This is a must-read, especially if, as an adult, you’ve found it hard to reconcile some of the scenes in some of our favorite 80s movies. Molly Ringwald on The Breakfast Club and Claire and Bender’s “relationship”:
What’s more, as I can see now, Bender sexually harasses Claire throughout the film. When he’s not sexualizing her, he takes out his rage on her with vicious contempt, calling her “pathetic,” mocking her as “Queenie.” It’s rejection that inspires his vitriol. Claire acts dismissively toward him, and, in a pivotal scene near the end, she predicts that at school on Monday morning, even though the group has bonded, things will return, socially, to the status quo. “Just bury your head in the sand and wait for your fuckin’ prom!” Bender yells. He never apologizes for any of it, but, nevertheless, he gets the girl in the end.
Read the whole thing here. It’s excellent.