Breakfast Club is about five children who are held in Saturday detention. Each child has their own personality and unique reasons for being detained. The group is initially unable to mix because of their diverse personalities. The group is assigned an essay and told to remain in the library between 8am and 3pm. The group starts to bond with one another, mostly because of one of the children’s constant teasing and provocative behavior. The movie ends and they start to get to know one another. The movie ends with them all becoming friends. Andrew Clark is a jock. Brian Johnson is a geek. John Bender is a rebel. Claire Standish is a princess. Allison Reynold is a loner. Richard Vernon is the teacher. The Breakfast Club is a great example of social inequality.
The main message of the movie was to discover “who you are”. The movie slowly reveals the character’s unique qualities and helps us to get to know them. Culture diversity and the impact of society on youth is the second concept. This includes countercultures as well as subcultures. The director did an excellent job in helping each character to become a subculture and gave them a personality that was representative of the subculture. The Breakfast Club shows the society of an 80’s high school, complete with its subcultures and anti-cultures. The movie teaches lessons about subculture and shows how people from different cultures behave. It also gives insight into the family structure and effects of primary groups. Each of the kids in the group suffered from a family problem and felt pressured to do so. Each child is forced to act the way they are because of this pressure. Andrew Clark, a varsity wrestler, is currently working towards a scholarship. His father is proud of everything he does, but he doesn’t think it is enough. His father often told stories about how Andrew would be disruptive at school and how “cool” it was. Andrew decided to follow the bad example of his father and bullied a child in the locker-room. Andrew confesses to his guilt to the group. Andrew’s father insists on winning and is angry when Andrew doesn’t live up to his expectations. Brian Johnson is your typical geek. He is a member in good standing of numerous academic clubs and holds an average grade. Brian is not pushed to his limits by his parents. However, they are very supportive of him and place great pressure on him to stay in good grades. Bryan was so affected by this pressure that he considered suicide after he failed a shop project. John Bender was raised in an abusive home. John shows us how he remembers a day at home in the Bender household. They would often exchange swear words and engage in fights. John even tried to show his father that he had given him a cigar burn on the forearm. John’s behavior comes from his father. John rebels because it’s all he can do. Allison Reynolds is quiet outsider and only speaks in the final quarter. Her family problem is obvious; they ignore Reynolds. She is the result of the isolation she experiences at home. Claire Standish has a very unique family life. Her family is well-off and she seems to enjoy her close relationship with them. Later, we learn that she is crushed by her family’s expectations of perfection. She is called a prune throughout her movie. This refers to her family wealth and the assumption of looking down on others because she has financial problems.
The teacher responsible for overseeing the detention of the children is Mr. Vernon. As a teacher, Mr. Vernon portrays himself as strict and calls out Bender to show his authority over the group. He is concerned about how others view him. Mr. Vernon accepts his strict teaching role and has already accepted it. Micro perspective suggests that Mr. Vernon’s impact has been both negative and positive on the lives of his students. The negative effect;
Although most of the group had never encountered Mr. Vernon before this movie, it’s clear that Bender is familiar with him. Vernon is very critical of Bender throughout the film. Bender is called names and used to set an example for the others. If we make assumptions, it is possible to say that Bender was subject to abuse in high school. This can lead to more welfare demand and makes the society more burdened. He had a positive effect. By forcing them to reflect on “who they are”, he enabled them to connect with each other and discover who they are. This enabled them to have a dialogue with other groups and to learn how to get help from third parties.
Feminist perspective: Peer socialization and our upbringing play a part of the feminist perspective. John views Claire as less than Claire and only cares about her beautiful looks throughout the movie. His actions show he doesn’t respect women. John starts to treat Claire with respect and dignity as the movie ends. Functionalist Perspective: The Saturday detention is a way for the community to serve its manifest and latent functions. The students are punished for being disruptive at school. However, Vernon’s latent function allows them to make new friends and work together against Vernon. Conflict Perspective: This is the view that conflicts between members of a group serve them well in the end. Because they all come from different backgrounds and are different types, they also have a lot in common. They can offer their different perspectives and share stories and feelings that help them each deal with their own problems. Symbolic perspective: The essay at film’s conclusion shows the symbolic viewpoint. Brian writes in the essay that everyone is a bit of something at the end. They admit that they are all odd and outcasts, and they don’t want to be associated with one group.
The Breakfast Club demonstrates that problems are not always obvious. To hide their problems, the characters pretend to be perfect so that others don’t notice their flaws. John is struggling with his abusive father. John acts tough to hide the impact his dad’s abuse on John. This message is suitable for young adults. It addresses the issues that teenagers may face as they grow up, and those that adults will encounter later in life. It reminds us that we shouldn’t judge people based on what they see outside. They might have hidden problems. The movie was made back in 1980 but is still relevant today.
