"The Breakfast Club" redux ... and it's bad
I can't claim to be a Gen X-er. I was born a few years before that era. But I'm still peeved at the sacrilege that JC Penney has committed regarding "The Breakfast Club."
For anyone over 40, the 1985 film is an iconic story about a group of high schoolers stuck serving detention in the Shermer High School library. Yes, it had stereotypes: the jock, the juvenile delinquent, the eccentric loner, the perfect girl and the geek.
But it also had a cast of then-hot talent (Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, etc.), a story filled angst and self-discovery, a hit song in "Don't You (Forget About Me)," and a script and direction by that '80s comet of a filmmaker, John Hughes. (Hey, whatever happened to him?)
Penney's takes this little gem and strips it down to a silly commercial advertising back-to-school fashions. It even tries to duplicate certain scenes. Clumsily.
What's next? "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" gets junked to help sell iPhones? "Footloose" is used for Converse ads? "Risky Business" helps sell Hanes underwear? All I know is that they better not touch Jeff Spicoli and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." That would be sacrilege-squared.
Comments:
I saw that commercial and almost spit my soda out. I am a Gen Xer and still quote Breakfast Club with my friends. It's not the best movie ever (I say that despite having seen it dozens of times), but it deserved better than JCP.
It's bad enough that the TV version has some odd time warp where the smoking pot scene used to be.
Posted by: Jennifer at July 31, 2008 1:43 PM
i cried a bit. i felt like i was just raped by santa claus .
Posted by: billy pilgrim at July 31, 2008 1:58 PM
I swear I wanted to throw my popcorn at the screen when I saw this but I had just taken out a small loan to buy it so I opted not to.
What really makes me mad is the age group this commercial is aimed at probably has no idea that it's based off the Breakfast Club.
I swear if they do one The Goonies it will be blasphemy. Blasphemy I say!!
Posted by: Michael at July 31, 2008 2:02 PM
haha, i was just having that conversation the other night with a friend. my friend was reading through some trades and saw some remake new of one another of my childhood favorites (which i cannot remember at this moment). it made me sick, but i muttered, as long as they don't touch the goonies. for me, the goonies and pee wees big adventure are far on the do not touch list.
Posted by: billy pilgrim at July 31, 2008 3:30 PM
I think the saddest part is that it's geared towards a generation who have probably never seen The Breakfast Club and will never know this commercial is based on it...
I know when I first saw the commercial, I thought they were remaking The Breakfast Club - I was actually quite relieved it was just a commercial...
Posted by: Alana at July 31, 2008 3:39 PM
I hate this commercial.
And i agree, the age group that this commercial is geared for probably has no clue about the movie.
I am never shopping at JC Penny's again.
wait, i never shopped there before.
well whatever, i urge you all to never shop there again!
Posted by: MsJoey at August 1, 2008 9:42 AM
They totally got it wrong!! The crazy chick looked more like the preppy chick and UGH!!!
I spit at the screen that was about to behold my precious Batman and berated the children sitting next to me laughing. Not actually berated really, I just asked them if they knew what movie that was mocking and they gave me a blank stare...
UGH AGAIN!
Posted by: Renee N at August 1, 2008 11:01 AM
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