Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.Poster child for '80s-era high school angst. New cast member of Jem and the Holograms. Budding contributor to This American Life. Wait, what?
Yesterday's episode of TAL featured a segment in which host Ira Glass interviewed former teen star Molly Ringwald about watching The Breakfast Club with her 10-year-old daughter, Matilda. Turns out that she had been avoiding watching the film at sleepovers, prompting Mom to take matters into her own hands. In the name of journalism and good radio, Ringwald recorded the experience.
Though the tween was blissfully unaware of the film's mature themes — she had no clue what it is Claire "didn't do" — the concept of tough parents hit home. When asked which of the film's characters she most related to, she chose Brian, the softspoken nerd played by Anthony Michael Hall. Why? Because she understood how it feels to be pressured by your folks to do well in school, she said, breaking out into a sob.
This was news to Ringwald, who admitted she now feels sorry for the parents in the film. Though she was confident that Matilda would find it hard relating to the teens' issues, she saw the impact created from battling with her daughter over homework. Are these feelings just inevitable? Or, as Ally Sheedy declared, does your heart really die when you grow up? Way to lay a guilt trip, kiddo.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the grilling Matilda's bound to give Mom when she moves onto Pretty in Pink. After all, Duckie's rejection as a romantic suitor deserves a few tears, doesn't it? (This American Life)