How the Brat Pack Changed Hollywood Forever

Summary

• Hollywood transitioned in the 1980s to focus on youth narratives, led by Brat Pack actors.
• The documentary Brats explores the cultural significance of '80s films and their impact on Hollywood.
• The Brat Pack films revolutionized cinema by focusing on young adults and their friendships.

In the new Kids A documentary by Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy, the group's connection to transitional cinema made in the 1980s is explored in detail. The Brat Pack films of the mid-1980s are as much fun to watch as they are evidence of an ongoing transition in American film culture. A memorable coming of age movies like The breakfast club,16 candles,The fire of Saint-Elmo, And Pretty in pink gave young people a reflection of their own lives on the big screen which was previously unavailable in Hollywood cinema.

That of David Blum New York Review article coining the term “Pack of kids” positioned the actors as immature and somewhat unworthy of their success. However, despite their ages, the Brat Pack actors were talented artists at their craft. Definitive Brat Pack Players Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy brought refreshing qualities to Hollywood film culture. by creating a relevant perception of youth in films.

Hollywood was emerging from the new Hollywood era of the 70s

American cinema underwent major transitions in the mid-20th century

THE Kids The documentary's soundtrack, complete with all the best synthesized beats from the 1980s, is a perfect reminder of where Brat Pack films existed back in the day. In the 1980s, Hollywood was emerging from the new Hollywood era. Also known as the Hollywood Renaissance, The mid-1960s and early 1980s was a time in Hollywood cinema when directors had more influence over their productions.. At this time, new directors were coming to Hollywood and could author their work, whereas before, the major studios had limited output.

Essential directors of the new Hollywood era include Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorses and Steven Spielberg.

Before the Hollywood Renaissance, cinema was dominated by musicals and historical films. Released in the late 1960s, films like that of Arthur Penn Bonnie and Clydethat of Mike Nichols The graduationand that of Dennis Hopper EasyRiderdefined and launched the new Hollywood era, signaling that the tides are shifting away from Hollywood's old ways. The essential directors of the New Hollywood created more commandeered and individualized narratives. This shift paved the way for more realistic and daring cinema to push previous boundaries of personal expression by characters and directors. This transition paved the way for young people's personal narratives to take shape in the 1980s.

Hollywood realized that films about young people could make a lot of money

The Brat Pack was formed at a pivotal time for young people in Hollywood and beyond

In The kids, McCarthy focused on the transitions that occurred in the 1980s that led to the rise of the Brat Pack. Susannah Gora, author of You couldn't ignore me if you tried, spoke about the role malls played in the youth movement of the 1980s Kids interview. Teenagers went to shopping malls to watch movies with their friends, which further encourages filmmakers to conquer young audiences. Bret Easton Ellis, author of Less than zero, echoed the same sentiment. He said teens were willing and able to invest their time in purchasing tickets hours in advance, thereby guaranteeing their spot.

Tim Hutton's role in
Ordinary people
in 1980 paved the way for a more honest representation of young people in cinema. In 1981, at just 20 years old, Hutton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, signaling that audiences accepted Hutton's honest portrayal of the young adult. Even today, Hutton is the youngest actor to win this award, confirming the importance of the transition for Hollywood.

Andrew McCarthy also interviewed Malcolm Gladwell in Kids to explain the social changes orbiting around the Brat Pack. Gladwell explains that the group's moniker signified a generational transition that was happening in Hollywood. The Brat Pack label signified the transformation to a new era of Hollywood, as the pun on the Rat Pack pointed out. As Gladwell explained, the “Pack of kids” the label would not have had such staying power if it had not been a metaphor for this broader cultural shift. This was the time when Hollywood began to focus on the lives of young people, and the Brat Pack was in charge.

Before The Brat Pack, Hollywood Hadn't Focused on Young Actors as Main Movie Engines

Before The Brat Pack, Hollywood relied on adults or young children to drive the narrative

Before the Brat Pack, Hollywood had failed to tap into the potential of young adults. as the main driving forces of the films. Films traditionally focused on adults or people much younger. Gora described the cultural shift wrought by the Brat Pack in terms of his experience, remembering that films were for spectators only. “adult things” either serious or comical. She explained how the quotable and quintessential Brat Pack movie The breakfast club This changed that for her, as it was the first film she saw dealing with events in her life. In this way, she said, the Brat Pack films were “the golden age of children’s cinema.”

The Brat Pack films gave bonds between friends the same status in films as those central bonds previously reserved for romantic love.

Gore explains that part of the appeal of focusing on young people in films is that they created a visual model of the friend groups young people desperately wanted to have. The Brat Pack films gave bonds between friends the same status in films as those central bonds previously reserved for romantic love. Michael Oates Palmer, a screenwriter interviewed in The kids, echoes the idea that the Brat Pack films were successful not only because they focused on youth culture, but also because they “took the lives of young people seriously.”

Legendary 1980s director John Hughes perhaps described the era best in Hollywood. THE Kids The documentary features a clip of Hughes calling on the youth of the time “a very receptive audience“This echoes how author Bret Easton Ellie described youth culture and films, namely that young people are sponges who absorb everything around them. Toward the end of the film, Rob Lowe adds in his interview that not only is youth culture where the films landed in the 1980s, but that's also where they have remained ever since the culture made this transition.