Psychology and the Media: The Breakfast Club

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The first movie ever created was made by Louis Le Prince on October 14 in 1888, back then all movies were silent and the movie theatre was consider a simpler, cheaper way to entertain the masses. Since 1888 millions of movies have been made in every language and in every part of the world. Many of those movies have a connection with psychology and its theories, my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club which has a connection with the contact hypothesis of Gordon Allport. The Breakfast Club was made in 1985 and since then it has been used by various psychologist to explain psychology theories in a simple way. The Breakfast Club is a movie made in nineteen eighty-five, directed by John Hughes. The plot follows five students at Shermer High School, as they attend for Saturday detention on March 24 on nineteen eighty-four. The students are not complete strangers to each other, but the five of them are from completely different cliques or social groups. John Bender “The Criminal” is one of the worst behaved kids in school, does drugs and is always involved in some kind of trouble, Claire Standish “The Princess” is one of the most popular girls in school, all the guys want to date her. Brian Johnson “The Brain” is the typical nerd, he is really smart in school, but has no idea about relationships, parties or drugs. Andy Clark “The Athlete” is a really popular kid in Shermer High, he is the varsity letterman, captain of wrestling team and a ladies man. Finally the last student in the detention is Allison Reynolds “The basket Case” she barely talks to anyone in the school and act really weird when approached. The school’s disciplinary principal, Mr Vernon, gives the students the assignment of writing an essay about “who you think you ar... ... middle of paper ... ...nd encouraged by institutional supports, the teacher did not allow any type of contact between the students. However it worked out better than if contact was allowed. In this particular situation, the prohibition of communication among the students actually encouraged them to talk, just to defy the rules and make the detention more enjoyable. Lastly, the results were achieved to reduce inter-group tensions and promote perceptions of common interests and common humanity. The students realized they were misjudging each other by stereotypes, they learned and by opening up to one another they had a lot in common and made good connections. The movie teaches us to look beyond the cover and into who someone is as a person. We also learn that sometimes contact with people makes us reconsider our judgement towards them, to find out the real person underneath.

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