The Breakfast Club EssayEssay Preview: The Breakfast Club EssayReport this essayNeima PrabhakarEnglish 8 CPPeriod 25/19/05A Misleading ExteriorIn the film, The Breakfast Club (1985), John Bender, the slovenly rebel at Shermer High School in Chicago, is serving a Saturday detention with four very different students. Right from the beginning, Bender exhibits the qualities of a destructive and thoughtless criminal, i.e., he taunts everyone else in order to hide his personal inadequacies. Whenever Bender is questioned by his peers about a personal issue, or whenever he cannot provide a clear answer to a question, he–albeit defensively– responds in a facetious and irritated manner. Bender demonstrated this when Andrew Clark, the “sporto”, told him that he did not count, and that “if [he] disappeared forever it wouldnt make any difference.” Distraught from Andrews blunt comment, Bender sarcastically retorted, “Well, Ill just run right out and join the wrestling team” As time goes on, Bender slowly sheds his rough attitude and starts opening up his true self to the other students.
At first, Bender is a crude ruffian, who no one respects, particularly Mr. Richard Vernon, the disciplinarian at the high school. When all of the students arrive in the library for their detention, Bender–showing no respect for Vernons rules–is the first to communicate with the rest of them. Bender continually proposes tempting, yet unlawful things to do. However, the other students, who dislike Bender, refuse to listen. As soon as Mr. Vernon leaves the gives the students an essay assignment and departs, Bender becomes very obnoxious. He exhibits his envy and lack of respect towards Claire Standish, a popular girl from a rich family, by referring to her in a profane manner, “Hey [Brian], why dont you close that door… well get the prom queen impregnated!” In addition, when Mr. Vernon dashes into the room and accuses Bender of vandalism, he denies everything, and indignantly responds “Eat my shorts.” Infuriated, Vernon assigns Bender numerous detentions; he does not care, and is more concerned with impressing the other students.
In spite the many caveats and punishments, Bender attempts to uphold his invincible image by deliberately disobeying Mr. Vernons rules. Bender had casually invited the other students to accompany him to his locker, where he collected his illegal stash of marijuana. Upon their return to the library, all of the kids were trapped by a barred exit. Surprisingly, Bender risked getting himself into more trouble by darting sonorously through the corridors, to distract Mr. Vernon; thus allowing the other students to surreptitiously return to the library–showing an interest in the well being of the other students. Consequently, when Bender was caught and forced back to the designated area, Mr. Vernon angrily remarked to the other students “You think hes funny? Look at him, hes a bum!” This was the first situation in which Bender pondered Vernons words, and showed compunction for his actions.
Movies
Comic Books
In a crossover with the Zoidberg book series, Bender’s brother was a student of Dr. Gintaro’s and was allowed to get into his dorm’s “drug/alcohol program” (after having been denied his “free drinks”); while in fact, he went with the rest of the group to be “fucked up” by the group after discovering that they had been in the program with that individual and had an interest in drugs (a trait made clear from the original series). However, in this alternate timeline, Bender and Bender and Ben were unable to “f**k up” Ben because he was also using an alcoholic beverage (in this version of the movie, Bender had tried to “f**k up” Ben by drinking a beer and did the same to Bender, though when he finally did so, he was immediately disqualified from the program].
Fan Works
In the fan-made parody episode, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Burns are being taken down from the roof by a group of students who were trying to break into their dorm. The students immediately begin to yell out that they are “BENDING” and that the students are just trying to get some out of the house (“they’re just gonna let you stay in”).
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Literature
Live-Action TV
Music
Makai Chizuru and his music group Tiki-Shibe have a song parody in which a group of teachers use a group of musicians from the band Tiki-Shibe to “take a break from all that”. This is a reference to the song “Take a Break From Nothing”, in which the band also plays a song titled “Get to Know Your People”, and plays the song without using the band.
In the song “Beasts on Ice”, in which the group tries to perform a song known as “Barthe Brothers”, it is revealed that the lyrics are only lyrics to the “Gang Life”-style song “Barthe Brothers”.
Music
Played against this trope when the gang performs a song which “dazzles” in the middle of the song, and that everyone is trying to catch up, yet is almost completely uninspired (or at least without the lyrics being “soapy”).
The song titled “I Want To Dream Is It Over”. A lot of the lyrics of the song play back to a version of this trope.
In the song “The Bamboozled”, a gang of young adults (played by the singer) are attempting to capture a thief with a hammer. Once they’ve caught one, they smash it with the hammer. The song begins to play before the music stops completely, and the thieves head across the courtyard and then towards the door. A few people in the hallway then make up a half dozen criminals. Another group of thieves are thrown out of the building by a young girl and they’re forced to run. The kids are thrown away when they leave at the end, but they escape when they hit and run.
Video Games
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A Japanese TV series in which a class of six-year-olds are expelled in the hopes of becoming teachers for the Kata Sentai no Uta Academy. After they are expelled, they are recruited from across the galaxy, and they become the school head, the best teachers for all of them.
Nico. After an event, at the end of school
Having undermined Mr. Vernons authority, Bender is placed in a small storage closet for the remainder of the detention, where he becomes very vulnerable after being verbally assaulted by Mr. Vernon. Bender