by Paul Costello
Welcome to the third and final week of our Seasonally Appropriate Monologues. This week, we counter the point of family togetherness with a story of a banner year at the old Bender household.
Yeah, maybe I’m blurring the lines of what’s both acceptable as a monologue and a story about Christmas for this one. But then again, it’s my series and I can do what I want. And I really want to look at The Breakfast Club. There’s good stuff in there… and Judd Nelson is f**king harsh.
Welcome to the third and final week of our Seasonally Appropriate Monologues. This week, we counter the point of family togetherness with a story of a banner year at the old Bender household.
Yeah, maybe I’m blurring the lines of what’s both acceptable as a monologue and a story about Christmas for this one. But then again, it’s my series and I can do what I want. And I really want to look at The Breakfast Club. There’s good stuff in there… and Judd Nelson is f**king harsh.
The Breakfast Club is one of the most popular movies of the 1980s, a favourite amongst the films of John Hughes and perhaps the quintessential high school movie. Tapping the existing clichés of the high school social circle, it basically locks them in a room and just lets them talk. And, over time, each one unfolds, blooming out beyond their preset categories. Of the five different types of teenage character we are presented with in the film, it’s pretty clear who the primary antagonist will be. He’s labelled “the criminal”. His name is John Bender (played by Judd Nelson).
For a film so set as an exploration about the different reasons that young people would be angry at the various figures of authority in their lives, it’s Bender who is the most violent and overtly confrontational. Everything about him screams “Fuck You!” to those in charge, from his smart mouth to his criminal tendencies to his utter refusal to hear any sort of complaining from people he believes have more than him. He’s got a hell of a chip on his shoulder, but it becomes pretty clear where he got it.
For a film so set as an exploration about the different reasons that young people would be angry at the various figures of authority in their lives, it’s Bender who is the most violent and overtly confrontational. Everything about him screams “Fuck You!” to those in charge, from his smart mouth to his criminal tendencies to his utter refusal to hear any sort of complaining from people he believes have more than him. He’s got a hell of a chip on his shoulder, but it becomes pretty clear where he got it.
In the clip below, Bender briefly recounts a typical Christmas at his house, which he has already revealed to be incredibly abusive. It’s a harsh affair, and he uses this story as a counterpoint to the comparatively spoiled life of another member of the group, Claire (“the princess”, played by Molly Ringwald). She’s a regular target for him, being that he both likes her and hates her. She has everything he doesn’t, from popularity to material things. She is unattainable for someone like him, privileged in a way he’ll never know, and that hurts him to no end. So he acts like he always does with things that hurt him… he hurts them right back. He uses his own pain as a blunt instrument to attack others, and with Claire, he strikes a nerve.
Setting the scene: The captive group of teenagers have moved away from their desks, crossed each others boundaries, started to interact with each other directly. Now on the floor in a circle, what starts as a harmless enough moment where Claire shows off a hidden talent turns into a shot from Bender who draws the line about what separates him from her…
Setting the scene: The captive group of teenagers have moved away from their desks, crossed each others boundaries, started to interact with each other directly. Now on the floor in a circle, what starts as a harmless enough moment where Claire shows off a hidden talent turns into a shot from Bender who draws the line about what separates him from her…
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