Psychological Analysis of the Breakfast Club - Movie Review Example

Psychological Analysis of the Movie Breakfast Club The Breakfast Club Movie Review Introduction The Breakfast Club movie directed by John Hughes features the stories and intrigues of five high school students. These students arrive early on a Saturday to serve an eight hour detention in the school library. The five students embody the social crowds that are visible in many high school settings such as druggies, popular, brains, jocks and recluse groups. The characters are Claire the princess (Molly Ringwald), Alison the basket case (Ally Sheedy), Bender the criminal (Judd Nelson), Andrew the athlete (Emilio Estevez), and Brian the Brain (Anthony Michael hall). As they sit down in the library, Mr. Vernon the Dean of Students walks in and gives them instructions. They are required to write an essay providing a vivid description on “whom they think they are.” They all display their stereotypical characters towards each other at the beginning of the scene (Hughes, 1984). The detention begins with utmost and tension of silence until Bender interrupts the group by threatening to Urinate on the floor. This incident promptly reveals the characters’ stereotypical perceptions. Andrew becomes aggressive, Claire is ignorant on Bender’s threats, and Brian displays qualities of a peacemaker, while Alison remains mute segregated in a corner. The film flow and direction is driven by the constant questions from Bender. The students discuss on topics such as sex, school clubs, parents and lunches. In his obnoxious inquests, Bender seems to be interested in the princess Claire. However, he tries to hide his attraction towards her by attempting to upset her but this only escalates the attraction. At first, these five students from different social crowds depict a sense of hostility towards each other. After a period of disregarding each other, they end up merging forming one cohesive group. A significant number of illustrations of social psychology are revealed in this film. The theme of conformity is depicted here: when people commit a crime as a group no particular person is accountable thus each person feels less guilty. The normative social influence is depicted since all followed one person’s perceptions and ideas to be true. Hughes also explores the concept of breaking social barriers: these students from different crowds have been able to bond and form a single group. Another psychological aspect revealed is the self-fulfilling prophecy; the students have different stereotypical views of each other. Their behaviors’ throughout the film shows some of the perceived concepts of who they are. The realistic conflict theory is also revealed through the interactions of the five students. At the start of detention, each walked into the library and took different sitting positions. Hostility arises, they argue, disregard each other, instances of abusive language emerge, others tend to be belligerent; however, they finally walk out as one united group. Conformity in Adolescents Humans conform. People tend to adopt insignificantly and constantly changing fads and fashions of the people around them without clearly reflecting on implications of their actions. People not only conform to capricious fashions but also conform to the opinions of the majority even though they know better themselves. Adolescent conformity can be either positive or negative. In the Breakfast Club, a negative conformity is revealed among the students. Bender had come with Marijuana in school. At one moment He goes out of the library to smoke marijuana, Brian and Claire follows him. Alison and Andrew are not far behind. Among the five students, it is only Bender that had indicated to have been smoking marijuana. Peer group pressure influenced the others to use marijuana. If the students could not have been caught in such a situation; possibly they could not have indulged in such health-compromising behavior. Genetically the same people that live in physically the same surroundings reveal disparities in their behavior, traditions and cognition. These disparities are maintained through time despite influences such as inter-marriages and migration which continuously mix people from different backgrounds. It is expected that after a substantial time span these cross group differences will disappear, contrary, they do not. Instead of diminishing, these differences between groups are maintained by an intricate set of sociopsychological mechanisms, especially, the propensity to conform to the behavior in one’s group. In a study conducted by Haun and Tomasello (2011) investigated the effect of peer pressure children in Preschool to influence conformity. The results were consistent in that the children conformed to majorities’ opinions. The peer groups demonstrated to be the main social reference group among the children. Their unanimous conformity to their peers’ opinions was mainly out of social motivations. The level of conformity within these Preschool children is consistent with that of adults. Conformity is a significant aspect in passing the culture of humans by enhancing fast and unwavering in-group uniformity, creating cooperation between various groups (Haun, 2011). People find it difficult to stand by their opinion especially when the majority of others are propagating a contradictory opinion. According to Claidiere and Whiten (2012), they refer to conformity as a person conforms when: (a) required choosing between numerous different behaviors, (b) opts for the one that the majority of the group displays, (c) chooses this because it is the most preferred option by the majority (and not tied to other reasons). Conformity is usual based on already known behaviors. The characters in the movie display their actions at the commencement of the movie that supports the conclusion; on how others are influenced to smoking marijuana even though they had never done that before (Claidiere, 2012). Self-Fulfilling Prophecies The field of psychology has for long stressed that beliefs have the power to shape reality. The self-fulfilling prophecy shows that false beliefs become true. In the movie, the students are in detention for varying reasons. Claire skipped classes, Andrew due to athletic hazing and Bender reasons are unclear, but it is perceived that it is his routine to go into detention. Alison the recluse is in detention since she had nothing to do. Surprising Brian the brain, smart kid performing well in school also ended up in detention. They write one essay for the group explaining to the principal on what he perceives them as a princess, a druggie, a brain, a basket case and an athlete. A self-fulfilling prophecy is defined as the fulfillment of a false belief. The process involves three fundamental ideas. First, the perceiver must have set a false impression about the target. For example, Mr. Vernon regarded the students as a brain, a princess, a druggie, an athlete and a loner. Second, the perceiver treats the target according to the impression he has on him/her. The conversation between Mr. Vernon and Bender was hostile somehow. Third, the target reacts to the treatment he or she gets by confirming the prior belief about him/her. Bender’s rude attitude towards everyone, using abusive language confirms the former notion held about him of being a druggie. All the students reveal their perceived characters as they unfold different stories in their lives (Madon, 2011). The students have several self-esteems. Brian had insecurity of his self-concept. He could not achieve the desired standards of himself and thus discontented as a person. Most of his thoughts were constantly being opposed or interrupted by the group. Claire the princess had high self esteem, she often bragged how rich and trendy she was. Andrew was assertive and had high self esteem. His problem was being too aggressive. He threatened to beat up Bender if he attempted to urinate on the floor. People’s characters are important in how they relate with others and also influence their success in life (Scherr, 2011). Realistic Group Conflict Theory Social processes that occur between groups of people tend to cause prejudice. The outcome of discrimination is alterations on how an individual thinks (e.g. stereotyping), but these are strongly linked to group processes. The movie starts with a conflict atmosphere. Emotions are high and even at one moment Andrew becomes aggressive towards Bender. They show hostility towards each other considering they represent different social crowds with varying perceptions. Although this hostility eases up as they start revealing on their personal lives and stories about their parents (Halevy, 2011). According to the realistic group conflict theory, in-group conflict is as a result of development of conflicting objectives (i.e. competition). This conflict is minimized by having mutually desired goals that only can be achieved through in-group collaboration. Prejudice develops due to competition of the same resources by two or more than two social groups. There is a tendency for in-group members to be united while showing hostility towards out-group members. They deny resources to out-group thereby ensuring greater share for in-group (Brief, 2005). Competition is always a stimulator of growth of discrimination. Conversely, there can be instances of prejudice without competition. Also, competition does not automatically lead to prejudice; it relies on the nature of groups involved. Prejudice develops due to the way people’s self-perception is influenced by the groups they belong to (culture, profession, religion, football team). Consequently, people feel better about themselves when they feel good about their social groups (Jackson, 1993). Conclusion The movie provides informative examples on how psychological ideas are incorporated in films. The issue of conformity, self-fulfilling prophecies and realistic conflict theory reflects on the impact of peer groups on adolescents. The movie has also represented the social crowds that exist in high schools. At the start of the movie, each student showed hostility towards the other student from a different crowd. However, through interactions with each other, the students managed to relate to each other efficiently and displayed the support of conformity. The realistic conflict theory has portrayed the conflicts that exist between people from different classes. People do not interact with people they consider totally opposite of themselves or social classes. According to the social norms of people it is absurd for a princess to talk the criminal or druggie, a brain conversing with a jock. At the end, the students set aside their differences and merge to form a single group. Through discussing their personal experiences, they realize they have somehow similar characteristics that strengthen the bond. Probably before this detention they had preconceived perceptions about people in the society, but after a day together they dropped these misconceived perceptions. This is relevant to the society today whereby when people get to know others in the community; they recognize that there is no much difference between them. The movie Breakfast Club is an epic work in representing the challenges adolescents and teens face in their daily lives. As the characters in the movie reveal on their personal experiences, it is seen that they are not all perfect. Although they make mistakes, their surroundings also play a significant role in shaping their behavior. The storyline of the film provides psychologists with methods of explaining some of the behaviors with the help of psychological theories. Thus, the director of the movies has managed to incorporate psychological principles such as self-fulfilling prophecies, conformity and realist conflict theory. References Brief, A.P., Umphress, E., Dietz, J., Burrows, J.W., Butz, R.M., & Scholten, L. (2005). Community matters: realistic group conflict theory and the impact of diversity. Academy of Management Journal, 48 (5), 830-844. DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2005.18803925 This article is relevant in this paper’s theme. It has discussed organization of the community but has done so in the perspective of the realistic group conflict theory. Claidiere, N., & Whiten, A. (2012). Integrating the Study of Conformity and Culture in Humans and Nonhuman Animals. Psychological Bulletin, 138 (1), 126-145. DOI: 10.1037/a0025868 Halevy, N., Weisel, O., & Bornstein, G. (2011). ‘‘In-Group Love’’ and ‘‘Out-Group Hate’’ in Repeated Interaction Between Groups. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, p.16. DOI: 10.1002/bdm.726 Haun, D.B., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Conformity to Peer Pressure in Preschool Children. Child Development, 82 (6), 1759-1767. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01666.x The authors relate their findings with adults and adolescents. They suggest that the results of their studies portrays the same trend in adults and adolescents. Thus, preschool children here can be substituted with adolescents. Hughes, John. (Director). (1984). The Breakfast Club [Motion Picture]. Jackson, J.W. (1993). Realistic group conflict theory: A review and evaluation of the theoretical and empirical literature. Psychological Record, 43 (3), 395-403. Madon, S., Willard, J., Guyll, M., & Scherr, K.C. (2011). Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Mechanisms, Power, and Links to Social Problems. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5 (8), 578-590. DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00375.x Scherr, K.C., Madon, S., Guyll, M., Willard, J., & Spoth, R. (2011). Self-verification as a mediator of mothers’ self-fulfilling effects on adolescents’ educational attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 587-600. DOI: 10.1177/0146167211399777 Read More