jarilissima

Break My Heart, Why Don’t You?

After Easter, I kept mostly offline, just enjoying my time 🙂 Then I went into a brief rabbit hole of The Breakfast Club (1985) YouTube clips 😁 It’s such a cute, guilty-pleasure kind of movie for me, and I hadn’t seen it in a while!

I purchased it on Amazon, and was delighted to see a recent interview with Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy on YouTube.

Molly spoke about the movie still having relevance and connecting with audiences. It was such a fun interview! That is, until Molly sighed deeply and said, “But it was soooooo white.”

excuse me?

My good mood crashed and my smile faded. It was… “so white”?

I mean, I’m Puerto Rican and I loved the movie. I could relate most with Emilio Estevez’s character, Andrew Clark– because of all the crippling pressure his father was putting on him. I will always remember his monologue scene, which was quite amazing. I actually relate most to Andrew, even though he was playing a jock, and I was a huge nerd in school. Oh, and he’s a guy.

Let’s say they wanted less “white” actors and threw in a Puerto Rican. (We have more actresses than J-Lo…) What would have changed in the story? What’s a “Puerto Rican” problem as opposed to a “white” problem?

I returned the movie on Amazon and got a refund. It just kinda killed my mood. Broke my heart, really.

Issues I encountered in high school:

* Feeling like a social outcast.
* Parental pressure to succeed at all costs.
* Bullying.
* That crush that didn’t know I existed.
* Fear and stress about colleges and the future.
* Acne. So… much acne!
* Trying to figure out who I was and how I belonged in the world.

☝️ Are we all that different, you and I?

안녕! Bye! Ciao!

jarilissima

getting reeeeally uncomfortable with modern American media… 😬

31 comments

    • Yeah, it’s weird how everyone online decided instead of not being racist, to just change their flavor of racism. Like that makes it okay.

      Then there’s the strange racism of low expectations, such as claiming that being responsible is a “white” thing… (Just FYI I am very responsible all on my own!) But that’s another giant can of worms.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  2. I am so thankful for you! Division sells and we are being sold a whole bunch of division. Christ unites when we obey the path He has given us to walk. I am thankful for your experiences that are different than mine. It teaches me and helps me grow. You are loved!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We have differences and similarities, just like everyone else. It makes us unique and different, but also brings us together!

      Division is such a heartbreaking trend to see these days :-/

      It’s important to remember (especially in these strange times) that we are brothers and sisters in Christ 🙂 Hugs, my friend!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Race this and race that – I feel like everyone’s turbo sensitivity has done way more damage than good. I feel like just ten to twenty years ago we were better off race wise by acknowledging our different races and backgrounds and embracing it. There’s nothing wrong with Jarilissima – the Puerto Rican Woman. Or Me – the white male. That’s just who we are. It doesn’t define it. I feel like our backgrounds have exposed to some different experiences and probably a lot more similar experiences. It just feels like we’ve gone backwards.

    I agree with you though – is what made Breakfast Club such a classic and lovable movie is because of the universal high school experience. Regardless of race or gender we all remember how awkward and important that period of time for self discovery is.

    I hope this wasn’t too long winded. Good post. I’m sorry your heart has been broken.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • No worries, it isn’t long-winded, it’s a really good comment! I also feel like we’re going backwards and it’s really disappointing to see.

      I don’t usually bring up stuff like this on my blog (because there’s an overabundance of it everywhere else) but this time I was just trying to enjoy something simple and fun that I connected with, and BAM! Racism. For no apparent reason. Sigh.

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      • I feel like race issues were ignored for a long time. And for the past five years it’s been addressed and maybe even exploited by businesses and certain celebrities. And addressed in forums that don’t really matter (like the breakfast club 😂)

        Anyways hope you’re safe, happy and healthy!

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Well, you can blame it on news stations, which began putting labels on races and classes of people decades ago. For instance, I detest the term “minority” and don’t think of myself as one. Minority = Less than and I don’t believe that it was used merely when it comes to numbers.

    A man rescues a person from a lake. Does it matter what color he is? Not in my opinion. And why do they always have to disclose a person’s age? To me, it’s nobody’s business.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Great article! I didn’t expect you to go there but was elated you did. More people need to be standing up and speaking the truth that there isn’t much that divides us. Keep speaking truth and using your voice!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you for such a supportive comment 🙂 I usually don’t “go there,” but this was kind of the last straw for me.

      It was very annoying/disappointing/sad to see anti-white sentiment even in something so silly and small as an 80’s teen movie. One that I actually related to, not because the kids were white, but because they each had issues I had lived through and could understand. You know, because we’re all human!

      Thanks again! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Makes sense! As a white person, it’s really hard seeing this anti-white movement because it seems like you can’t stand up for yourself without getting shamed/shoved down for it. So, thank you so much for saying something!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Oh, wow. I didn’t even consider that. I’m really sorry to hear that, sounds super unfair and I wonder why people can’t see that it’s still absolutely 100% racism. Smh.

        Liked by 2 people

  7. Oh, that this old world would have the mind and heart of Jesus. But that’s the problem – it’s really a deep spiritual issue and one that Satan is using to divide us. God said that in Him there is neither male or female, Jew or Greek. God sees us all as His creation and He loves us. I wish we could do the same. Good blog, Yari.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I dream of a colourblind world, where we celebrate our differences but don’t let them define us or victimise us. A world where it truly doesn’t matter what your immutable differences are. Where we meet one another on an equal playing field and talk to another to see if we like each other – diversity of thought – and then decide whether we want to hang out with that person, not because of how they look.

    Like you said, we as a collective / society / human race seem to be going backwards. I can see it happening to myself and I truly hate what woke culture has done to me.

    For example, I enjoy watching a lot of Ted talks, which by default are rather left leaning – which is what I see myself as (left leaning moderate). However in recent years, they’ve become so woke, some videos are hard to watch. I never used to harbour any prejudice about anyone – I always met anyone with an open mind and curiosity-, until Ted started releasing those vids on anti racism, etc. Now every time I see a person of colour in their video thumbnails, my brain whispers ‘oh look, another video of a person telling me how rubbish white people are’ and I hate that apparently now, I am more prejudiced than I used to be and give myself a mental slap on the wrist every time. That’s not the kind of person I am and not the kind of person I want to be.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks so much for your comment and your honesty! I have distanced myself from a lot of American media because of that same issue. Anti-racism messages just sound like anti-white messages that don’t really help anybody. They’ve gotten so blatant, too, it’s shocking :-/

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • She could have said it better, IMO. There’s a difference between supporting diversity and just going “ugh, sooo white” 🙄

        I do wonder if she’s ever spoken up about Long Duk Dong from “Sixteen Candles,” another of her movies. That’s a Japanese guy playing a Chinese guy with a thick Korean accent and has a gong sound every time he appears.

        I’m sure it’s more trendy and popular to say “ugh, sooo white.”

        Liked by 1 person

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