Week Four – One Opening and One Ending

Have a look at the opening transcript of the documentary American Teen, below:

American Teen (2008)

Directed by Nanette Burstein

Narrator: Hannah Bailey: “August 24th, 8:00 a.m., Warsaw, Indiana. The first day of senior year. Warsaw is your typical Midwestern town, mostly white, mostly Christian, red state all the way, middle-class, but some very wealthy families and far-from-wealthy families, like mine.”

Voice Over (school administrator): “Good morning, staff and students, we’re going to have a wonderful day here at WCHS.”

Narrator: Hannah Bailey: Our Government teacher, Mr. Grose, taught us that America is a meritocracy. But here, it’s a total caste system.

At the top is the most popular group of girls, led by queen bee Megan Krizmanich. And then there are the jocks, who in our school are the basketball players. Colin Clemens is the star of the team, which means he’s second only to Jesus in Warsaw. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Jake Tusing, your quintessential marching-band nerd. Then there’s my best friend Clarke and me. I guess you could say we’re the in-betweens. This is all we’ve known since we were little kids, and in nine months, it’ll all be over. In the meantime, all we have to do is, you know, figure out who we really are and where we’re headed in life. Holy shit!

Now compare it to the closing letter, read by Brian (the Brain), in The Breakfast Club:

Brian Johnson: “Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…
Andrew Clark: …and an athlete…
Allison Reynolds: …and a basket case…
Claire Standish: …a princess…
John Bender: …and a criminal…
Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.”

Question: What is it that the comparison of the two pieces reveals to you?