(Ringwald), the juvenile delinquent (Nelson), the
geek (Hall), and the weirdo (Sheedy). These por-
trayals provided contemporary revisionings of these
stereotypes, making them more specific to the
1980’s. Sheedy, for example, depicted not some ge-
neric weirdo but a specifically 1980’s embodiment—
black-clad, vaguely Goth—and Ringwald provided a
1980’s take on the “girl next door”: waifish but ag-
gressive, clothes-conscious but obviously influenced
somewhat by punk styles popular at the time.
Pioneer film theorist Parker Tyler suggested in
his work that each new generation of film stars in-
cludes actors and actresses who come to embody ar-
chetypes common to human consciousness and cul-
ture. During the 1980’s, the Brat Pack arguably
fulfilled a similar function, embodying in their films
some of the stereotypes through which teens of the
1980’s made sense of their world. By repeatedly play-
ing similar roles in similar films throughout the de-
cade, these actors became icons in their own right.
For moviegoers of the era, it was difficult to think of
the “high school girl” or the “science nerd” without
immediately imagining Ringwald or Hall, respec-
tively.
Issues and Unease If the Brat Pack embodied cul-
turally resonant icons, however, their work did little
to explore the meaning or signifi-
cance of those icons. Thus, most
of their films, though entertain-
ing, were ultimately insubstantial,
more adept at illustrating issues
than at exploring the causes and
solutions of those issues. The
Hughes films seemed fatalistic,
even despairing, in their out-
comes. At the end ofThe Breakfast
Club, for instance, the five protag-
onists go home, their forced to-
getherness during a Saturday
spent in detention ended. For
one day, they have bonded, and
they plan to continue meeting as
the club of the film’s title, but lit-
tle in their parting scenes indi-
cates that they will succeed in
their newfound desire to break
down the walls dividing the high
school cliques to which they be-
long. Similarly, many viewers,
both then and since, have complained about the
ending ofPretty in Pink, in which Ringwald’s “teen
queen” chooses the handsome high school “hunk”
over the nerdy boy who seems more suited to her.
Again, Hughes seems to suggest that young people
must inevitably follow certain rules and strictures:
The pretty, popular girl must choose the handsome
boy and not experiment with other possibilities or
follow her heart. The ensemble’s most prominent
attempt at drama,St. Elmo’s Fire, with its multiple
story lines following a group of graduates through
their first year after college, failed to impress critics,
who found the dialogue trite and the plot unimagi-
native.Impact The Brat Pack was very much a phenome-
non of its decade. By the early 1990’s, many of the ca-
reers of the group had begun to fade, even that of
Molly Ringwald, who had been the most admired of
the core members. Most continued to act in inde-
pendent films or on television, notably Ally Sheedy,
and Emilio Estevez tried his hand at directing; how-
ever, only Demi Moore enjoyed a long and lucrative
career in mainstream films. Nevertheless, the Brat
Packers provided the decade that was their heyday
with iconic representations of American youth of
the time, and their successful collaborations with138 Brat Pack in acting The Eighties in America
Brat Packers Rob Lowe, left, and Emilio Estevez, right, flank fellow youth star Tom Cruise
at a Beverly Hills premiere party in 1982.(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)