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The film the “Breakfast Club,” is a movie about a group of stereotypical teenagers whom all received detention and must report to school on a Saturday. These students are known as Brian the “brain,” Claire the “princess,” Andrew the “athlete,” John the “criminal,” and Allison the “basket case.” Despite the different groups, they belong to, each student learns they are not as different as they thought they once were from one another. Spending eight hours with one another helps them, not only form a bond, but figure out their own identity as well. When taking a closer look, psychologically, the audience learns that they behave certain ways because of how they were brought up and what is expected of them by the people that they surround themselves with. The first character to be analyzed, is Andrew. According to Catell and Eysenck’s five factor of personality, Andrew displays his conscientiousness through his willingness …show more content…
to work hard to be the best in wrestling. He displays his extraversion when he sticks up for Claire multiple times, reveals he is popular in the school and when he is willing to talk to Allison about her problems. He displays his openness to experience by revealing his feelings about what he had done to get into detention and how he feels about his father. He also displays his neuroticism throughout the film when he is seen not being able to handle his emotions. Lastly, he displays his agreeableness by going along with what his father wants him to do, (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). This can be proven throughout the movie because Andrew expresses his confidence, power and aggressiveness through his interactions with the other students. He acts this way because his father has instilled the need in him to be the best, and to make sure that no matter what he does it should always benefit his sport career. When he acts this way, the other characters, mainly John Bender, act aggressively as well. Andrew even goes so far as to wrestle John to show off his strength and need to be powerful. Andrew has developed to be this way because of the strong influence his father has on him. “Development has the capacity to change an individual’s way of being in the world and experiencing his sense of place,” (Watson-Phillips, 2016). This statement proves why Andrew acts the way he does. The next character to be analyzed is John Bender. John is the type of character that does not care what others think of him, is rebellious, disrespectful and does not like authority. It is revealed that John acts this way when he tells the group he comes from an abusive home. He also behaves the way he does because he wants attention. This is because he does not receive any attention at home. This can be proven by looking at Freud’s psychosexual theory of development, which states a person must transition smoothly from one stage to the next during childhood otherwise fixation occurs, (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). In John’s case, due to his abusive relationship with his father, he has become fixated on the oral stage because he smokes and the phallic stage because he displays brash behavior like his father. John also tends to make a lot of jokes which, per Freud, means he has repressed sexual desires and aggression, (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). Which is true and can be seen when he places his head in between Claire’s legs and pulls out a knife during a conflict with Andrew. The other characters view him as a trouble maker that uses drugs and respond negatively to him, this is especially true when he interacts with Claire and Andrew. Andrew even goes so far as to say that no one will miss him if he is gone. Although, John makes it seem that the comment does not bother him. Viewers, and the other characters, learn later that he does have feelings and can get hurt, just as much as everyone else. The third character to be analyzed is Brian. Brian is the most intelligent, respectful and responsible character in the group. He is also seen as the mediator, as he is always trying to resolve the conflicts that break out within the group. Brian behaves this way because of the influence his parents have on him. They pressure him to be respectable and get straight A’s in school. This is proven because “children with authoritarian parents show a lower standard in behavioral problems and drug abuse, together with the lower social competency and lower self-esteem,” (Aslani, Dehghani & Derikvandi, 2015). Therefore, when he received his first F, he was so scared of facing his parents that he tried to commit suicide. The other characters’ view Brian as a nerd and inferior to them. When we dive into Brian’s personality and compare it to Erikson’s psychosocial development, we learn that Brian is in the identity vs. role confusion stage, (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). He is in this stage because he is having trouble, like all the other members in the group, who he is and where he belongs. This is because he does not have many friends nor is he as social as the other members. The next character is Claire, whom is known to be the most popular girl in school.
She comes from a wealthy background, is influenced by her friends, is narcissistic and is doted on by her parents, whom buy her things to get back at each other. Claire is aware of this and therefore behaves the way she does. She makes sure she doesn’t do anything that can change the image others have of her and feels that she can do no wrong. The other characters seem to idolize Claire except for John, whom is constantly making sexual or rude remarks to her. When we delve deeper into Claire’s personality and look at Horney’s theory on basic evil, hostility and anxiety and apply it to Claire. According to Horney, if a “child did not feel loved there would be hostility toward the parents, and this hostility would eventually be projected onto everything and everyone and become basic anxiety,” (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). This would then lead to neuroticism in adulthood and in Claire’s case, she feels the need for social recognition and prestige and personal
admiration. The last character to be analyzed is Allison. Allison is the most quiet and reserved character of the group. She behaves erratically, seems to be a kleptomaniac, is introverted and a liar. The other characters do not interact with her at first and seem to find her odd when she is seen biting her nails, and remaking her sandwich. We later learn she behaves this way because she does not feel like she exists at home nor in school. This behavior could be a way for her to gain attention. Based on Freud’s theory of defense mechanisms, Allison exhibits regression, which is when a person returns to a period of earlier development when under stress, (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2011). She may have felt this way because she was in a room with people she did not know and resorted to childish behavior to gain the attention she wanted. In conclusion, in the film the “Breakfast Club,” the five characters serve detention not knowing who they themselves are. With the help of each other they are able to figure out their identity and why they behave the way they do. Using the many personality theories, the theorists Freud, Horney, Erikson and Catell and Eysenck produced, the audience was able to delve deeper into their minds and analyze why they act the way they do.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a movie and list five sociological concepts outlined in our textbook, Sociology A Down-To-Earth Approach, 6th edition by James M. Henslin, which was published by Pearson Education, Inc in 2015, 2013, and 2011. I have chosen the movie, “The Breakfast Club.” This is a 1985 movie directed by John Hughes. It is about five high school students that have detention on a Saturday for nine hours. The five students are played by, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall. These five students are deviant in their own particular ways and have different stereotypes. Eventually the students share personal information about their
In the iconic film, The Breakfast Club, five random high school students must spend their Saturday together in detention. Each teen is in detention for a different reason. The Jock (Andrew), the Princess (Claire), the Brain (Brian), the Basket Case (Allison), and the Criminal (Bender) must put aside their differences to survive their grueling eight-hour detention with their psychotic and rash principal Mr. Vernon. While in detention, they are expected to write about “who they really are” in one thousand words. Throughout the day, their actions reveal their innermost struggle involving their cliques and their home lives. As the movie progresses, we find out the reason each teen is in detention that culminates in a climactic discussion about
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.
Every person sees themselves differently, whether you're the jock, the brain, or even the criminal, we all have a plethora of personality quirks in common. We don't belong solely to the singular “clique” that society has placed us in. Throughout The Breakfast Club, we see ourselves in each of the characters, and so did John Hughes, while we may relate to a singular character or clique in the beginning, we come to see ourselves, our struggles in each and every character. Though John Hughes may have seen himself as the geek or the athlete in high school, that's not all he was, and it's through this classic film that he shows himself to be all of the characters in some way or another. We're all united in common beliefs, in
She is constantly used as weapon between her divorced parents to hurt each other. She is a victim of peer pressure and is afraid to stand up for herself. The snobby and self- centered girl is also seemingly insecure. Claire says, “I don't know, I don't... you don't understand, you don't. You're not friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with! You know, you just don't understand the pressure that they can put on you!” Claire believes that the only way she will be liked is if she is the artificial, “It Girl,” who has rich parents, is the prom queen, popular, and has a pretty
This film contains some classic examples of the kinds of real life issues adolescents deal with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with identity are all addressed in this ninety-minute film.
The film, The Breakfast Club, introduces five students, each perceived with a different stereotype which is commonly found in American high schools.
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 movie The Breakfast Club is a perfect example of peer relationships in the adolescent society. It shows the viewer some of the main stereotypes of students in high school you have a jock, a nerd, the weirdo, a rebel, and a prep. Over the course of a Saturday detention the different types of peers learn a lot about one another by hearing what each one has done to get into Saturday detention as well as why they chose to do it.
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.
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...
...a nymphomaniac and that she’s had sex with her married psychiatrist on various occasions. She doesn’t assess this as a high-risk self-disclosure because, as she says later, she is a compulsive liar. The only reason she is saying all of these things is for attention. Claire notes her disgust in Allison’s comments, saying, “Do you have any idea how completely gross that is?” and telling her she is crazy. Allison isn’t very surprised by the group’s reaction to her disclosure, since she only said it for the reaction she knew she would get.
Despite an inappropriate music-video sequence and a phony up-tempo finale, The Breakfast Club offers a breakthrough portrait of the pain and misunderstanding which result from the social hierarchy created by youth themselves. The lookers and the jocks are popular and can do whatever they want — except relate to those outside their social circle of winners.
Through out the story Claire acts very irrational, especially towards men. These irrational acts are caused by the fact that she believes that men are the reason for this girl's death and the murder of women in general, and she shows this by the way she reacts to what Stuart says and towards the men in the story.
The Breakfast Club displays various peer group interactions, while demonstrating main stereotypes of five adolescents in high school on a Saturday morning of detention. We have the princess, the jock, the brain, the loner and the rebel (druggie). This group of teens learns and discusses their lives, feelings, needs and why and how they are in Saturday detention.