The Breakfast Club: Short Psychoanalysis of The Characters

The Breakfast Club (1985) is a story that shows five defiant high school students (Brian a brain”, Andrew “an athlete”, Allison, “a basket case, Bender “a criminal Bender”, and Claire “a princess”) that are forced into serving 9 hours of Saturday detention. Mr. Vernon compels them to write about their personalities and aspirations in life. This film portrays the current social differences among students. Nonetheless, as expected by their appearance in detention, each character has a difficult life and reveals the various personalities each has.

Bender is the main character of the movie. He is an ordinary bad boy and it's clear that he's chasing social attention which eventually leads him to create a false image for himself. That may be because he came from a home of neglect and misconduct. For example, his body language, rolling his eyes when people tried to speak to him, gave the impression he wasn't concerned about it. His attitude towards the situation stopped him from attaining a certain degree of ease and confidence with the other students. When he is talking, his hand motions and stance are considered nonverbal communication. Whether positive or negative, this form of communication may give a strong impression. In Bender's case, it gave off a bad feeling right from the start. Claire's perspective shifted when she saw him at the end of the detention as they walked out. Went away at school from being a traditional Bender insurgent to someone Claire respected and opened up to.

The next character would be Claire who is branded as the princess. She's the kind of person that's famous, she thinks her life is perfect, looks optimistic for everyone, and everyone loves it. Clair In fact, the parents of Claire are on the brink of divorce and use it as a way of getting back to each other. Claire did not interact well at the start of the film. Of course, she felt that she was superior to the rest of the students. Her voice tone as she spoke with someone made it sound like she was talking to them. She had a secret place at the beginning of the movie and was always mindful of what her friends thought of her, and that's the reason she kept herself. She reached such a deep degree of herself by the end of the film that her open area was immense and she considerably reduced it to a secret one. 

The next character is Andrew. He begins his day by feeling superior to the other adolescents. For example, he says to Bender “If I lose my temper you’re totaled, man…”. Just out of his voice and body language tone against Bender, you might tell he was trying to be tough. Even though Andrew and Bender did not share the same beliefs and never seemed to get along with each other, they wind up loving each other. Andrew's room unfolded all over the movie. At the end of the film, he realized that after all, they are not that different from each other.

The other character is Brian. He was a nerd and came into detention without any confidence. He was the type of kid going in the right direction. However, he was suffering from his parents ' constant tension toward becoming a perfect kid. He relied so much on his grades that when he struggled in class it led to his ruin, and he felt his only choice was to end his life. But, he was shown by the four teens that he was not alone, they all had issues with their parents and even lives. Brian's perspective changed as the adolescents started opening up to each other. He gained confidence in himself and opened his room. 

The next character is Allison who was the weirdest and quietest of them. She had no friends or a decent relationship with her parents and she said she was depressed and anxious to be heard. She had lost communication skills at the start of the film. It would be hard to read the body language of Allison because she would just be sitting there and hiding her face giving the impression that she was either nervous or socially awkward. She had lost verbal communication in the beginning, but her friends broke her defense.

The last character is Mr. Vernon, the assistant principal of the school. He's tough and doesn't kindly take jokes. As an instructor, he is neither professional nor concentrated on the students. He asks them to write about their personalities and life goals too.

Perception is one of the hardest things to change since people stereotype each other. The six characters in the film spend much time settling their differences and acknowledging the things they all have in common. This perception changes throughout the film as we find out their differences and how alike they are. 

The film shows different stereotypes concerning different people in school. Claire is seen as a spoiled brat. The film starts by showing her dad’s car. As she gets into the car her dad tells her that he will make it up to her. This shows that Claire is spoilt and shows her “princess” stereotype. For Brian, his mother and sister are put in front of the car. His mother tells him that he should study. This shows that what his mother cares about is his education. In Andrew’s case, we see he is in the truck with his father. His father tells him that some guys screwed around and were finally caught. This demonstrates that Andrew is a high school athlete stereotype.

There are various non-verbal concepts we see in this film. The first one is Brian’s non-verbal communication which is shown in the film as he is shy but a communicative character. Brian is funny although at times he does not believe in himself. In the film, Brian is seen to have demonstrated high levels of non-verbal communication. For example, is when John Bender goes to smoke dope, Brian is seen to have gestured to Andrew asking him if he could try. Andrew declines the offer and is seen labeling his thumb and raises his eyebrows as he leaves.

The other non-verbal communication seen in this film is about Andrew. Non-verbal communication is evident in his attributes. He is an athlete and is tough in everything he does. On many occasions, Andrew is seen defending Claire when Bender is attacking her, this shows that he is a tough individual. An example is when Andrew flexes his arms to display his strength while dancing after breaking the glass on a dance floor.

The other non-verbal communication is John’s. The non-verbal concept is seen in the movie which involves hand gestures (showing the middle finger) to Andrew. The other perfect example of non-verbal communication is when Bender uses facial expressions to abuse his friends throughout the movie.

In conclusion, the film portrays the current social differences among students. Nonetheless, as expected by their appearance in detention, each character has a difficult life and reveals the various personalities each has. The teenagers will eventually become friends on Monday morning. This is because they have crashed their stereotype and learned how to accept each other despite their differences and their shortcomings.