"Who are you?" This is the question five high school students are asked at the beginning of a Saturday detention session in The Breakfast Club. This question is not just unique to these students in this high school, but this is a question all high school students attempt to figure out by the time they go off to college or join the work force. Unfortunately, a person is often perceived based on stereotypes which does not reveal the true person. In The Breakfast Club, perception of students based on stereotypes leads to biased expectations, isolation, and peer pressure in American high schools. The film, The Breakfast Club, introduces five students, each perceived with a different stereotype which is commonly found in American high schools. …show more content…
The Breakfast Club points out that certain stereotypes result in greater isolation than others. For instance, Allison is the "basket case" or " weirdo" who sits by herself at lunch. When Allison enters the library for detention, she quickly slouches in the back of the room, sitting alone. Allison 's behavior allows the viewer to perceive her has the social outcast who doesn 't have many friends. In fact, later in the movie, Allison admits she doesn 't have any friends and that she is only in detention because she "had nothing better to do." Allison shows her feeling of isolation by not talking until halfway through the movie. However, when she does talk, she makes up an extravagant lie and explains how she is a compulsive liar. The viewer realizes that Allison is attempting to escape her isolation by drawing attention to herself. Another stereotype that exhibits isolation is the "brain" or nerd, Brian. When the five students are talking about belonging to clubs, Brian quickly jabs in how he is in the physics and the math club. The viewer can see this as Brian wanting to belong with the rest. However, shortly after he says this Claire makes him feel even more isolated by saying that "academic clubs aren 't like social clubs." Brian then has a look of sadness which shows the viewer Brian 's intentions for his …show more content…
Peer pressure can be to do something that is legal but against one 's morals, and some peer pressure can be for a person to do something illegal. In The Breakfast Club, the viewer sees that stereotypes can create peer pressure. For example, as the "brain", Brian experiences pressure from both friends and family to maintain a very high GPA. This isn 't necessarily bad peer pressure until Brian gets a failing grade on a workshop assignment. This peer pressure and the expectation of living up to his given stereotype leads him to contemplate suicide. Like the other detention students, the viewer realizes there is a person behind the "brain" who has feelings such as fear and disappointment. The film also presents another type of peer pressure that occurs in every high school, the treatment of other students who are not in your social group. For instance, Claire admits that when Monday arrives, there is a good chance she will not speak to any of the kids in the Saturday detention because of what her friends might think. She admits she "hates having to go along with everything" her friends want. She further explains, "you don 't understand the pressure that they can put on you!" This type of peer pressure isn 't directly spoken, but it is caused by fear of judgment from her own social class. Another example of peer pressure is show in the library when Bender goes to the back of the library to
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.
The 1985 film The Breakfast Club examines the cases of five individuals during their experiences in a Saturday morning high school detention session; each is bound by unique characteristics and circumstances, yet their shared experience allows them to form a group— an assortment of people who interact with one another and who feel as if they have reason to belong together— and socialize, or gain knowledge of group traits as well as the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, norms, and actions thought appropriate for each member. Notwithstanding the fact that each of these young scholars possesses wildly different attributes, they are all able to overlook such factors in favor of attainment of personal progress as well as propagation and fortification
It follows 5 stereotypical high school students where they are all reported for a Saturday detention and given an essay based around a thesis question of “Who you think you are?”. The type of belonging that is being in the majority represented is idealism within society. A strong example is in the opening sequence where Andy Clarke the athlete says “.. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal… That’s the way we saw each other…”. The technique that has been utilised, foreshadowing creates an early introduction to the theme of stereotypes, also morals. It generates the character's initial impressions of each other and hints to the audience that within the film these have been modified due to upcoming events that have procreated some sort of moral amongst the characters. The tone created produces luring responses of the audience you want to know why and what has happened to change the relationships. Another example where belonging is found is where Andy Clarke once again goes on about how he feels the constant need to impress his father and coach. “I’m here today…because… my coach and my father don’t want me to blow my ride… coach thinks i’m a winner, so does my old man” This speech uses emotive language to enhance the metaphor of how trying to constantly impress someone can be detrimental. This new perspective of “The athlete” shows how significant labels are. Idealism
The famous the note that was left by the teens in detention at the end of the movie shows the social connection between each of their roles in society and how those are tie to society. The teens use the stereotypical names to tell Mr. Vernon who they think they are; the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal, they use the names that society has given them because of their reputations, hobbies and looks. They each realize throughout the movie that there is something that connects them to one another which makes them all realize that no matter the stereotypical separation between them, they all have some things in common and can work together for a common goal.
1.)Stereotypes and racism have always been an issue in this and many other societies.Teenagers are commonly the most impacted by stereotypes, not unlike most teens at Point Loma High School. To further analyze this, my class read “How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance” by Shankar Vedantam, a science correspondent for NPR. In his informative article, Vedantam discusses how research proves that self-fulfilling stereotypes can drag down many individuals’ performance. He supports his claim by presenting statistics such as “When black people and white people answered 10 vocabulary questions posed by a white interviewer, blacks on average answered 5.49 questions correctly and whites answered 6.33 correctly”, and talking about how black students tend to score better on tests that are administered by other blacks, and finally explaining how all students’ performance increases when they are not reminded of their race/gender before beginning a test. Vedantam’s purpose is to inform the audience about the negatives of reminding students of their race before a test in an effort to prevent poor performance and boost test scores. Upon reading this, my class has decided to carry out a research project about the stereotypes at our school, and how they affect a variety of students.
Rowley, Stephanie J. "Development of Stereotypes 1 The Development of Race, Gender, and Social Class Stereotypes in Black and White Adolescents Ste." Thesis. N.d. Development of Stereotypes 1 The Development of Race, Gender, and Social Class Stereotypes in Black and White Adolescents Ste. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
The breakfast club is an American comedy and drama film which was written and produced by John Hughes. It talks of an experience gone through by five students in a library at New Trier High School; the school went to by the child of one of John Hughes' companions (Kaye, 2001). In this way, the individuals who were sent to detainment before school beginning time were assigned individuals from "The Breakfast Club".
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
The 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes shows how a person’s identity can be influenced by conflict he or she has experienced in life. First, John Bender is in the library telling everyone how he got a cigar burn on his arm from his dad. For example, his mother and father don’t treat with the most respect or any respect at all. They call him names and say he can’t do anything right. One day him and his dad got into a really bad argument and his dad burnt him with is cigar that he had. Because his parents treat him that way, he treats everyone he’s around very badly.
As we all know children grow and develop at their own pace but for an adolescent is isn’t just pimples or being too skinny. For adolescents their appearance can make or break their entire school experience. They can either be the popular prom queen such a Claire or maybe even the tough bad boy like Bender. But what about the little guys out there what about the not so pretty or not so big and tough guys what about people like Brian? Brian is very intelligent yet he lacks something that the other boys in the movie have and that is size. Brian is significantly smaller than the other two. For a child like Brian it is difficult to be accepted into social circles that involve things that more mature looking adolescents are involved in. Although this is something adolescents have been having to deal with for generations their appearance can cause then tremendous issues. Like Brian, a child will be pushed around talked over or even bullied for their small stature or in ...
The Breakfast Club is about 5 high school students enduring detention on a Saturday. You first see the in groups and outgroups. An in group are people who belong to the same group as you, while the out group are people who belong to a different group as you. This was shown right off the bat in
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.
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...
... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.