The movie “ The Breakfast Club” is one of the best movies for teenagers and misunderstood students. It clearly depicts the feeling, emotions and way of thinking of most of the teenagers. By watching this movie, you can relate well with the characters they portray and with the kind of communication they use.
This paper is aimed at analyzing whether interpersonal communication exists in the movie. By analyzing every part the movie has shown, we can see clear evidence whether the said kind of communication existed or not.
The movie “ The Breakfast Club” has a very simple assertion. It’s foundation and highlights were focused on five students, having entirely different personalities, philosophies, idealisms and even backgrounds who were punished with detention and confinement to Shermer High school’s library for eight long hours on a Saturday (http://www. nixflix. com/reviews/breakfastclub. htm, 2003).
Interweaving of character relationships is very eminent in the movie. From Molly Ringwald, who played as Claire, portraying a rich-cum-princess girl, to Anthony Michael Hall as Brian who acted as the brain, to Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy as, the jock and Goth basket case, respectively, and lastly to Judd Nelson as Bender – the loud, prissy, metal head punk. Other characters in the movie that are worth noting were the “ sadistic principal, Paul Gleason, who taunted his students with his loud, bullying yet seemingly tired voice, and the other kids who were always willing to buckle down and dozed on their free day and time in the school library (Barsanti, 1999).
The whole scenario in this “ The Breakfast Club” could easily fall into complete chaos, especially when compared to how usually a normal groups of people did. But because this movie talked bout teenagers, who were considered “ odd” extremely different horde of students, it is quite unusual (that is, for the “ normal” people) to see that they have got along with easily, sharing stories and experiences reiterating the fact that their parents just don’t understand how different they are. The idea of this movie is quite impressive. All the kids represent different epitomes, yet, by the end of the day, they all have exposed their inner self thus enabling them to realize that despite all their supposed differences, there is this big thick and strong line that invisibly connect all of them. And that where interpersonal communication lies.
Yes, interpersonal communication is very evident in almost every scene of the movie. Before I can pinpoint the parts and/or scenes where there is interpersonal communication, let us first define this concept, which will definitely help us understand more how it existed in the story.
Interpersonal communication is a special form of human communication involving simultaneous interaction between individuals and at the same time, mutual influence between individuals. It is a fundamental means of managing human relationships. Interpersonal communication is important in our everyday lives because it not only improves relationships with our family, but also our relationship with friends, colleagues, and it even improve our physical and emotional health (http://www. google. com. ph/search? q= cache: soe2rhanga8J: www. barksdale. latech. edu/Merryman/PSYC305/PRAC%2520PSY%2520305%2520WK%25207. PPT+interpersonal+communication+-+definition&hl= tl&ie= UTF-8, 2004).
Hence, there is no need to pinpoint here the exact areas in the movie where we could find interpersonal communication between the casts of characters because the whole story itself is clearly all about interpersonal communication.
It is through this kind of communication why the major casts, were able to bond and tell tales about their families. It is through interpersonal communication how the casts were able to rationalize things and figure out they all have something in common… that they have the common denominator why they gotten to be in that detention room – and that is they are all just being misunderstood, by their parents and by the people around them.
Interpersonal communication was gradually established in the movie. It was shown by the scenes where the punished students were starting to look at each other, followed by the part where they are kind of thinking what other were thinking and then eventually by the session where the students started to share stories of their lives. What is good in this manner is that the students have all realized the idea that they are not different at all… that they are not merely deviating from the norms.
The Breakfast Club has kept everything under a tight lid, taking these five kids and letting the outside world recede until all that matters is only each other. These punished kids left the school at the end with sincere claims that they will start to be different in the outside world, no one knows they really will, but in a sense it doesn’t matter, because at least for one day they connected with somebody outside of their own tiny worlds. In that sense, it’s the best After-School Special ever, with better music and no lecture about their language and all that pot they smoked. (Bersanti, 1999). And that precisely is what interpersonal communication is all about
SOURCES:
Barsanti, Chris. The Breakfast Club. February 17, 2004. http://www. filmcritic. com/misc/emporium. nsf/0/88324b34e756e5f9882567ca001b2d37? OpenDocument1999.
