Andrew McCarthy’s Brat Pack Unpacked: Let’s Talk About “BRATS”
Welcome to this emergency episode of The Pop Culture Preservation Society -- smack dab in the middle of our series of summer reruns, supersized with all new conversations. But something happened on June 13th that necessitated this disruption of our summer hiatus. And that is that Andrew McCarthy's documentary BRATS was released -- in which he explores his role in the so-called brat pack and tracked down his brat pack compatriots (some of whom he hadn't seen for more than 30 years) to get their take on the whole phenomenon. Shortly after the doc was released, Carolyn sent an urgent message to Michelle and Kristin saying that people were reaching out to us, wanting our take on the film. Everyone wanted to talk about it. Badly. And so we unpacked our mics and got to work. In this episode, we dissect the article that coined the term Brat Pack and how for us – the members of Generation X – the Brat Pack was historic in the way it spoke to us, acknowledged us, and reflected ourselves back at us; our hopes and dreams, our aspirations, the people we wanted to be or NOT be – while simultaneously validating us with the sheer honesty of their stories and characters. Despite all of that, the documentary sheds light on how the entire Brat Pack phenomenon may have harmed the members of its exclusive club. This documentary is less biography and more psychological thriller in how we look back and see how all of our beloved Brat Packers survived or thrived in the storm. And, as usual, we have a lot to say about that!