MovieChat Forums > The Breakfast Club (1985) Discussion > This movie's ending pisses me off

This movie's ending pisses me off

posted 9 years ago by captainbacon
23 replies | jump to latest

Now, allow me to get something straight. I really like this movie. I think that the characters are great, the progression of the story is interesting, and that it paints a colorful portrait of high school. The scene where they sit in a circle on the floor is quite possibly my favorite movie scene ever. The reason this film makes me irate is because of the ending. I hate the ending because it betrays all of the amazing scenes that went into the film, and it even throws away the moral of the story.

That moral is this: No matter who you are, you can connect to anyone, even if they're completely different from you. I like that message, but the conclusion of the movie basically forgets that there even is a message, and instead indulges in the manipulative cliches that every other teen movie also indulged in. Why did Allison get a makeover at the end? WHY? It is by far the worst decision John Hughes made while creating this film! What it tells me, is that you have to be pretty to be accepted. If Andrew and Allison got together WITHOUT the makeover taking place, it would have been just fine. It would've actually helped the movie as a whole! But oh well, I guess pandering to studios is more important than pandering to teens, also known as DELIVERING TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

Also, let's not forget how Bender and Claire get together at the last minute just like Allison and Andrew. Hey look! Another great lesson for all the gullible teenagers! "Girls reeeeaaaally like *beep* Bender spends the entire movie ridiculing Claire, and just generally acting like a creep around her. If they had ended up being friends at the end, it would have actually made sense.

tl;dr The ending of The Breakfast Club betrays a fresh and original film by injecting it with lame and moronic cliches that would have been easy to avoid.

What do you guys think?

[–] frown-27506 8 years ago

I agree with you about the makeover scene; it feels like a bit of a jip. Benefit of the doubt, though - maybe the makeover is meant to be about how letting others get close to you is OK? Allison's a loner; she can't bear contact with anyone else (that coat, that hair over her face like a mask). During the makeover, she asks Claire "why are you being nice to me?" and Claire says ... "because you're letting me." So it might be that. It's still hammy, and a bit of a blunder, about the whole being pretty thing, and as though the only way girls can connect is through make up, and the only way guys 'n' girls can connect is through sex ...

The pairing off at the end is really twee and unbelievable. Again, benefit of the doubt: I think with Claire specifically, she sees through Bender's faux bluster, the same way Vernon does - only Vernon is a bully with it. Bender's a nice guy, but he makes up for all his insecurities with lies - exactly the same way Brian and Allison (and most teenagers) do. He's just more caustic with it.

I have no benefit of the doubt for Andrew and Allison; that's just phoney. Poor old Brian, left on his own ...

I do like the movie, but the thing that bugs me is that they're all so ... middle class. I mean, apart from Bender, they're all kinda screwed up because they're too fortunate ...

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stgekng 8 years ago

All of the characters went through a makeover over the course of the film; Allison's just happened to be the one that was physical. She hid herself from everybody (long hair, baggy clothes) and was brought out by her friendship with Claire and the realization of different viewpoints through her interaction with the others.

The film's central premise is becoming or at least accepting the anthesis of who you thought you were, so a seemingly basic makeover is in fact the perfect evolution for Allison if you look beyond the surface. That is the genius of John Hughes.

[–] vesil_vesalier 8 years ago

Even with a message delivered as well as this, one day together wouldn't change the overall problem that teenagers face regarding peer pressure and popularity. Sure, they can certainly work on them, and I believe the characters would actually begin to work on them thanks to what happened in the movie, but... To just use their one moment together in the sun as a launching point to dramatically shift them all into different people, come on. That's a jump.

If people changed that well, that easily, the world actually wouldn't be such a sh*thole.

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You didn't come here to make the choice, you're here to understand why you made it.

[–] metsrus 8 years ago

The change probably wouldn't be that dramatic. They probably go back to their normal lives and comfort zones. But at least for one moment, they will know what it's like to be in others shoes and perhaps this will make them a bit more open minded adults and tolerant to people who are different from them.

[–] kramsey20 8 years ago

John Hughes was prejudiced against nerds. Think about it, in all his movies the geeks always got the shaft. Brian's not only the only one to not hook up in TBC, HE'S the one that has to write the stupid essay. Farmer Ted and Ducky never got Molly Ringwald, and Cameron gets left to face an extremely angry father at the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off while that little punk Bueller gets away scot free (forget the part where Cameron finally grows a spine. I guarantee when his dad came home he ripped it out and made Cameron eat it).

[–] deem_bastille 8 years ago

maybe because he was one.

perhaps he was just showcasing how so many of the nerds get the shaft because of their lack of spine.

Oh God. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.

[–] stgekng 8 years ago

Completely backasswards; Brian wanted to write the essay as academics are his strengths and how he can contribute to the group, Ducky is not so much a nerd as an archetypic brother who was never meant to have 'the girl' in the first place, and Cameron is actually the principal character in Ferris Bueller but its so subtle you don't even know it. Cameron in fact receives the greatest gift of all, that being the gift of independence; his father's reaction is totally irrelevant as his growth as a man has already occurred.