Nelson Muntz: The Simpsons character who was inspired by ‘The Breakfast Club’
The 1980s was a revolutionary decade for American cinema, with commercial franchises allowing studios to create manic fandoms behind many of its most profitable series. Everything from Star Wars to RoboCop was considered to be an integral Hollywood franchise, all whilst the definitive style of the era informed the visual qualities of emerging American cinema, with John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club having a considerable impact on the future of coming-of-age storytelling.
Emerging as a formidable filmmaking talent in the early 1980s, Hughes would eventually become one of the decade’s most crucial directors, with his second movie, 1985’s Breakfast Club, being particularly influential. Telling the story of a group of unlikely high-schoolers who each find themselves in the same detention, Hughes’ tale demonstrates how identities are forged and moulded throughout our adolescence, even if his message has dated over the years.
With a cast of young actors, including Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson, who would later go on to gain cult stardom, the film remains a favourite for many lovers of ‘80s nostalgia. Yet, whilst it would have an immeasurable impact on whimsical teenagers across the world, it would also go on to heavily inspire the landscape of popular culture.
One such cultural icon that the movie had a profound impact on was The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who used one of the film’s characters as direct inspiration for one of the animation’s youngest comedy icons.
Nelson Muntz is the all-laughing, all-punching bully of Springfield Elementary School, who terrorises the students along with his dull-eyed goons Jimbo and Kearney. Although he begins his time in the celebrated animation as a one-dimensional bully, as the seasons go on, he becomes something of an anti-hero, showing his softer sides in several episodes dedicated solely to the character.
His character and style are based partly on the actor Judd Nelson, who plays the similarly flawed bully John Bender in The Breakfast Club. A stylish character in the movie who would go on to define youth fashion in the early ’80s, Bender was also a complex figure who shared a fragile relationship with his father, who violently punished him for misbehaviour.
The name Nelson Muntz makes reference to the actor as well as the wrestling move, the Full Nelson, with both being used as the original inspiration behind the character.
Take a look at a classic clip of Muntz in action in The Simpsons below.
