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Sarah Heins
Psy 341
Thad Warren
8 November 2011
Movie Analysis
In The Breakfast Club, Brian, Andrew, John, Claire, and Allison exemplify many
characteristics present in groups. As this was an optimal group size of five, these group dynamics
were especially identifiable as this group spent a whole day together in a confined space. What
made the dynamics in this group particularly interesting was that it was a casual/social group,
except that this social group deviated from each individual’s normal social group. These
relationships formed that day were short-lived (even though Claire gave Bender her earring at the
end of the movie, I do believe that these relationships lasted, at the very most, a week). Either
Brian or Andrew (I don’t remember which) asked the group what they were going to do when it
came to be Monday. The consensus was that, basically, nothing would change between them.
There group was that short-lived.
However, the impact that these relationships had on group behavior during this one-day
period was quite profound. Brian pretended that he wasn’t a virgin to impress Bender. During the
circle time, Claire freaked out with the group’s perception of her. Throughout the movie, Bender
acted nothing less than the “bad-boy” perception he so desires to give off. One of the main
struggles during the course of this movie, besides a struggle for power and leadership, was a
struggle to give off a good impression to the others in the group.
Not only did the five students struggle for power, but they and the principle and the
janitor were in a changing and dynamic situation where power shifted among all involved. At
first, the principle had coercive power because he had the ability to assign more detentions. He
did indeed exercise this power over Bender as his number of detentions exponentially grew over
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a matter of minutes, but the second that Bender didn’t see these punishments as punishments and
frankly didn’t give a rip, the principle lost his power. Educational Psychology will teach that
punishments aren’t punishments unless the student sees it as a punishment.
At all times, the principle had legitimate power because he was the principle. This
legitimate power did not seem to permeate too strongly though, because other individuals had
greater power. Interestingly, legitimate power seemed to be no power at all when the principle
and the janitor met downstairs at filing cabinets. As the environment changed, so did the
dynamic. No longer did the principle have legitimate power because the janitor had a mixture of
coercive and referent power. This was because the janitor could have turned the principle in for
looking at those records (coercive power) and because the principle wanted the janitor to respect
him (referent power).
Each of the five students during different parts of the movie held different types of
power. The beginning of the movie starts out with a definite pecking order between Claire,
Brian, Andrew, and Bender. Allison appears to be sitting this part out, although her influence in
the group is blatantly apparent. There is a strong battle for power between Claire and Bender,
and also between Bender and Brian. Bender and Claire seem to be granted the most power
because the others want them to admire them. Claire is perceived as the “pretty girl” and as
typical, the pretty girl typically gets attention from guys. Bender gets referent power as well,
especially from Andrew because he looks up to him. Claire and Bender go back and forth
between giving power to each other. Brian is in a power struggle with Bender. Brian feels that he
deserves the power and Bender does not because Brian has a higher status than Bender.
The achieved status of each of the five students was from a variety of statuses. Near the
top was Claire, the daughter of a rich man and a pretty girl. Close after her was Brian, a jock and
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a wrestler. The status after these two is hard to distinguish because the culture of each school is
different. It seems like that Bender follows these two. Next is Allison, and last is Andrew. As the
day goes on though, status is formed within the context of the group. Each person’s status seems
to level out at self-disclosure increases and knowledge of one another’s background factors
grows.
Leadership is influence. Taking that definition into account, Allison, by far, held the role
as leader more frequently than anyone else. Her silence was not silent in its influence. Early on,
Bender had the most influence. When he left the detention room, so did the others. When he
went to close the door so the principle couldn’t hear them, the others covered. The group begins
to cover for Bender, showing how the cohesion in the group is beginning to form. Claire also has
influence on the group. When she follows Bender, so do the others. When she starts to cover for
the group, so do the others. When she starts talking in detention, so do the others. But the biggest
use of influence on the group was seen when the group was smoking. Allison used her influence
to get out Claire’s story. By telling a story (a fake one at that) about her sex life, Allison
influenced Claire to tell that she was a virgin. Allison’s influence spurred self-disclosure in the
entire group. They all began to tell about their poor relationships with the parents. This also
helped the group cohesion as they could relate to one another and bond together with a similar
enemy.
The norms at the beginning of the detention were drastically different from the norms at
the end of the detention. At the beginning, each of the students was individuals whose norms
were determined from their own specific cultures. For example, Bender was rebellious, Andrew
was compliant, and Allison was independent. The social norm for detention was to not talk to
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each other and to not form relationships. This quickly began to change though as the talking
increased, beginning with Bender.
By the end, communication among the group happened constantly, and it was abnormal
for there to be a lack of talking. Also, a norm at the beginning was to obey the rules set by the
principle. Obviously though, after smoking, running around the school, and not writing the
assigned essay, the norm had turned into rebellion and doing what they want to do. A huge social
norm at the beginning of the detention was one that was a barrier between the students; this
social norm was to stay within your social group. These students came from very different social
groups at school, yet at the end, two of them are kissing, one has a makeover, and one wrote a
paper for all of them. Ultimately, self-disclosure was the cause of these changes.
Bender was the greatest deviant of the group. Take for example the smoking, or the
closing the door, or the swearing, or the talking. His deviant thinking was a cause of groupthink.
This groupthink occurred when the students went out into the hallway and when they were
smoking. Obviously these were not rationally thought out ideas, but rather a decision that was
made with little thought on the participants’ part.
The dynamics of the group changes drastically from start to finish. This paper has only
begin to touch on all the different aspects in which the group changed and the causes and effects
of each them. Looking at the five starting characters and the five ending characters, you would
almost think that the director had to cast different actors they were that different. However, that
just goes to show how much influence an individual can have on the group to completely change
the group dynamic. Managing this influence is key to working in groups to help make them a
healthy and helpful group.