The Breakfast Club: Interpersonal Themes, You-It And I-Thou '

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The Breakfast Club demonstrates the interpersonal concepts “I-It” and “I-Thou” as it follows students whose immediate reaction is to treat each other as nothing more than the stereotypical person their titles assume them to be; however, as the film progresses and the characters begin to develop friendships, the characters abandon the stereotypes and begin to look at each other as individuals who have unique personalities and stories. In the film The Breakfast Club, five students attending Shermer High School are placed in Saturday detention by Vice Principal Vernon. Gradually, the teenagers learn that they are more similar than previously thought. The students have different backgrounds, creating the labels and stereotypes assumed of them. …show more content…

This is shown as the movie progresses by how the principal consistently puts Bender in his own category regarding his behavior, unlike the other students. Bender received many threats from the principal along with insults claiming that five years into the future he’ll be homeless or in jail. Throughout the whole film, the “I-It” relationship between Vernon and Bender never changes. Bender tried to find different ways to rebel against Vernon due to his position as an authority figure. Vernon went through many routes in his attempts to criticize Bender. He gladly assigned him more detentions during their arguments and even promises to fight him in the future if they were too cross paths. They both lacked any type of respect toward each other which evidently shows the “I-It” relationship that they

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