Summary
In Hulu’s new Brat Pack documentary,Brats, several pop culture and Hollywood experts are interviewed, but one curious inclusion stands out: Malcolm Gladwell. Brats,inspired by actor and former 1980s Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy’s memoirBrat: An ’80s Story, sees McCarthy traveling to interview his fellowBrat Pack actorsto discover how the label impacted them personally and professionally. Each had a different feeling about the infamous 1985New York Magazinearticle in which thehated Brat Pack nicknamewas coined that changed their lives forever.
Along with the actual Brat Pack members, McCarthy also interviewed various experts, from casting agents, to producers, to pop culture and movie critics, to writers. One of those experts is Malcolm Gladwell, who has some very passionate feelings about the everlasting Team Duckie vs. Team Blane argument from thequintessential Brat Pack moviePretty in Pink. Jokes aside,he also had some really insightful commentary on the Brat Pack phenomenonand how it impacted the zeitgeist, both of Hollywood and young people in the 1980s.
Who Is Malcolm Gladwell? His Career Explained
He’s A Thought-Provoking Writer
Malcolm Gladwell is a really interesting person. A journalist, author, podcaster, and all-around intellectual,Gladwell is one of our modern era’s biggest thinkers.His background in journalism was built through the 1980s and 90s, working for publications fromThe American SpectatortoThe Washington Post. After writing for those papers, he joined the staff atThe New Yorkerin 1996, where he’s been ever since.
However, Gladwell’s reputation as an intellectual really took off with the publication of his first book in 2000:The Tipping Point, which, controversially popularized the “broken windows” theory of policing. His second book,Blink, came in 2005, and it explored the ways humans subconsciously make informed decisions in a matter of seconds thanks to a wealth of information and experience behind them. By farhis most popular and successful book,Outliers, was published in 2008.It explored how a person’s environment, as well as their personal makeup, impacts their opportunities and their chances of success. It was Gladwell’sOutliersthat popularized the “10,000 hours to become an expert” rule. Since then, he’s published four more books.
Why Molly Ringwald & Judd Nelson Aren’t In The Brat Pack Documentary
Andrew McCarthy’s Brats documentary features several key Brat Pack alum, leading many to wonder why Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson don’t appear.
To be fair,Gladwell has been accused by critics of oversimplification of complex topics, and of being a little too enamored with his pet theories. In particular,The Tipping Pointhas come under fire for popularizing and supporting policing methods that have been proven incredibly harmful, specifically to communities of color. Still, there’s no denying that Gladwell likes his ideas big and that he gets his readers to also think bigger.
Why Malcolm Gladwell Was In The Brat Pack Documentary
He Offered Some Interesting Insight Into The Brat Pack Phenomenon
On the surface, it seems odd that inBrats, Andrew McCarthy made a point to seek out Gladwell and get his opinion on the Brat Pack phenomenon. But in the context of the documentary’s goal of exploring the Brat Pack not just from the perspective of its individuals,but also its larger impact on the zeitgeist of the time,it makes perfect sense. Gladwell has a knack for taking seemingly localized phenomena and extrapolating the larger patterns at play; such is the case with the Brat Pack.
Gladwell has a knack for taking seemingly localized phenomena and extrapolating the larger patterns at play; such is the case with the Brat Pack.
While “Brat Pack” was the name that stuck,it was merely a misleading label applied to a larger seismic shift happening in Hollywood at the time.These days, Hollywood revolves around the old and young alike. For every movie with a veteran actor, there are just as many movies with Timotheé Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and the rest of young Hollywood. But the 1980s' explosion of young actors had never been seen before. With the Brat Pack, a youth movement was started in Hollywood that threatened to wrest power and influence away from the aging and gritty mindsets of the New Hollywood era of the 1970s.
Considering the above, Gladwell was the right person to talk to,offering a unique perspective that helped McCarthy see the Brat Pack label, which he’d always perceived as the albatross around his neck, differently:
“The Brat Pack is signifying that a generational transition is happening in Hollywood…It was possible then in a way it’s not possible now. Nothing like that can happen anymore. We can’t have a cultural touchstone that everyone in their 20s can refer to. If you gathered a hundred 17-year-olds at random in America in 1986, 90% of them would have seen - or at least been conversant in - Pretty in Pink. No question! They wouldn’t even have had to see it to be able to hold a conversation about it. There is absolutely no cultural phenomenon, at the present time, of which that can be said. It’s not possible.”
While it’s a dubious argument that there is no pop culture touchstone in the modern day that most teens and young 20-somethings can talk about,Gladwell isn’t wrong about the power of the youth-oriented movies of the ’80s.The Breakfast Club, for example, is still shockingly relevant today, a classic for a reason. As Malcolm Gladwell helped show inBrats, the “Brat Pack” label came with just as much of a cultural positive impact as a personal negative one, and there’s a power in that.
Bratsis now available on Hulu.
Brats
Brats offers an in-depth look at the lives of military children, capturing the complexities of growing up on the move. Through heartfelt interviews and vivid storytelling, the documentary highlights the resilience and adaptability required to navigate frequent relocations.
