Which scene is the most significant in The Breakfast Club?
The confession scene in The Breakfast Club is one of the film’s most pivotal and revealing, and was unexpectedly improvised by the cast. According to reports, one of The Breakfast Club’s most memorable scenes was improvised on set. The scene in which the teenagers sit in the library and reveal why they are each in detention is one of the film’s most tense moments.
- It is this moment that transforms The Breakfast Club from a simple 1980s teen comedy into a timeless commentary on adolescence.
- During their endless Saturday detention, Andy (Emilio Estevez), Bender (Judd Nelson), Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), Claire (Molly Ringwald), and Allison (Ally Sheedy) discover unexpected common ground.
The confession scene in the library is arguably the most significant in depicting this common ground. Andy admits that he attacked and humiliated a weaker student in the locker room so that his father would respect him. Claire skipped school to go shopping while Bender pulled a fire alarm.
- Brian failed a shop class project and attempted suicide by bringing a flare gun to school, but was apprehended when the gun went off in this locker.
- Furthermore, Allison volunteered for detention because she had nothing else to do.
- Each of these motives reveals a conflict at the heart of the characters’ desires.
John Hughes left the confession scene largely unscripted in an attempt to achieve authenticity, which would have been less likely to occur naturally if the actors had simply recited lines. According to reports, Hughes informed each actor of the general reason for their character’s detention (for example, Estevez knew that his character had bullied another character), but left the specifics and flow of the story to the chemistry between the actors.
- While other minor elements of the film (such as Bender’s unfinished “blonde woman” joke) were also improvised, it is astounding that the actors were able to successfully improvise such a crucial scene.
- Ultimately, it was probably the actors’ improvisation that made the scene so powerful.
- Hughes permitted the actors to alter portions of the script while filming The Breakfast Club and encouraged their input on how the characters behaved, spoke, and dressed.
Consequently, it makes sense that he wanted the confession scene, arguably one of the most important scenes in the film, to feel natural and be based on the actors’ perceptions of their characters’ motivations. Brian’s need for perfection, Andy’s pressure to succeed, Claire’s feeling of being trapped in her popularity, Bender’s anger at life, and Allison’s loneliness are all present in their confessions, as are themes of parental pressure, popularity, and struggles to succeed in a high school environment that connect the characters’ internal struggles.
Each character ultimately finds themselves in detention due to an unresolved conflict in their lives. It is the confession scene that brings these motivations to the forefront, giving the characters depth and enabling them to relate to one another outside of the high school social context. Without the improvised dialogue in this scene, the portrayal of adolescence in Hughes’s 1985 film may not have been as successful.
Breakfast Club improv.
The chemistry between the actors and their total dedication to their roles, particularly in the film’s most significant improvised scene, is what makes The Breakfast Club so timeless. Next: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: The Potential Ferris Bueller Actors
Which mental disorders are depicted in The Breakfast Club?
Among the disorders depicted in the film are: Borderline Personality Disorder – emotional, interpersonal, self-image, and behavioral instability. Schizotypal Personality Disorder is characterized by eccentricities of appearance, behavior, interpersonal style, and thought.
Visiting. detention on a Saturday with four “normal” students who are, with the possible exception of Andrew Clark, below her social standing. She probably wouldn’t give most of these students a second glance in the hallway on an average day. Claire does not intend for this to sound harsh; it is simply the truth.
As much as possible, she enjoys dancing, fashion, and upsetting her parents. She has a special affinity for lipstick and can even apply it with her breasts, a peculiar but oddly alluring talent that she decides to demonstrate to everyone in detention. Relationship Status: unattached She is not currently attracted to anyone.
However, she is perpetually on the lookout for someone who will horrify her parents, someone who is supposedly “not good enough” for her. John Bender could certainly qualify as a “criminal.” Challenge being herself. As the constraints of her high school’s social structure continue to weigh on her, Claire finds it increasingly difficult to break free and be accepted for who she is.
- She lives in a world where social cliques determine who you are and detention is the only place where members of different social groups actually interact.
- This may be therapeutic for all parties involved.
- Personality that is fashionable, snobby, and spoiled.
- At this point in her life, her appearance is almost everything, and her social standing compensates for almost everything else.
But she’s about to learn that status isn’t everything and that who you believe yourself to be can easily change in a single day: Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club and I are a match.
