The Breakfast Club Movie is a drama-comedy film written and produced in the year 1985 by Hughes John. The film is based on a storyline that follows the lives of 5 teenagers that belong to different cliques in high school. One particular Saturday the 5 students spend detention together and at the end of it, they discover that while facing a harsh disciplinarian, they are all more than their stereotypes. This particular paper will argue that the behaviour of the 5 students in the above-mentioned film indicate that they are in the different stages of Marcia’s identity status, Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development.
At the beginning of the film, each of the 5 students perfectly fits into his or her own stereotype, for example, John ‘the criminal’, Andrew ‘the athlete’, Allison ‘the basket case’, Brian, ‘the brain’, and Claire ‘the princess’. The confusion which is a component of Erickson’s theory can be noticed here as none of the 5 students wants to be like their parents despite the fact that their behaviours have been influenced by those of their parents. In relation to Marcia’s theory, Andrew is in the foreclosure stage and this is because he lives a life that his father has always wanted him to live, that is, becoming a wrestler and this did not give him a chance to explore other options. Allison’s confusion is clearly seen when she admits that her family life is unsatisfying and that she has the desire of running away from home.
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Conclusion
Marcia’s identity status, Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development explain the stages of development in a child. From a critical analysis of the movie The Breakfast Club, it can be concluded that each of the 5 students belong to either 1 or 2 stages of the above named theories.
Reference
Kaye, D. L., & Ets-Hokin, E. (2000). The Breakfast Club. Academic Psychiatry , 24 (2), 110-116.
