the breakfast club

A John Hughes movie that so accurately depicts so many aspects of American teenage life in the 1980s. I remember going to see it as a freshman in high school and not quite understanding everything that happened to the characters. Years later, as I watched the movie over and over again, it became more iconic to me. Recently, it has taken on new meaning.

I think of the scene where Allison (Ally Sheedy) opens up to Andrew (Emilio Estevez) about her home life. She talks not of parental abuse but rather neglect. She isn't so disappointed in their actions, rather their inactions. They do something worse than abuse, "they ignore me."

She is taken for granted, considered to be a fixture that can always be counted upon for whatever reason. Her family assumes that she is happy although they never know because they don't make the effort to ask. The family is too wrapped up in their own life that they don't even bother to wonder how someone else is doing. Allison contemplates running away but she doubts that her family would even notice.

I hear ya Allison...