This is my collaboration with Patrick and Ady of The Philosophy Film Club. Our subject of discussion is a film that both defined the teen movie genre and (appropriately) broke its rules.



See Brett's Notes For This Production

THE CHARACTERS (10:30-46:30)
-Our identification with characters in the film
-Who were our teachers and how did they get there?
-The importance of Vernon and Bender

THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER (46:30-1:02:30)
-Social pressures
-Stereotypes and barriers
-Missed opportunities for meaningful relationships
-Sharing pain in a domination system

THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL AND HOME ENVIRONMENTS (1:02:30-1:32:45 )
-How John Hughes connects the audience to the attitudes and experience of the characters
-Parenting typologies represented in the film (authoritarian, permissive, neglectful)
-Authoritative "power-with" parenting is absent
-What lunchtime reveals
-Hughes adds a lot of non-dialog messages
-How their relationships with each other are used to overcome the impacts of school and home (even if it's only temporary)

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEMES (1:32:45-1:53:45)
-Bender: Abuse and trauma - fight, flight, freeze
-The Nurture Assumption and Judith Rich Harris's "Cinderella effect"
-The significance of Carl the janitor
-Alpha/Beta representations: Andy and Bender/Brian
-Vulnerability

CONCLUSION (1:54:45-END)
-Long-term impact and unanswered questions
-Remake?
-Sequel?
-How Hollywood stereotypes teens

Music:
Green Day - "Longview"
Tears For Fears - "Everybody Wants To Rule the World"
The Wind and The Wave - "Don't You Forget About Me"
Those Darn Accordions - "The Janitor Knows"

Look Closer:
Ady's Life Coaching Site and email: realtimelifecoaching@yahoo.com

The Philosophy Film Club On YouTube



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