The Breakfast Club Analysis Paper Outline
Abstract
The character of Andrew is used to explore moral reasoning, identity statuses, and the effect of peer pressure on an adolescent development. Andrew’s character was analyzed to see how it is related to the Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Reasoning. It was found that he displayed both the preconventional level and the conventional level. However he has not displayed the postconventional level. His character was analyzed to see how it is related to James Marcia theory of identity statuses. His character display identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, but has not displayed any signs of identity achievement. Finally his character was be analyzed to see how he
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Example 2a - Andrew wants to respect authority but when Mr. Bender disrespects Mr. Vern, Andrew eventually follows Mr. Bender and the group.
Example 2b - Andrew says that smoking weed is bad, but eventually gives in to smoking weed.
Theory 2 – Conventional level is where moral reasoning is based on society’s norms.
Example 3 – Andrew has not shown any examples where his decisions were based on his personal moral code.
Theory 3 – Postconventional level is morality is based on a personal moral code.
Topic 1 Conclusion – The days without his jock friends, he might change because he feels guilty there is a chance he will look to his own beliefs when making moral decisions. But when he returns to school if he continues to hang out with his jock friends he might remain like he was.
Topic 2 – James Marcia theory of identity statuses
Example 1 – Andrew displays Identity Diffusion when he conforms to peer pressure and follows the acceptable behavior of the group. When the group decides to leave the library, he also follows even though he know the teacher has strictly forbade them from leaving their chair.
Theory 1 – Identity Diffusion is “A state in which the individual has few, if any commitments, to anyone or to a set of beliefs – they emphasis personal gratification.”
Example 2 – Andrew has accepted his father’s beliefs and chose to emulate his father even though he doesn’t fully believe them.
b. Patients who are used to be competent are not longer competent did not express their wishes, but their values/ principles/
Another example is on page 117, the text says,” so I ate a bowl of cornflakes with water.” this evidence proves that killer cane isn't loving because he said that he would never steal from an old woman but he just didn't this proves my statement because loving parents don't lie and steal.
Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, identified six developmental stages of human moral reasoning. The first stage that he recognized was the Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where the person’s concern is for avoiding punishment through obedience. The second stage was the Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where the person’s concern is to work in their self interest, and better their position. The third stage of moral development was the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where the person’s concern lies with their reputation. Next was the Law And Order Orientation, where the person was less concerned with their own immediate well being to the maintenance of a larger society. The fifth stage was the Social Contract
The Breakfast Club is an inspiring tale of five adolescents: Brian, Andrew, Claire, John Bender, and Allison, from diverse backgrounds that unite over a course of eight grueling hours in mandatory Saturday detention. These five individuals come from different social groups and a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds are present, but in the end they discover that they are more alike than they assumed.
Brian Johnson, or the “Brain,” in the movie The Breakfast Club, possess thought processes evident in Piaget’s Formal Operational Period stage in his theory of cognitive development. During Piaget’s Formal Operational Period, people begin to “apply their mental operations to abstract concepts in addition to concrete objects;” their thinking is hypothetical, systematic, reflective and logical (Weiten, 448). Brian asks himself existential questions like “Who do I think I am? Who are you? Who are you?” as he brainstorms Mr. Vernon’s assignment for the students in detention; these thoughts are abstract. His thought processes are also logical since he’s extremely intelligent; being part of the math, Latin and physics club requires some advanced thinking skills. Additionally, he understands how concrete applications like engineering stem from abstract concepts like Trigonometry. He also reasoned that if he took a class like Shop that “dopes” take, he could pass that class easily to maintain his GPA; such reasoning requires complex thinking. Finally, his thinking is reflective, especially when he ponders the permanence of the Breakfast Club’s friendship and describes how he steps outside himself to analyze what he sees. Unfortunately, when he observes himself, he’s highly critical and despises his “true” self; he possess a highly negative view of himself, labeling himself a failure, eventually leading to suicidal thoughts and actions.
Identity diffusion is people who do not have a clear idea of who they are. They are not trying to discover who they are, they have no commitment to values or goals and lack self-identity. Standish is a popular girl in this specific movie. She mentions to the others they do not know what pressure feels like and that she has to pretend all the time. She does not know who she is because she is focusing on what people want her to be and how people want her to act.
In the film The Breakfast Club, Deviance and Conformity to the norms are used throughout the film to help viewers understand the Labeling Theory and how it connects to the behavior of adolescents. Deviance simply put is the departing of social norms and and values in social situations while the Labeling Theory can be defined as that people generate their own self image solely based upon what others think of themselves which leads to poor self image and feelings about themselves and others around them. The Labeling Theory is applied in The Breakfast Club because it appears that all the characters feel like they already know everything about one another solely based on who they really are when they all first meet. In the film, we start to get an idea of exactly who the characters really are inside. In the first few minutes we start to understand that there is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal but by the end of the film we start to understand that the individuals are all different than what they seem. It feels like only in high school, you really care about how others perceive you, how you’re labeled and you’d do anything to just prove that you’re not some loser who spends time alone feeling bad for themselves. An example throughout the film is how defensive Claire acts when Bender is teasing her for all she has. By the end of the film, we start to understand that Claire does everything she can to get respect from her peers.
Throughout the movie, Brian goes through the Identity Foreclosure, Identity Moratorium and Identity Achievement statues of James Marcia’s identity statuses theory. When Brian lives up to his obedient, “Good Citizen,” nerd image, he’s in the Identity Foreclosure status since he unquestioningly adopts his parents’ and society's visions, values and roles. He follows rules, questions rebelliousness and allows others to view him as weak for being a geek. Then, he transitions into an Identity Moratorium status where he delays his commitment to being the Brain and explores “alternative ideologies” and sides to himself when he smokes weed and connects to the troubles and philosophies of the rest of the Breakfast Club (Weiten, 457). Finally, at the end of the movie, Brian achieves the Identity Achievement status where he grows closer to a sense of identity and direction after “thinking through alternative possibilities,” or hanging out with the rest of the Breakfast Club (Weiten, 457). After being accepted by others, Brian builds his self-esteem and values his life despite his failures once and for all.
The Breakfast Club is a movie about five students from Shermer High School who gather on a Saturday to sit through eight hours of detention. These five students; Andrew Clark, Claire Standish, John Bender, Allison Reynolds and Brian Johnson, have nothing in common. The Breakfast Club zooms in on the high school social groups and cliques that are often seen in the development of peer groups during adolescents. The peer groups that are portrayed in The Breakfast Club include, John “the criminal”, Claire “the Princess”, Allison “the Basket case”, Brian “the Brain”, and Andrew “the athlete”. The movie centers around an essay that Principle Vernon wants each student to write regarding who they think they are. In the beginning of the film, the
Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his theory of moral development developed in 1958. His theory was dependent on the thinking of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and American philosopher John Dewey. It consists of three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. These levels are based on the degree to which an individual accommodates to the conventional standards of society. Each level aquires two stages that serve as different standards of sophistication in moral reasoning. Overall, Kohlberg affirms that moral development is a process of maturing that emerges from thinking about about moral issues (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”).
1)A group role is the part a member plays in a group, as a function of your traits, personality, your expectation, expectations of others in the group. and who you are as an individual. Each member in the Breakfast Club has had an input into the story line and there are multiple characters with different roles, inputs and circumstances and all of them interacting to make this film quite interesting. Lets start off with the most deviant of them all.
He saw all of his old stoner friends going to jail too, he heard they also started to get killed because they took part in some gang activities. After Dylan’s freshman year, he finally straighten his life up and stopped smoking and doing anything bad anymore. He got his grades up at the end of the semester to straight B’s, he got very athletic during the summer and he joined the football team. He was a the Quarterback’s favorite wide receiver, mainly because they’ve gone together for so long. Andrew was the head Quarterback now and the dynamic duo made the Texas High School Football State Championship. The night before the game Andrew and Dylan slept together and Dylan couldn’t go to sleep because he was so nervous, he remembered how he came from having a addiction for weed into the state championship for football. “What you thinking about Dylan?” said Andrew. “Man I can’t get over how far we have came, from being the back-up of the team to leading us to a state championship or battling a addiction of weed.” “Yeah, it’s kind of crazy to think about isn't it. But we still have a championship to win and after that, we can relax and reflect on what we have done.” said Andrew as he shut off the last slither of light in the room. “Good night Andrew.”
2. Did not oppose slavery; dealt with self esteem- felt they were as low as slaves.
Level I: Preconventional morality: People act under external controls. They obey rules to avoid punishment or reap rewards, or act out of self-interest (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2004, p. 408).
5. It is easier to change economic and political differences then to change cultural ones, because religion makes a sharp distinction between who you are?