Changes
Nothing survives the span of time like coming of age and growing pains. It’s something every teen must endure to enter into the “real world” and claim their place in adult society. It doesn’t matter if one believes themselves to be upper class or lower class, popular or unpopular; every teen experiences the difficulty of growing up, and the struggle to triumph over high school. Though many try to rush this process some are in no hurry to join the ranks of adulthood and walk down the inevitable path that leads to becoming one’s parents. Because at one time or another most have exclaimed, “I will never be like my parents”. This is the underlying theme that binds together the characters in John Hughes’s film “The Breakfast Club”.
Hughes is the writer and director of “The Breakfast Club” which was released in February 1985. Although this movie is almost 29 years old, it is still just as applicable to today’s society as it was then. Hughes is also known for other films of the same era which include, “Sixteen Candles”, “Pretty in Pink”, and “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off”. These films also feature the issues of teens, but their main focus is to be an entertaining story. They do not compare to the impact “The Breakfast Club” had, even though many of the same actors starred in these other films as well. Some may find it hard to believe that Ringwald and Hall were still in high school when they filmed this movie, while the other three “teen” actors were in their 20’s.
The movie has five main characters that play five different, but common teenage personalities. “A brain” Brian Ralph Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “an athlete” Andy Clark (Emilio Estevez), “a basket case” Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “a princess” Clair...
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...he intended punishment. Although they are changed mentally because of their experience, they are all wondering what will come of their newfound friendship Monday morning when they get back to school. Will strangers stay strangers or has the day created new friendships that will be acknowledged in the presence of their peers?
This film was seen as such a powerful force and accurate display of teen issues that many parents, teachers, and even religious leaders advocated it. Although a source of debate due to its controversial content, the “R” rating it received was forgiven by many. “The Breakfast Club” will definitely leave an impression, whether watched by teens or adults, and is likely a film that one will watch many times. Because of the authenticity Hughes brought to this film, the overall theme was, and still is, one that can’t easily be ignored or forgotten
Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a movie released in 1986 of three teenagers who takes a much-needed day off in their senior year of high school. We are first introduced Matthew Broderick who plays Ferris Bueller. Ferris fakes a cold and a fever in order to stay home from school. Ferris best friend Cameron Frey who is played by Alan Ruck is also staying home sick from school. Cameron is a 17-year-old male high school student who clearly isn't happy. We are not told what his parents do for a living however we are lead to believe that they are well off financially. Ferris relates to the audience
Jean is the housewife and mom of three boys. One of the boys, Sodapop, shares most if not all of his DNA with her. Jean has a high school diploma, but no college degree. As a result of having to take care of three kids and a house, she is unable to have a job. Sarah Hyland is a good fit for this role, because she looks like a housewife and is able to fit the role of being humble.
Catherine Hardwicke’s illuminating Thirteen is a sobering film of uncommon emotional potency. The picture focuses on Tracy (the wondrous Evan Rachel Wood), a sensitive, impressionable, profoundly confused teen, who out of desperation and uncertainty, turns to nihilism. Some have deemed the picture lurid and exploitative, but for the more liberal-minded, its message is significant and has value. Thirteen does not condone or glorify reckless, self-destructive behavior; rather it warns adolescents of the dangers and temptations they will surely be confronted with, while concurrently stressing the need for parental guidance and insight.
What can you learn about adolescence by watching five very different teens spend Saturday detention together? With each and everyone of them having their own issues weather it be at home, school, or within themselves. During this stage of life adolescents are seen as rude, disrespectful, and out of control. But why is this? Is it truly all the child’s fault? Teens have to face quite a few issues while growing up. Adolescence is the part of development where children begin push back against authority and try to figure out who they are or who they are going to become. Therefore, we will be looking at adolescent physical changes, their relationships, cognitive changes and the search for identity as depicted in the movie The Breakfast Club (Hughes,1985).
In the film The Breakfast Club there are various social psychological theories and concepts that describe the inner selves of the characters. The characters in the film are initially perceived in a certain manner by each other because of knowing the way they behave in school and the type of people and environment they surround themselves with in school. However one detention on a Saturday brings these characters together and throughout the film their true personalities and behaviors start to reveal themselves by means of social psychological theories and concepts. The characters individually and as a group display their personalities through theories and concepts of social psychology. At the very start of the film, one of the concepts displayed is the acceptance type of conformity. The principal assigns the characters (students) to complete a task and because he is a figure of authority, the characters accept having to complete the task by the end of the day without any attempts to alter that. One of the students, Claire Standish, is revealed to display the concept of narcissism, which is unfortunately a dark side of herself. This is evident as Claire claims that she is popular and loved by her fellow schoolmates and seems to care and showcase her rich and beauty too much. She is, as her detention-mates discover, full of herself. In addition this also shows signs of the spotlight effect theory which can relate to Claire in that she believes that her schoolmates look at her and pay so much attention to her appearance add rich, spoiled-like behavior. Another character to show a theory of social psychology is Allison Reynolds. In the film, Allison is a character with an introvert personality, although she also displays strange and...
John Hughes’ 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, gives countless examples of the principles of interpersonal communication. Five high school students: Allison, a weirdo, Brian, a nerd, John, a criminal, Claire, a prom queen, and Andrew, a jock, are forced to spend the day in Saturday detention. By the end of the day, they find that they have more in common than they ever realized.
The character this film is primarily centered around is Will Hunting. Will lives in a tattered house in a bad neighborhood in the city of Boston. He grew up in foster care where he sustained continual physical abuse as a child. Will has a few close friends he is always with but never opens up about anything below surface level. Will is incredibly gifted with intelligence however he works as a custodian at the highly prestigious school, MIT. Professor Lambeau teaches advanced mathematics at MIT and is the one who discovers Will’s incredible talent for solving advanced mathematical theory. Professor Lambeau has high hopes for Will and pushes him into getting jobs with prestigious employers so that his gift is not wasted working as a custodian. Chuckie Sullivan is one of the closest of Will’s friends. They’ve known each other for years and Chuckie drives Will to work every day. Chuckie cares for Will and realizes the gift that he has and tries to convince Will he should be doing something of greater importance with his life. Skylar is a college stu...
The film being analysed is the Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes. Trapped in Saturday detention are 5 stereotyped teens. Claire, the princess, Andrew, the jock, John, the criminal, Brian, the brain, and Allison, the basket case. At 7 am, they had nothing to say, but by 4 pm; they had uncovered everything to each other. The students bond together when faced with the their principal, and realise that they have more in common than they think, including a hatred for adult society. They begin to see each other as equal people and even though they were stereotyped they would always be The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club highlights a variety of pressures that are placed upon teenagers through out high school. One of the most challenging aspects of screenwriting is creating characters that an audience can identify with, relate to, and be entertained by.
Social Psychology is the study of how we think and relate to other people. These psychologists focused on how the social situation influences others behavior. We see social influences everywhere we go, but might not notice it. Like when watching a movie for fun you do not notice it as much as when you are actually looking for the behaviors, like in the film The Breakfast Club. There are several examples of social psychological behaviors in the film.
People like John Hughes made some lasting changes in the way that teenagers are depicted onscreen. Seeing the real, down-to-earth concerns of teenagers being dramatized is much more common today than it was in the 1980s. Teenagers in films today will frequently discuss their issues like the protagonists in the Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club was one of the first films to deconstruct the high school archetypal characters, but these character types are frequently subverted today. John Hughes managed to stand apart from many other writers and directors in his day by taking a whole genre of films in a new direction.
Breakfast Club film contained a wide variety of behavior and stereotypes. Each person had their on personality and taste at the beginning of the film. I believe that communication played the biggest part in the movie. It shows the way that people from totally different backgrounds can communicate and even agree on issues. The various types of communication and behaviors within the film will be discussed.
In the movie The Breakfast Club, five seemingly different adolescents are assigned Saturday detention where they learn that although they each fit a particular stereotype, they all have the same characteristics, but they are expressed differently because they have different experiences, strengths and weaknesses that makes them who they are. In the movie, Bender is the “criminal”, Brian is the “brain” and Allison is the “psychopath.” Each of their situations, strengths and weakness are similar to students that are in our classrooms currently or we may have in our classrooms in the future. For each student it is important to understand their learning differences and as a teacher, how I can use their strengths to help them become successful students.
The film continues on into the lunchroom scene in which the films narrative brings up another strong point. The point that teenagers have little depth to their friendships and to their lives in general. In the lunchroom scene we are taken on a tour of the cliques in the school. Like every school there are the jocks, nerds, potheads, wealthy kids,etc. But the similar charectaristic in each group is their lack of concern with each other. Their selfish attitudes and behaviors consume every idea and action. This aspect of narrative points out the selfish behaviors of the youth then and
In Not another Teen Movie their story line is making fun of the characters from She’s All That. In She’s All That the popular guy is dumped by his prom queen girlfriend, which makes his friends come up with the bet that he cannot turn an unpopular girl into the prom queen. They pick the girl they think cannot be turned into prom queen Laney Boggs and Janie Briggs in Not Another Teen Movie, both characters are artists, but Not another Teen Movie has Janie making stick figures instead of well-drawn out people. At first Laney and Janie did not want anything to do with Zack Siler and Jake Wyler; they knew they wanted something because they are popular and never speak to them, but they let their guards down and hang out with them anyway. Not another Teen Movie leads with turning an unpopular girl into prom queen as their main point to the movie with many other movie moments packed in the middle.
The Breakfast Club. Dir. John Hughes. A&M Films Channel Production, 1985. Perf. Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Esteves. Film.