe in everything that you believe in. But I believe in you."
Pretty In Pink
Teen romance films generally stray away from the really
heavy issues, but not Pretty In Pink.
The movie follows a sweet love story with the backdrop of a family in poverty, which has a large effect on protagonist Andie. The boy she likes is from a different social class, and it turns out he likes her too. Unfortunately his friends do not follow suit. Her quest to find a dress, an afterthought for many, becomes central for her being accepted by her classmates. The lesson?
If two people are meant to be together, no amount of social pressure
should stop them. Also, Duckie is just
fantastic.
"I just want them to know that they didn't break
me."
