{"id":47,"date":"2016-10-15T15:26:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T19:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/?p=47"},"modified":"2016-10-15T15:44:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T19:44:03","slug":"stomachable-propaganda-the-breakfast-club-and-reagans-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/uncategorized\/stomachable-propaganda-the-breakfast-club-and-reagans-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Stomachable Propaganda: “The Breakfast Club” and Reagan’s Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dew Panalee Maskati<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pop culture was in it\u2019s prime during \u201880s America, with the release of popular classics such as \u201cKarate Kid\u201d and \u201cThe A-Team\u201d, and the advent of synthesisers and digital recording in music. It was the age of self-reinvention and rising consumerism \u2014 glamour, now on sale at your nearest mall \u2014 laced with political turmoil, increasing unemployment rates, rising inflation, and xenophobia.\u00a0 It was in this spirit of dissatisfaction and idealism that \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d was made. Five high school tropes \u2014\u201cathlete\u201d Andrew, delinquent Bender, Brian the \u201cbrain\u201d, \u201cbasket case\u201d Allison, and \u201cprincess\u201d Claire\u2014 overcome their initial aversion to each other to unite in friendship and defy the disciplinarian, Mr. Vernon; they are armed, of course, by the teen rebel\u2019s trustiest weapons: drugs and rock and roll. From its opening title, \u2018The Breakfast Club\u2019 establishes itself as a patron of rebellion by paying homage to David Bowie, the nullifier of category and God of self-reinvention, with an excerpt from \u201cChanges\u201d:<\/p>\n

“And these children<\/p>\n

that you spit on<\/p>\n

as they try to change their worlds<\/p>\n

are immune to your consolation<\/p>\n

they are quite aware<\/p>\n

of what they are going through\u201d.<\/p>\n

These lines highlight how\u00a0the movie corroborates the image of the defiant and heroic teen rebel \u2014 the counter-culture revolutionary yet untainted by the adult world \u2014 and in consequence, is full of vicarious appeal to the teenager\u2019s angst-filled heart. But the movie\u2019s premise and resolution is entirely a fabrication, a fact made visually apparent in the opening sequence, as the camera zooms in beyond the shattering black television screen, and draws us into a realm beyond reality. This heartwarming tale is, in effect, a mask for an underlying, sinister ideology, one gets the\u00a0viewer to think more favourably of conformity by marketing it as unity. Tropes aren\u2019t transcended; rather, certain accepted stereotypes are subliminally\u00a0reinforced over others.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The opening title sequence<\/p><\/div>\n

\"OpeningThese stereotypes are so pervasive that the students do not formally learn each other\u2019s names until half-way through the movie. As soon as they do, further labelling is generated: “Claire\u201d is a “fat girl\u2019s name\u201d. Bender as a human being “may as well not even exist in this school\u201d, as Andrew says, because in the eyes of others he is but the stereotype of a criminal. Certain issues\u00a0remain unaddressed, and are subsequently reinforced, such as male chauvinism: Bender, looking to “impregnate\u201d Claire, does have his wish granted – they fall in love – Claire “couldn\u2019t ignore [him] if [she] tried\u201d. The movie is unsuccessful even in its self-proclaimed mission \u2014 abolishing high school stereotypes \u2014 because in their final moments of detention, the teenagers each dance in a style that parodies their tropes. Some might interpret this as a euphoric moment of acceptance, but really, it soberingly demonstrates a lack of change \u2014 these teenagers still conform.<\/p>\n

However, the movie goes beyond this: it seeks to favourably portray the elimination of diversity \u2014 more specifically, to see stereotypes\u00a0deigned unacceptable by society abolished.\u00a0Let\u2019s take, for example, the outcasts Allison and Bender: due to social conditioning that encourages wariness when confronted by nonconformists, their crude, sexual language and atypical manner, initially gave them the most disdain from other characters and viewer alike.\u00a0 Claire\u2019s response to Bender\u2019s graphic description of sex is to ask “do you want me to puke?\u201d.\u00a0 Allison, on the other hand, embodies the uncivilised: feral behaviour; wild appearance; her endorsement of the \u201cmountains\u201d, \u201cAfghanistan or Israel” over the Chicago \u201cstreets\u201d. Yet, they are the most perceptive of all the characters. It is the distance between them and society that cultivates comments such as Allison\u2019s iconic \u201cit\u2019s unavoidable, it just happens\u2026 when you grow up your heart dies\u201d, or the critical eye on social convention that leads to Bender\u2019s rejection of Claire\u2019s ability to apply lipstick with her breasts \u2014 a bourgie talent that highlights her superficiality and privilege. The others reject their discomforting comments:\u00a0Andrew has been socially conditioned to interpret Bender\u2019s insight as \u201cinsult\u201d when Bender is really just \u201cbeing honest, asshole!\u201d.<\/p>\n

Allison presciently realises that there is no escape from being labelled, by pointing out that once Claire reveals the truth behind her enigmatic sex-life, she will be skewered by a triple-pronged sword: categorised as either a \u201cprude\u201d, \u201cslut\u201d or a \u201ctease\u201d. And indeed, rather than a movement towards acceptance of their quirks, the movie sees Allison and Bender normalised into socially acceptable stereotypes. Allison is given a makeover that turns her into a cookie-cutter doll \u2014 note the aggressive way in which she is made to conform through makeup \u2014 \u201cdon\u2019t stick that in my eye\u201d. She only truly receives Andrew\u2019s approval \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s good\u201d \u2014 after the transformation. If she had outwardly remained a \u201cbasket case\u201d, would Andrew have kissed her? Bender\u2019s indoctrination is less explicit: he puts on Claire\u2019s earring, a trinket from the upper classes. So yes, \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d does champion acceptance \u2014 but only at the price of individuality. Mr. Vernon\u2019s obviously devilish character masks the true evil in the movie: Andrew and Claire, instruments of a cultural ideology that instills \u201csameness\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Allison’s makeover<\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s explore this dichotomy a bit further: students are good and adults, evil. Mr. Vernon\u2019s character actualises the quasi-dictator that haunts every student\u2019s educational experience; more importantly, he embodies Althusser\u2019s \u201ceducational state apparatus\u201d and elements of the \u201crepressive state apparatuses\u201d \u2014 instruments within a system of oppression (society) that seek to excise individuality and maintain the existing social order by doing so.\u00a0 He shares in their dehumanising methods when he snaps his fingers and repeats commands at Andrew as if to a dog, and exercises their repressive violence through language that goads and humiliates. To the other students: \u201clook at [Bender], he\u2019s a bum\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter, John? You gonna cry?\u201d. The other prominent adult, Carl the janitor, has a characteristic that, at first glance, seems to spare him from the general criticism: he understands.\u00a0 Although an incongruously angelic figure in the prison-like school, what he says bears a disconcerting semblance to totalitarian propaganda from the likes of George Orwell\u2019s \u201c1984\u201d: \u201cI listen to your conversations \u2014 you don\u2019t know that but I do\u201d; \u201cI am the eyes and ears of the institution\u201d. Add to this his identification with the lower classes \u2014 \u201cyou guys think I\u2019m some untouchable peasant\u2026 serf\u201d \u2014 and he has, in effect, become the voice of Adorno\u2019s \u201cculture industry\u201d. Therefore, the audience is disinclined to sympathise with them.<\/p>\n

Since the audience directs its sympathy according to human-object interaction, the objects in the movie reinforce the contest between vessels of a repressive culture (adults) and adolescent resistance. Objects antagonise Mr. Vernon multiple times: to the students\u2019 and the viewer\u2019s amusement, he is proved wrong (and importantly, Bender proved right) when the chair meant to hold open the door springs out of position, thereby granting the teenagers their privacy. Other slapstick instances include coffee spilling over his table, and, unbeknownst to him, toilet paper dangling out of his pants. On the other hand, objects function harmoniously with the students; they reinforce the viewer\u2019s support for the teenagers’\u00a0cause. The viewer too, feels victorious when Bender scales the mountain of school supplies to escape solitary confinement. But beyond this, the objects are implementing an equally important task on the viewer\u2019s subconscious: the cues that polarise teenagers against adults have created a battlefield of the school building \u2014 a stomachable replica of the \u2018Nam, bringing to mind public fear during the Cold War. The students utilise tactics of guerrilla warfare to combat Mr. Vernon \u2014 stealth when avoiding him, and \u201cfire and movement\u201d strategy when Bender distracts for the others\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-10-15-at-3-02-33-pm\"<\/p>\n

Dominant during the 1980s was general disgruntlement with the shortcomings of liberal government (the old order) and a favourable view of modern conservatism. National industries faced losses, increased layoffs; Japanese technology and products outstripped the West\u2019s. The Cold War reached its apex, and the generally displeased public agreed with Reagan\u2019s claim that Carter\u2019s liberal government should have chosen to, but did not, \u201cstay the course\u201d in regards to Vietnam. This political divide pervades the movie: the teenagers and adults represent two existing orders, the new and the old, which are at war; its battle ground, the classroom. Mr. Vernon says as much: \u201cthese kids have turned on me\u201d. Ultimately, the teenagers emerge victorious: free to do what they please from the second half of detention onwards, Mr. Vernon\u2019s authority ultimately overturned, and stronger in their unity. Andrew gives a strikingly industrial description of his dad as \u201cthis mindless machine\u201d programmed to \u201cWin! Win! Win!\u201d that he proceeds to reject; here again, is the dismissal of an archaic, ineffective order. Therefore, the movie\u2019s heartwarming ending insinuates triumph of a new, conservative order over the old \u2014 conforming to public sentiment that perceived a weak, ineffective, liberal government. By guiding the audience firmly onto the teenagers\u2019 faction, the movie succeeds\u00a0in indoctrinating Reagan\u2019s political propaganda.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the implications go beyond America\u2019s borders, creating an ideological conflict of international proportions\u2014 but with America, of course, as its heroic centre. During the 1980s, Japan and America were in contest for technological superiority, and it was obvious as to which country was emerging as the dominant force. This was a time in which the American public felt alienated by the imported commodities around them \u2014 dissatisfaction that culminated in demonstrative destruction of Japanese cars. The movie overturns this dynamic; it provides the average american with an illusory resolution that appeases fear of their country\u2019s growing global impotence against Japan\u2019s booming economy. The teenagers, symbolic of Reagan\u2019s America and therefore vessels of an ideology along the lines of \u201cLet\u2019s Make America Great Again\u201d, operate in harmony with objects. Meanwhile, the enemy, Mr. Vernon, is obstructed and humiliated by the products around him. An alternate picture is painted: within this constructed conflict, America emerges victorious and the ultimate commander of products. So, through cues that align the viewer\u2019s sympathy with the teenagers\u2019 cause, the movie sentimentalises American patriotism and xenophobic distrust of the foreign \u2014 effective even on a present-day audience. The teenagers impress acceptance of Reagan\u2019s politics, as well as illusory American supremacy over the Japanese, on the viewer\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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