The Breakfast Club Vs. Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Between grades one through six, which is approximately 6 years of age to eleven years of age, children place priority and importance of popularity, which increases over the elementary school years, this reaches its peak in late middle school and in the early high school years. Studies show that children in grades one through four consider popularity more important than friendship. It was also found that early and middle adolescents generally place more emphasis on conforming and being part of a popular group than younger or older children do. The low-status group, which hope for acceptance into the high-status groups may get some attention, however, rarely do they obtain full acceptance. Erikson, Piaget, Vygotsky, Bandura, and Kohlberg all have theories that address the

The groups that are formed as adolescents often determine group associations as adults and define an individual within their social group that will either set them with or against other groups. This is described in an article on social groupings by Colin Allen, which mentions that our social associations as adolescents are strong indicators to future patterns of social norms as adults. Therefore, the group of students in the movie, The Breakfast Club, can also be extrapolated to adult group dynamics. However, the varying social norms between groups can present conflicts when adults are required to function within a very diverse group of individuals. In The Breakfast Club, the Jock, Geek, Prom Queen, Delinquent, and the Freak groups are brought together initially through an autocratic or directive leadership role, used to bring the group together in order to proceed to the next phase of group development. This stage is particularly important within a group of

Having to be exactly like their peers is the goal of many people. People may feel left out or forgotten if they do not participate in the common activities of others. Drugs, smoking, drinking, and partying are many extracurricular activities that many teens across the world participate in and struggle with. Peer pressure and the urge to want to be like others get the most of people. The common “good” kids often feel the need to participate in these activities so they feel a sense of acceptance. But this is not limited to only teens; even adults can “follow the crowd.” Whether it is buying the newest car or television, doing drugs, or dropping out of college, these activities can all come with disastrous consequences. Following the crowd can

Media has influenced a lot of today’s trends and ideologies. Adolescents, being on the psychological level of self-identification, bring this deceptive notion of fashion and social classes to school. The problem comes when this trend affects the performance of students and their personal lives. We all remember our days back when the talk was “Who are the jocks, the cheerleaders, the rick kids, the geeks, the losers, etcetera?” Believe it or not, the status quo in schools is always composed of them. These cliques have identities exclusive for each. Students who do not look, act, or dress the same as one group are, more often than not, left out. They could be hurt physically and or psychologically with cruel teasing and rumors. Bullying and

Coming of age is a popular theme in literature with many authors, directors, and musicians basing their work around it. They create works with the intent to examine our youth from different perspectives. Two great examples of this would be the film The Breakfast Club and novel The Perks of being a wallflower. Both show a realistic and relatable take on the lives of high schoolers, however I’d argue Breakfast Club better accomplishes this goal. The Breakfast Club takes each classic high school stereotype and grants the viewer some understanding as to who they really are beneath their label, compared to The perks of being a wallflower which performs poorly in trying to accurately portray high school life.

Middle school was the point in every middle scholar’s life to find a group where they fit in. These groups were called cliques, a group centered around gossiping about others and even gossiping about one another in the group. In middle school this group became your community. The group you do everything with and told everything to. This group is almost like your other family. Sadly, this community, the people you surround yourself with can lead to negative thinking about others. Your community can easily persuade your actions and thoughts because the people you surround yourself with have such a big influence on your life.

An estimated 62.9% of our population has received a mental health service in the past year. In the novel, Perks of Being A Wallflower and the movie Silver Linings Playbook the main characters’ mental health greatly impacts their ability to develop relationships. This is seen in their relationships with their love interests, friends, and family.

In the movie The Breakfast Club, the group dynamic is portrayed because all the students at the Saturday detention are from different walks of life. Each student is from a different clique. This is very evident in the beginning of the movie when they are all sitting together, with nothing to talk about. By the end of the movie, the group dynamic changed and even though each of the kids represents a different lifestyle with a different background, they all found some commonalities , or learned to relate through their differences and became friends. Claire, Andrew, John, Brian, and Allison, all the students who were in the Saturday detention, would identify as an outgroup because they would never really admit that they are friends because they are completely different. Claire Standish was the princess of the group. She was the girl who’s dad gave her everything and drove the nice car, and is loved by everyone. Andrew Clark was the guy who was viewed as the jock. He was a great wrestler and that was all he was known for. John Bender was the guy that was viewed as the rebel trouble maker that was always in trouble and did drugs. Brian Johnson was the brainiac of the group that was known for studying all the time, and not doing anything else. Allison Reynolds was the outcast of the group that did not definitively fit in with any of the groups. At the beginning of the movie, the principal, Mr. Vernon, gave the students a writing assignment to do to explain “who they thought they were” to ponder while they were in detention all day. By the end of the movie, once all the students had bonded and realized that their social status did not define them, they responded by saying that nothing defined them. Mr. Vernon wanted them to respond with an answer as to why they did what they did, but they decided to respond on a more literal level. Carl the Janitor had some wise words for the teens at the end of the movie. He told them that he has the eyes and ears of this

The fact that the students in this movie actually become friends at the end shows that when looking at this situation from a sociological view, it can be said that cliques are not always what defines people. Cliques can be a negative and a positive thing. Obviously the negatives to cliques are that people get labeled into stereotypes which can be hurtful to some, and that people isolate themselves from other peers that are not in the clique. Positives of cliques can be that the people in the group have a sense of belonging, support from their friends during tough times, and also have a form of identity.

Every public school lunch room is filled with many tables, every day these tables are the perfect place for a student to find where they “belong”. Like Beverly Daniel Tatum states in “Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, part of the social groups forming in high schools goes to thank adolescents. Tatum writes, “As children enter adolescence, they begin to explore the question of identity, asking ‘Who am I?’ ‘Who can I be?’”(375). At this point in their life everyone begins to see their own interests and hobbies that makes them a little different than others. Because students are starting to realize their differences, in modern day high schools there are many social groups that students can identify with and feel the most comfortable being themselves.

For four long years I felt as if my high school was in a different world in of itself. I had spent that time interacting with an extensive amount of groups, or “cliques”, and getting to know what they do. Through my experiences, I had begun to realize what made this “subculture” high school of sorts run like it did. High school is an incredibly dynamic time for people, and I had changed as a person dramatically from my freshman to senior year. Like many, my freshman year was quite awkward, as remnants of my middle school self remained with me. As time went on, how, I talked to more people and grew out of my passive and shy personality. This did not just randomly happen without reason though. I began to learn and realize who I was and whom I enjoyed talking to in school, which explained why I spent so much time socializing with multiple kinds and groups of people. Everyone’s concept of “normal” was different, and high school was where I learned that lesson and will never forget.

We all want to stand out of the crowd and be something special, but not all of us have the potential. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be about education, parents can be very protective over us and hold us back from socializing with friends, especially from the opposite gender, which makes it harder for us teenagers to belong to a group.

I’m not saying ‘the Perks’ isn’t great–obviously it is. I just made a judgment mostly by my instinctive feelings.

The desire to fit in with peers can be a very strong influence on teens.

We all have been young adolescents before and experienced all the things junior high and high school has to offer. Being a teenager is something everyone has or will experience in our life times. Teenagers go through a crucial time in their lives where they really figure out who they are and how to make more adult decisions. Peer pressure has always been a regular part of teenage life. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry state's “Peers play a large role in the social and emotional development of children and adolescents. Their influence begins at an early age and increases through the teenage years. It is natural, healthy and important for children to have and rely on friends as they grow and