A Brief Synopsis of the Movie The Breakfast Club

The Princess, the Basket Case, the Jock, the Nerd, and the Criminal

The Breakfast Club looks at young adults in their late teen years as they strive to figure out who they truly are and what they believe in. In the course of the movie the teens come to understand themselves and others better. This idea of self-identification follows closely with theorist Erik Erikson’s idea that at each stage in our lives we go through a psychological crisis and resolve it before moving on to the next stage.

A Brief Synopsis of the Movie

The breakfast club opens up with the quotation from David Bowie saying, “…and these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through...” This quotation embodies the whole idea behind the film. As the teens in the movie try to define themselves for Mr. Vernon they find that they aren’t who they thought they were. Through the movie they struggle with society’s generalizations and their own inner battles.

In the beginning of the movie, all 5 students show up to school on a Saturday to serve detention. Each student has their own reason for going that becomes apparent later on in the movie. The teens are seated in the library and Mr. Vernon—the detention teacher—tells them they all must write a 1,000 word essay on who they think they are. The teens all groan and then Mr. Vernon leaves them alone. Through the day the teens—who are complete strangers to one another—meet each other on a different level. Putting themselves in different situations that are foreign to some, they all come to understand each other on a deeper level.

Claire, a popular red-headed girl, finds that she is in fact a princess. She learns that sh...

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...of what his parents would say. Allison not having anything better to do and believing that no one noticed her showed up.

The teens all learned that society categorizes everyone. It believes that everyone should fit into a certain group. Once the teens were able to open up they realized they weren’t like everyone else. They were all unique in their own way. They were then able to break past the stereotype and become friends. They started to understand themselves at a deeper level.

References

Myers, David G. "Module 15-Adolescence." Exploring Psychology: Tenth Edition in Modules. 10th ed. New York, NY: Worth, 2011. N. Print.

Sharkey, Wendy. "Erik Erikson." Psychology History. N.p., May 1997. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .

The breakfast club. Dir. Ned Tanen. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2008.