The Iconography of The Breakfast Club- A Video Essay from Niamh Grevatt on Vimeo.

For this project I was tasked with creating a video essay, this video essay was required to demonstrate the analytical critique of an aspect of media. For this project I chose to analyse The Breakfast Club and the influence it has had on pop culture. I began by researching video essays, these videos can range between two minutes to 12 minutes and may sometimes contain a voice over.

As a fan of The Breakfast Club I felt very comfortable tackling this project as I already new the piece of media fairly well. I was already aware of several pieces of media that reflected and incorporated many elements used within The Breakfast Club. This film, released in 1985, was one of John Hughes’ most famous works,  alongside other ‘brat pack’  films such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles . More than 30 years later, The Breakfast Club has transcended multiple generations due to its connection with the people. The film follows five students in detention on a Saturday, The students initially dislike each other, but the journey they take over the course of the film allows them to understand one another and connect, they learn that we all struggle and we are all human.

I believe that’s one of the reasons the Breakfast Club is still so popular with all people, most everyone I’ve discussed the movie with loves how individual each of the students are, that they struggle, that they’re simply trying their best. The Breakfast Club has famously gone on to influence many modern media products. Simpson creator Matt Groening named his infamous Futurama robot ‘Bender’ after a rebel John Bender. More famously on his most popular characters Bart Simpson’s tagline ‘Eat My Shorts’ is used to this day due to it being a John Bender quote from the film.

I wanted to keep my video simplistic and easily understandable, I did this by gathering many media products that contain influences of The Breakfast Club. I then created a montage to Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me”, one of the films most recognisable songs, to show the way in which these newer media products take their own spin on the 80’s classic.

I used a direct quote from the film to title my video as I felt in encompassed the statement I was trying to make in this video essay. That The Breakfast Club lives on through the simplest terms and most convenient definitions, it’s iconic dances, quotes and songs are all so simplistic yet so recognisable and meaningful to so many people.