A Short Review of The Breakfast Club, a Movie by John Hughes
In the film The Breakfast Club directed by John Hughes many gender role stereotypes between male and female characters are expressed. These stereotypes include a male rebel, male jock, male geek, female loner, and female popular girl. Using popular and scholarly sources, these stereotypes are able to be further examined. The male rebel is played by John Bender. John Bender wears multiple layers that include a flannel, jean jacket and a leather jacket, gloves without fingers, and is an avid smoker. Bender exemplifies behavior that is very closely associated with what today we call “bad boys,” as he is constantly searching for the next argument or confrontation he can get himself into as well as the next authority figure he can defy or push their buttons. However, as always, this rebellious stereotype isn’t complete without a rough home life background which is another characteristic Bender attains.
Andrew is the character that portrays the male jock throughout the film as he displays typical stereotyping qualities. These qualities include his reason for being in detention relating to hazing/bullying, sporting a letterman jacket, bringing a calorie filled lunch to detention with him, and the fact that he is male suggesting that the athletic character must be male because it isn’t a female attribute to be athletic. All of these characteristics of Andrew are classic things that the audience thinks of when being introduced to a male jock character in any film or even in real life… (this stereotyping most likely came about from movies such as this one).
Next we have the male geek, which already has a stereotype as it’s being implied that there couldn’t be a brainy female character. Brian wears a sweater and khaki pants and is completely and totally terrified to be in detention… He also feels that he doesn’t belong there with everyone else which is another classic stereotypical thought of someone who is smarter than everyone else. Brain fully plans on doing everything that he is told and never questions authority as he is constantly longing for the proudness (lol find another word) of his parents and teachers and superiors.
The females are very different from the male characters in this film. First, we’ll introduce Allison who represents the loner. When Allison enters the library for detention she secludes herself from the other four students and sits in the back corner all by herself whereas most everyone else sat near the front/ near each other. Allison also is dressed in all black where even her nonbrushed hair is black. Overall Allison is very bad at making friends and talking to the other students and when she does she ends up making them uncomfortable.
The other female character in the film is the popular girl, Claire who just feels so misunderstood and feels superior to everyone else as she would never dream of associating with most everyone else outside of the detention library. Claire clothes herself in all pink, pearls and curly hair presenting herself as the popular and rich girl… (talk about how oftentimes beign popular and being rich are always aligned for some reason???) Throughout the film a main idea of gender roles and stereotypes are easily able to be identified.
