The Reasoning Behind Stereotypes and Actions in John Huges' The Breakfast Club

“What we found out is that each one of is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, and a princess, and a criminal” (Hughes, 1985). In the coming-of-age movie, the Breakfast Club by John Hughes, five students from different cliques within school spend Saturday together in detention. These students while putting up with each other and their principal for the next 8 hours, also find out a lot about themselves and the others in detention. During this time, their actions divulge their most unrevealed troubles involving their family and friends. As the film proceeds, the audience discovers why each of the students are there as the students go into a momentous conversation pertaining to who they really are. Ultimately, the brain, Brian, writes an essay that was due for the detention that represents all of them, and thus, they name themselves and form the Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club is a popular movie even till today; anybody who has went to high school can empathize in some way with the characters. John Hughes’ movie demonstrates that a person’s actions will alter depending on the divergent stereotypes they are subject to because of the family and friend relationships they are involved in.

The film features a number of pressures that are deposited on the characters throughout the movie. Each character handled the peer pressure thrown at them differently. Claire, the princess, in particular, explains because of her social stance in school she feels as if she always has to look the prettiest, and also because of this she can’t be seen with certain groups and people, such as Bender, the criminal, Brian, the brain, and Allison, the basket case. This just reveals that Claire, as well as Andy, the athlete, who agrees with her, is letting the stereotype that is set by their friends in school make up who they are, instead of them being unique to who they really are. Claire in the end of the movie got intimately interested in Bender which proves she’s not limited to what she thinks she is. Bender, who comes from a rough family, wouldn’t have been in Claire’s consideration, who comes from a wealthy family and gets spoiled, if it wasn’t for this Saturday detention.

Andy, another example, bullied another student in order to be favored by his father, which is why he’s in detention. However, Andy feels horrible about bullying the kid, and tells Allison about it. Although Andy didn’t enjoy hurting the kid he did because he thought his dad would’ve thought of him as manly, which is sad because a son shouldn’t have to do such things to be favored by their parents.

As can be seen, peer pressure from friends and family can affect the behavior of an individual. What one needs to realize is at the end of the day one has to be true to themselves, as Claire was when she admitted to herself she wanted to be with Bender, as Andy was when he admitted he felt bad about bullying the kid, and as Brian who once forgot about everything his family expected him to be, and truly enjoyed himself.