The Breakfast Club Analysis

In the film The Breakfast Club, written by John Hughes, a group of five high school students find themselves forced to attend eight hours of detention on Saturday. As each student arrives at Shermer High School for detention, the audience can see that each character attending detention represents an obvious high school stereotype. The jock, the criminal, the nerd, the princess and the basket case feel as if they could not be more different. Throughout the day as they talk and learn more about each other, two characters, Claire Standish and Allison Reynolds, realize they have a lot more in common than they initially thought. As the day begins, each character appears one by one as they arrive to serve their day of Saturday detention. Claire,

She takes the meat from her sandwich and throws it over her shoulder onto the statue. She places cereal on the bread in place of the meat, pours the powder from pixie sticks on top of the cereal, and then begins to eat her sandwich. The other students watched her actions in total confusion. One can tell by her lack of care that the students were staring at her, while she made her sandwich, that Allison is not concerned with the way others perceive her or about their opinion of her. Claire, on the other hand, maintains her ritzy appearance and snooty

Based on her social status, one would generally assume that Claire would date a jock, such as Andrew Clarke. Allison, on the other hand, would go after someone with an “odd-ball” personality such as herself or someone who is also a loner. Most viewers would not have guessed Claire and Allison’s choice regarding men after the day The Breakfast Club has spent together. Throughout the day, tension is high between each couple due to their vast difference in opinion on nearly every topic the group discusses. Bender is constantly giving Claire a hard time and picking on her when they are around each other. Andrew shows compassion towards Allison when the two are discussing their home lives; however, at this point, she does not appear to be his type. Also, because Claire is extremely concerned with how others perceive her, one would not think she would go after a guy whom her peers view as a bad boy or a criminal for that