# Breakfast Club and the Confederate Flag? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336 "2001-04-01T04:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/41 "2014-11-18T02:23:54Z")
**BigT** , having been a voter in that[2001 NAVA survey](http://www.nava.org/flag-design/survey/state-provincial-survey-2001) I’ve got a bit of a vested interest (woohoo, we’re #7! we’re #7! we’re #7! 😛 and my onetime adopted state is doing even better at #4 😉 ). Notice GA2001 was voted to the bottom of the entire pile, it just contained too many vexillological errors in one same place; though I must say, the ones that spell out the state name in big bold letters are IMO the ultimate embrace of fail. > [@jtur88](#): > > Nothing I said implied that the director made a specific point to seek out the flag and use it. Now, now: it was\*\*\* the long- ago OP\*\*\* who asked the question: _“Just what the heck is the stars and bars doing in a Chicago suburban high school and is there any significance to it?”_ Since the film was a scripted, directed work, **it was a legitimate question** , though it arose from a misconception. The OP was asking, is there a reason this school would normally display it, and/or is it there because of a point being made. The answer, of course, there is and a very humdrum reason at that: that it’s part of a display of state and historic flags in a library (and it WAS a re-created set, they shot in a school that had been closed 3 years earlier); in your words, “a collection of the kinds of things that would ordinarily been a part of the scenery”. OP’s question objectively answered. _However_, in the OP’s question: _"…what the heck is the stars and bars doing in a Chicago suburban high school…?_ we can see that he has \*misconstrued \* both what the object was and, more importantly, **what would be the appropriate circumstances for its exhibition**. OP came across as unaware that representations of the Confederate Battle Flags have always been legitimate items to display in an history-education context in any school library in the 50 states, not just the South. HOWEVER regardless of times, you could \*\*\*not \*\*\* “just put up a flag if you wanted” on the school walls. You’ve \*\*\*always \*\*\*had to have the approval or at least forebearance of the school administration. > [@](#): > > As for my"punishment" reference, any student who put up such a flag today would almost certainly be suspended or even expelled from the school. Except that in the context discussed it is not something that was put up by the student character, but very obviously something that was\* being exhibited **by the library** \*, so that should not even be in question. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/42 "2014-11-18T03:06:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Agreed. Here’s a (slightly blurry) [screenshot](http://s30.postimg.org/ibxkdsmf5/breakfast_club_georgia_flag.jpg). And here’s the [then current Georgia state flag](http://www.flag-works.com/images/Georgi7.jpg). Thanks for the screen grab. The flag closest to the camera on the right side looks like [Virginia’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia#mediaviewer/File:Flag_of_Virginia.svg). ---
**Author:** ![PatrickPage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@PatrickPage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickPage)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/43 "2016-10-12T19:45:48Z")
I did not see the Confederate Battle flag, what I saw was a library with the American flag, the Betsy Ross flag and what looked like many state flags which all seemed to be the 13 original states. All these flags, can be viewed at [Flag-Works state flag page](http://www.flag-works.com/state_flags.htm) In the smoking scene with Emilio Estevez I saw Rhode island, Tennessee, and Virginia. I’m sure there are others ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/44 "2016-10-12T20:42:56Z")
[Better picture](http://i.imgur.com/uX8hmMA.jpg). Definitely the GA state flag that was in use from 1956-2001. Completely accurate for a movie set in 1985. As noted above, the flag in the foreground is VA. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/45 "2016-10-12T20:45:12Z")
> [@keeper0](#): > > On the other hand, the director may have added it to the background for reasons which may defy logic. As in, had Rennie Harlin made the film, it would have been a Finnish flag… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/46 "2016-10-12T21:35:53Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I remember, there was once a time when people could do as they pleased. If you wanted to put up a flag, you could put up, and you would not be surgically dissected to try to see what punishment is appropriate for putting it up. There was never a time when people could do as they pleased. What there was was a time when white people could do what they pleased and black people were warned not to complain about it. Nowadays, black people are allowed to be offended so white people have to consider the feelings of black people. Black people see this as an improvement. Most white people see this as an improvement. But some white people miss the good old days when they didn’t have to care about what black people thought. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/47 "2016-10-12T23:39:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There was never a time when people could do as they pleased. What there was was a time when white people could do what they pleased and black people were warned not to complain about it. > > Nowadays, black people are allowed to be offended so white people have to consider the feelings of black people. Black people see this as an improvement. Most white people see this as an improvement. But some white people miss the good old days when they didn’t have to care about what black people thought. Well done. You sure told two-years-ago **jtur88** \* what’s what… \*N.B. I don’t claim to know whether or not 2016 **jtur88** holds the same opinions as two-years-ago **jtur88**. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/48 "2016-10-14T21:09:32Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > [Better picture](http://i.imgur.com/uX8hmMA.jpg). Definitely the GA state flag that was in use from 1956-2001. Completely accurate for a movie set in 1985. As noted above, the flag in the foreground is VA. Coincidentally, when Clarence Thomas was nominated for the Supreme Court, he was charged by some with having a Confederate flag in his office. It was, in fact, a Georgia state flag, representing his home state. Once Anita Hill came along, that issue died off quickly. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/49 "2016-10-15T09:55:03Z")
> [@Kepi](#): > > According to the [Neo-Maxi-Zoomdweebie](http://members.nbci.com/breakfstclub/) website, _The Breakfast Club_ was filmed almost entirely at Maine North High School in Des Plaines, IL, which at the time had been closed for a few years. It’s now a police station. Some exterior shots were filmed at John Hughes’ alma mater Glenbrook North High School, which is located on Shermer Road in Northbrook, IL - hence Shermer High School. > > Also from this site, the “library” was actually a set built inside the gymnasium of Maine North High. Of course, none of this answers the question as to why a Confederate flag appears in the movie. Instead, it only confirms that, since it was a set, the flag was indeed deliberately placed in the scene. The significance of the flag, however, remains elusive. Do we know that the flag has any significance at all? Could it be that the script called for “3 flags” and this was the first one to be found? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/50 "2016-10-15T12:42:13Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Do we know that the flag has any significance at all? Could it be that the script called for “3 flags” and this was the first one to be found? Actually, answered years ago, if you read the whole of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/51 "2016-10-15T16:20:05Z")
Now, do you all remember the alternative ending where the adults become kids and enter the classroom to sit next to our main characters? That was weird. Only on VHS in New Zealand, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ladydog1980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/839c29/32.png) [@Ladydog1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ladydog1980)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/52 "2019-05-21T06:26:28Z")
As many times as I’ve seen this movie how did I miss this flag. I saw it in a scene from “The Goldbergs” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336/53 "2019-05-21T06:47:06Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Actually, there was never a time when “people could do as they pleased.” There have always been symbols that have been taboo, and punishments for the people who violated those taboos (some much more severe than the social condemnation used today). > > There was, however, a time when it was O.K. to keep certain people as slaves, and later a time when it was O.K. to discriminate. In those times, symbols that we now consider to be offensive could be displayed. Those were not good times. Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch! :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-club-and-the-confederate-flag/60336.md?page=2)