Page 116 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

It is not even clear that Stephanie will let him stay the night, much less
have a “relationship” with him. He has no prospects in Manhattan—and
she knows it. Stephanie cannot fit into the world of Manhattan office
workers. Both of them are running from a traditional social order in
Brooklyn that neither they nor the audience believes can be restored.
In the course of the film, Tony is betrayed by adults and peers alike.
Tony finally discovers that in Brooklyn, which has been torn apart by
group conflict, there is no place left for him. This realization follows his
community’s desperate attempt to reward one of their own by rigging a
dance contest in his favor, cheating the Puerto Rican winner out of his
prize. Tony recognizes that the community has violated the very standards
of fair play and honesty it has taught him to live by. Generational conflict
in the 1970s gives way to other group divisions based on ethnicity and
class. Group antagonisms in a world of diminished opportunities and
expectations result in the collapse of community itself, leaving every
person alone.
In such a world, the best that youth can hope for is momentary fulfill-
ment and fragmentary satisfactions provided by highly perishable objects,
images, and relationships: the mirror in which Tony dances and combs
his hair, his 1970s polyester dance clothes, discos, his relationship with
Stephanie. All fade with use, just as youth itself is depicted in the 1970s
youth film as a brief moment of developmental time that cannot endure.
A demeaning adulthood awaits for which all smart young people should
be prepared. When Tony’s boss refuses to give him an advance so that
Tony can buy a new shirt to wear at the disco and admonishes him to
think about the future, Tony retorts, “Fuck the future.” His boss responds,
“No, Tony. The future fucks you.”

Saturday Morning Detention:
The Entrapment of Youth Culture

My God, are we going to be our parents?
—The weirdo

In The Breakfast Club, filmmaker John Hughes models his characters on
those in Rebel. But what a difference between 1955 and 1985! The baby
boom has passed through adolescence. The scenes featuring crowds of
kids in the halls at Jim’s school have been replaced by long, wide shots
of empty space, in the middle of which sit five students, isolated from

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