Detention: No Judgment Zone

By: Alex

Art by Alex

I’m proud to say I got through high school with a clean slate. No detentions, suspensions, not even a parking ticket for me. Working to keep my name off the lists outside the school office helped solidify the independent goody-goody personality I identified myself with in high school. What I did (or didn’t) do gave me my reputation, thus reputation became a means of segregation in an already confusing world of high school. If only I had the chance to know some of the kids who spent their Saturdays in detention. Of course, I would have had that opportunity if I had been at Shermer High School on March 24, 1984. Yes, that is the exact time and location of The Breakfast Club, of which I am begging to be a part of.

John Hughes’ coming-of-age piece, The Breakfast Club chronicles the lives of five different teenagers as they spend a day in detention and learn about themselves through the interactions they have with each other.  This film captures the inner turmoil of going through high school, whether you are an athlete, a princess, a geek, a criminal or a basket-case, everyone struggles to figure it all out in those four overwhelming years.

The Breakfast Club allows us to see a specimen of each of the strictly stratified social groupings of high school and how, though they may seem different, there is so much that one can have in common with the other. As we see these five teens start to get along and open up to each other during detention, the world doesn’t seem as scary. These kids share their deepest secrets, and though there is some teasing at first, there is never any judgment. They get along so well and just want to help each other figure it out as they each struggle with the same questions. If The Breakfast Club can find solace in one another, things seem less impossible for us.

By finding this solace, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be who I am today if John Hughes hadn’t created such a piece of teen gold. While still being easy enough for kids to watch, Hughes gets down to the tough stuff about growing up, some of the taboo that we don’t really like to think about. But even though this movie examines some things that might not be comfortable to confront, I feel a lot better after watching it. The more real the movie, the more I can trust the characters. I totally relate to these anxious teens just trying to get by in a world they don’t understand. If they can find some peace by the end of the film, I think I can too.

The Breakfast Club will always speak to me as one of the most real accounts of teen angst out there. Through one day of detention and sharing their inner turmoil, they found something in themselves and found a savior in someone else, which is sometimes, all we need to know that things will be okay for a while. And when John Bender thrusts his fist in the air as Simples Minds plays over the freeze frame, Hughes gives us one final triumphant image, as if to say, he made it, we can too.

New York, I Love You

By: Alex

Art by Alex 

“Chapter one. She adored New York City. She idolized it all out of proportion.” As I write this column, I sit on the fourth floor of a residence hall in Brooklyn, beneath string lights, surrounded by posters of grunge films of the 90s, amateur photography developed by the photographer in her own dark room, and scented hippie candles, while the Velvet Underground plays. I. love. this. place. As I am so inspired by this city and its opportunity for people to be admired and respected for being different and ambitious, I am so inclined to share my favorite movies set in the NYC that explain its magical, inspiring lifestyle so well. 

Manhattan (1979)- I would classify most any Woody Allen film as the quintessential ‘New York movie,’ but Manhattan, being named after a burrow of the city, is certainly one of his best. His main character Ike (played by himself, of course) makes his way through day to day life in the city, confronting his ex-wife, dating a high school student, and falling in love with a pretentious middle-aged woman. Through the magic of the city, Woody battles with his inner turmoil and realizes that, even though life can get overwhelming, sometimes you have to have a little faith in people.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)- Using the intelligent community of Brooklyn as its backdrop, this movie centers around two authorial parents who break it to their teenage sons, Walt and Frank, that they are getting a divorce. Confused and overwhelmed, Walt and Frank must deal with the aftermath of their parents’ decision: how to deal with a broken family, whose sides to take, and how to move on. Forced to adjust to this new life, Walt and Frank try to both break from their parents and also become more like them, leading to their downward spiral of pathetic hopelessness and unrightful arrogance.

Taxi Driver (1976)- In a not so positive look at New York City, the troubled, sleepless Travis Bickle takes on a night shift as a taxi driver. Through his journal, we learn of Travis’ inner thoughts about his disgust with humanity, his fascination with the beautiful Betsy, and his desire to help a child prostitute, Iris. Travis doesn’t seem to care about much, with his apathetic attitude and rebellious nature, but with this shocking look at the underbelly of New York culture, we see that Travis does want to change the decay (physical and mental) of the city, wishing for someone ‘to clean this garbage off the street.’

When Harry Met Sally (1989)- When Harry carpools with Sally from Chicago to New York City the day of their college graduation, the two were destined to be together, though they barely knew each other at the beginning of the journey. Throughout the rest of the film, Harry and Sally have chance encounters, until they become good friends, each of them lamenting over the fact that they are still single in New York City. Eventually, Harry and Sally become more than friends, which is what we always wanted, and their dates in Central Park become an envious relationship for anyone. 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1964)- The gorgeous, glamorous Holly Golightly rules New York City with her style and poise. In one of Audrey Hepburn’s most well-known roles, this movie showcases the New York high life and the chance that everything great in the world is possible through the holy grail-esque promise of Tiffany’s. In a story of self-discovery, we get to know Holly’s surprising past as her relationship with Paul Varjack, or ‘Fred,’ as she so fondly refers to him, grows and helps teach her about life and love.