The Breakfast Club

What a lovely morning. I knew I didn't have much work on my plate today, so I turned on the TV while enjoying my morning cup of coffee. Turns out we are getting a free preview of some movie channels, and one of them had The Breakfast Club on.

I did what any other child of the 80s would do -- I didn't move from the couch until the movie was over. Being it was on HBO, it wasn't edited. I think it's the first time I've seen it unedited in about a decade. Sorry, but I can't take Judd Nelson's character seriously when TNT or USA edits him to say "Fudge you, man." It just doesn't work for me.

This movie seems timeless to me. You know how sometimes you watch a TV program or a movie that you loved when you were a kid, and now it seems cheesy? (Think the original Knight Rider) Not The Breakfast Club.

I've been trying to figure out why. Could it be because Judd Nelson was one of my first crushes? Could it be because I've always loved Emilio?

I think I have nailed it down. One thing that hasn't changed in high school throughout generations is the different cliques. You have the preppy, popular girls, the jocks (or as they're referred to in the movie, "sports"), the geeks or nerds, the stoners, and so on.

Don't shake your head and say, "I never participated in those labels," because it's simply not true. Even if you didn't want to participate, everyone ended up being labeled in one fashion or another.

I've come to the conclusion that The Breakfast Club is timeless is because it centers around a theme that our parents dealt with, we dealt with, and our kids and grandkids will deal with. Kids are mean and high schools are full of cliques.

Regardless of the mean kids and cliques, I wouldn't mind getting locked in a library on a Saturday afternoon with the cast of The Breakfast Club. Would you?