Back in the ‘80s, it was hard to escape any teen movie that didn’t include at least one of the members of the so-called “Brat Pack”. Stars like Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, and more were considered to be part of this sort of fraternity of up-and-coming talent. Together, they’d appear in such cinematic classics as The Outsiders, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty in Pink, but two movies really packed in the pack: John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher’s St. Elmo’s Fire. And, while the latter was certainly a hit, the former remains to be one of the quintessential films of the decade and the teen genre as a whole.
But, even though the label held them all together, it was still considered by some to be damaging to their career. At MegaCon Orlando, during a panel, at which Collider’s Maggie Lovitt was in attendance, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film’s release, The Breakfast Club stars, Hall, Ringwald, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy all reunited to answer fans’ burning questions. At one point, the quartet was asked how they felt about the “Brat Pack” branding, to which Ringwald explained:
“You know, it was a play on the Rat Pack, which is a group of, [Frank] Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and those guys. And then it was a term that was coined, I think after this magazine piece, and then we all kind of just sort of fell under this banner and I think it was kind of— in a way, [it] sort of minimized the work that we were doing. That’s the way that I felt.”
Modern-Day Brat Packs
While we may not be using an umbrella term to refer to them as a whole in the same way that was done to the Brat Pack in the 80s, there are still plenty of parallels in today’s industry. The closest is probably the blanket term of “Disney Channel Stars,” like Zendaya, Ariana Grande, and Sabrina Carpenter, all of whom had to fight to step out from under the category before moving on to bigger and better things career-wise. Then, there are actors like those on the hit series Riverdale or (going back even further), Freaks and Geeks, who, once their projects came to an end, had to work extra hard to ensure they would be taken seriously in more “adult” genres.
As for the Brat Pack, while we will always cherish the classic teen comedies and dramas that they gave us back in the day, we just as much love seeing them pop up in productions centered more towards adults. After all — we aren’t teens anymore either.
The Breakfast Club is now streaming on AMC+. Stay tuned to Collider for more to come from MegaCon Orlando.
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