Photo: Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection/Getty Images
In Andrew McCarthy’s new documentary, Kidsthe actor conducts an in-depth retrospective on the “Brat Pack” title he and his fellow young actors were reluctantly given in the mid-’80s. Coined by new York David Blum of the magazine, as a play on “Rat Pack,” the term became a reluctant nickname for a troupe of young movie stars who were changing the cultural landscape with youth-oriented films like The breakfast club, Pretty in pinkAnd St. Elmo’s Fire. More than 30 years later, McCarthy and many of his former co-stars now rely on that label, as well as the cultural phenomenon it encapsulates, in Kids.
As the documentary investigates this unique moment in culture, one thing remains uncertain: could such a phenomenon happen today? Malcolm Gladwell argues that this is not possible because today’s youth culture is far too fractured. The absence of a monoculture would make it more difficult for such a clearly defined group to emerge, let alone have such a strong impact on culture and industry. On the other hand, Rob Lowe suggests that the Brat Pack paved the way for other youth-oriented cultural touchstones, like Joy and the CW. “You see this moment recycling each generation with different people, with different names and different places, but it’s the same story,” he says. “There will always be people who experience this moment in every generation.”
Perhaps both can be true, where a more fractured culture means there is not one all-powerful Brat Pack but rather different packs with varying impacts. With the principles of the original Brat Pack label in mind – and described in depth here – let’s think about what our modern equivalents might be.
Main members: Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Beanie Feldstein, Molly Gordon, Kaitlyn Dever, Ayo Edebiri.
This group of theater kids, led by Ben Platt because his name is the one that rhymes, may be the closest we currently have to the original Brat Pack due to their overlapping filmographies. For this group, their Breakfast Club East Theater camp – which features Gordon, Platt, Galvin and Edebiri. Gordon and Edebiri also star in The bear. Dever, meanwhile, starred in Dear Evan Hansen with Platt and Smart book with Feldstein, Galvin and Gordon. Feldstein and Platt will eventually star in Richard Linklater’s film Merry we ride when we’re all long dead, and that’s to say nothing of Alice by heart and its numerous workshops, for which we would need 1,000 additional words. It’s a canvas reminiscent of the Brat Pack, but many of the Platt Pack’s connections are actually much deeper, with lifelong friendships, engagements, and unrequited childhood crushes.
Prime Members: Your favorite social media creators.
The biggest difference between the cultural landscape of the 1980s and today is ALFA are off-air social media. While the appeal of the Brat Pack was that the public wanted to be a part of this group of friends, today’s itch is often scratched by social media creators, many of whom have adopted the Brat Pack labels themselves , now defunct (Vlog Squad, Hype House, Équipe 10, etc.). We are now seeing these influencers such as Tana Mongeau, Alix Earle, Jack Shane, Alex Cooper and many more teaming up for podcasts (and more importantly, the clips from said podcasts going viral on TikTok) and then guesting on each other in everyone’s broadcasts in an infinite loop. This constant cross-pollination, along with the rapidly changing landscape, makes it illusory to try to define just one specific group.
Main members: Charli XCX, Julia Fox, Rachel Sennott, Addison Rae, Troye Sivan, and more.
Hulu must have known this would be a Kid summer thanks to Charli XCX. Are dueling drops a synergy or an SEO nightmare? Who can say it! But fittingly, Charli has her own pack of kids — many of whom were on display in her “It” girl-filled music video for “360.” Rachel Sennott (part of the Platt Pack), Julia Fox, Chloë Sevigny, Gabbriette, Chloe Cherry, Blizzy McGuire, Quen Blackwell and more all made appearances. And who could forget frequent collaborator and queen of pop Addison Rae as well as tour co-headliner Troye Sivan?
Main members: the co-hosts of View
Just as the members of the Brat Pack are forever linked by a cultural entity larger than themselves, the many co-hosts of View. While The breakfast club had a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal – View has its own regular archetypes. There’s the journalist, the comedian, the lawyer, the former child star and the baby conservative, just to name a few.
Core members: Paul Mescal, Nicola Coughlan, Barry Keoghan, Andrew Scott, Kerry Condon, Ayo Edebiri.
Photo: Photo by Carlo Paloni/BAFTA via Getty Images.
The music industry in the 1960s experienced the British Invasion, and today Hollywood is in the midst of an “Irish Invasion.” There has been an influx of Irish stars recently, but unlike the breakup of the Brat Pack via ensemble films, this recent trend is largely the result of individual efforts. But once they gained enough traction, an all-Irish ensemble film titled St. Patrick’s Day Fire will surely be on the way.
Main members: Lexi Featherston, cigarette, window open.
No one is fun anymore! What happened to pleasure? God, I’m so bored I could die.
Main members: Olivia Rodrigo, Conan Gray, Iris Apatow, Madison Hu, Joe Locke, Louis Partridge.
Olivia Rodrigo’s group of friends, unlike the Brat Pack, was not put together by chance via a casting service. But this circle ultimately reflects the perception of the Brat Pack – a cool, young, sprawling group of friends – rather than its reality. As we learned in the documentary, the Brat Pack didn’t really spend much time outside of work – except for one night at Sammy Davis Jr.’s house which marked the only crossover between the Rat and Brat Packs.
In conclusion, if any of these names stick around and offend, I will happily participate in a documentary in 30 years where I apologize to Noah Galvin on camera.