The Breakfast Club: film analysis and social themes

Breakfast Club

The film the Breakfast Club that was a hit nearly 30 years ago, has provided a useful source of information for the study of media, movie and sociology. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the diversity issues related to present day society that are found within this film. The essay will then discuss the potential impact that these issues may have on society.

Diversity Issues

There is no doubt, that society has changed tremendously in the years since the production and screening of the film The Breakfast Club. The theme of this movie revolves around 5 teenage high school students who have found themselves the target of a mean educator who had decided to punish them with an 8-hour detention session taking place on a Saturday. The 5 students, all white, find themselves throughout the film realizing their connection with one another and that the supposed superficial differences that may set them apart, are really bonding issues that may bring them close together.

There are no minorities featured in the film, even the janitor is a white male named Ralph who secretly spies on the students' private lives. The teacher in charge of the discipline session is also white and is portrayed as idiotic and buffoonish. The lack of ethnic representation demonstrates some important issues about the film. The first is that it appears that white people are being singled out as troublemakers and an unbalanced ratio of races is seen represented here. In the real world, it is unthinkable to suppose that no minorities would be punished in the same manner as the white kids. The crime and incarceration rates depict a different story where blacks and minorities are targeted exponentially more than whites.

Whites are also targeted in this movie in other more subtle ways. The problems of all the kids are deep and disturbing. This movie furthers negative stereotypes about white people that are basically unfair. The movie attempts to break down the white race to 5 simple archetypes which desperately fall short of reality.

Impacts of the Issues

The importance of Hollywood and film for society cannot be underestimated. In our environment, films are used to dictate what is and what is not acceptable in mainstream society, and any misrepresentation of the truth betrays the audiences" trust. Art is too important to risk portraying inaccurate stereotypes. If art does not represent true life there is little value in it and should not be broadcast to the masses.