Adolescence In The Breakfast Club

Adolescence:
A Look at Adolescence in the Movie The Breakfast Club The 1985 movie written and directed by John Hughes, called The Breakfast Club looks at

five very different students who are coming into adolescence and becoming their own people.

The main characters are Claire Standish, the princess; Andrew Clarke, the jock; Brian Johnson,

the brain; Allison Reynolds, the basket case; John Bender, the criminal, and Richard Vernon the

principle. This movie shows five young adolescent people trying to figure out who they are in

high school. Which can be very difficult with peers and the awkwardness of being a teenager.

The first part of this movie opens to each of the characters being dropped off by their

parents. When Claire’s

Hormones play a huge role in adolescence. Everything is changing and they

are hard to control. Anna referred to this as the impulse of the id impulse. While Anna Freud

mostly dealt with troubled teens, a lot of her theories do apply to normal adolescences as well. Other adults can play an important role in adolescence as well. Whether Principal Vernon

realized it or not he probably did have an influence on John Bender. Down grading him and

always singling him out was not the best way to get John to try and straighten out and make

better choices. Peers also have a big impact on adolescence. Peers help adolescents get through

puberty. While most adults fear peer pressure, it has been noted that most peers help adolescents

make better choices instead of poor ones. (K.S. Berger, 2014) Peers had a huge role in The

Breakfast Club, when Brian asked what would happen Monday and if they would all still be

friends Claire broke his heart by saying she probably wouldn’t acknowledge him more or less.

The reason Claire made this statement is because she was afraid of what her friends would say or

how they would perceive her being friends with Brian. Andrew and John had similar

It was a fairly accurate depiction even of today’s adolescence and how difficult it

is. This movie shows egocentrism, puberty/hormones, the effects of peers, and the struggles of

school all in about an hour and forty five minutes. It’s no wonder it is a cult classic. By the end

you can see where the hormones kick in with John and Claire. Also, you see it with Allison and

Andrew while poor Brian is kind of forgotten. Possibly because he’s a “nerd” so they felt like he

needed to stay in that persona. These kids seemed to pretty much figure themselves out by the

end of the movie and who they want to be as people. This is not always as easy as the movies

make it seems. It takes people into adulthood to figure out what they’re doing. I’m almost thirty

and I still am confused about things in my life. While I believe some of the things that I have

learned from the Developing Person and some of the theories of Anna Freud; I do not think that

anyone really ever has things figured out. Which is why this movie touches so many people the

way it does. Life is ever changing and you are always discovering something new about