My 14 year old (now 17) and I have been rewatching films that are dear to me and (hopefully) interesting to her. The growth in John Hughes from 16 Candles (which did not hold up well… or perhaps at all) to the Breakfast Club and then Ferris Bueller was incredibly fun and gave us a lot to talk about. Her favorite lines are, “Pardon my French, but you’re an asshole! Asshole!” And, “Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.” This growth was not linear, he filmed Breakfast Club and Ferris at the same time, but you see incredible development in the films.
Breakfast Club has (even if you include the parents – one of the only times we see John Hughes. And his wife). It is a lonely movie, set in a large school and the pace of the movie is so Saturday. You would not see Carl during a regular session in the library on a Tuesday, he and the principal drinking Schlitz beers as Carl extorts him? Not a Thursday occurrence at Shermer High (https://thebreakfastclub.fandom.com/wiki/Shermer_High_School). As many have remarked, the movie is a play – done exceptionally well.
What do we know about the jotter from other films? It has many purposes, but primarily it displays an easy-to-overlook dignity. The hero rarely, if ever, has a jotter because you know her or him immediately. When the hero does have a jotter that means that the culture of the film and the story are so horrific that their nobility must be even more obvious than usual (examples: Se7en and Zodiac). The pen in Breakfast Club finds its way into an unlikely benevolent accomplice — Carl.
Enter the master of Shermer’s custodial arts. Perhaps you like Carl, especially when he calls out Principal Vernon for reading files labeled confidential. At least, you like him if you’re on the kid’s side and understand the movements of the film. Carl is the only character who, literally, gets the best of every other character in the film. Bender and Allison don’t like him for exactly one minute, until he leaves with the spectacular nod to the students, “by the way, that clock is 20 minutes slow”.
Bender tries to mock him, alongside Brian ignoring his obvious friendship with Carl. Andrew and Claire are trying to be cooler than the moment, but if Carl doesn’t get the better of Bender on balance of their little fight, he wins them all over with the clock reference. And I might add, Bender gave up fighting with Carl — who else does this happen with? Who else gets the last word with John Bender?
Vernon tries both to dodge Carl’s wisdom about the kids and the illegal file-reading Vernon is doing out of boredom and general malice. A question for another writer is, who is the true terrorist of the film – Vernon or John? We don’t know if he successfully blackmails Vernon for the 50 bucks. We do see them sharing beers later without Vernon realizing the janitor is wiser towards all-things-Shermer than he is. Though Carl knows it, “I am the eyes and the ears of this institution.” Capelos’ character was a collaborative move on Hughes’ part. He began with Rick Moranis, who was going to play the janitor as a Russian-immigrant. The producer put his foot down against that idea. There was also, at one point, a gym teacher named Robin. Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and a co-producer objected to the objectification of Robin through a peeping tom incident by Vernon. Hughes responded by giving Carl Robin’s lines.
These moves display the change in Hughes from 16 Candles and Weird Science to Breakfast Club/Ferris, etc. In a pretty far-reaching article, Molly Ringwald talks about the movie’s staying power and also the confrontations and/or engagements with John Hughes.
In one scene Carl has one jotter, in a later scene two. He doesn’t pull one out ever, there is no need for Carl to grow or transform as a character. He may be the only whole person in the entire film. And he was Shermer’s man of the year in 1969. Unpack that in light of Vernon and the Breakfast Club proper! What happened to him between Man of the Year in 1969 and March of 1984?
Capelos did a lot of work we never saw for Hughes in the Breakfast Club, but if you wonder about his comedic chops, he is the bohunk in 16 Candles, and had a nice career.
All this to say: only Carl gets the better of, literally, everyone else in the film. The jotter gives you a hint of that, if you will but follow it. 🙂
Jotter in Film 