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The 1985 cult classic "The Breakfast Club" is set in a fictitious suburb in Chicago, Illinois named Shermer. This suburb is based off the entirely real town of Northbrook, and is used in several of filmmaker John Hughes' films, such as "Sixteen Candles", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and "Home Alone". The time period is March of 1984, a Saturday. Five students at Shermer High School, based of Hughes own high school, have assembled in the library to serve out their detention.

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Claire Standish, a spoiled rich girl, plays the part of the princess. She first appears when her dad drops her off. She's in detention for skipping class(to go shopping). John Bender, a wise-cracking delinquent, is the criminal, he walks up to the school alone, wearing a long trench coat. He is repeatedly singled out by the short tempered vice principal supervising them, Richard Vernon. Bender is in detention for pulling the fire alarm. His father is abusive to both him and his mother, and he seems to take this out on the other kids especially Claire. He has a mean streak, is angered easily, and carries a knife. He also keeps a long string of girlfriends, never dumping them. Bender also lies often. All in all, he is the most problematic character. Andrew Clark, the athlete, is dropped off by his overbearing sports obsessed father. During what seems to be a group therapy session between the kids, Clark reveals how he attacked a boy unprovoked in the locker room in the aims of gaining his fathers approval. Brian Johnson, the brain, is dropped off by his nagging mother and little sister, who taunts him. Brian is in tears when he admits a teacher found a flare gun in his locker, after it went off and exploded. He was planning on using the gun to commit suicide after getting an F in his shop class. Allison Reynolds, is the basket case, the crazy one. She is very quiet and usually just squeaks. She was the only kid dropped off by both parents, but they drive off before she can say goodbye. She later tells Andrew they always ignore her. She also is the only kid with no real reason to be in detention. She just "had nothing better to do". She is a talented artist, thief, and self-proclaimed "compulsive liar". She later becomes romantically involved with Andrew.

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The literary themes in this movie are suburban conformity, peer pressure, elitism, adult abuse of power, and the disconnect between parent and child during adolescence. The major conflict of this movie is between the students and the vice principal supervising them, Richard Vernon. He is very hard on them, ordering them not to leave the library even to use to the bathroom, and to write an essay on who they think they are. The conflict is especially strong between him and the criminal character, John Bender, who he gives an additional eight detentions for attitude. Vernon also threatens Bender physically and locks him in a closet. The resolution in this movie comes when the students make it to the end of detention and Brian the brain writes a single essay for all of them, pictured above. there are many moments of relief before this though, all orchestrated by the thorn in Vernons side, Bender. He first tampers with the door so it will shut instead of stick open like Vernon wants, then goads the rest of the kids into conversation and whistling, then eventually escaping the room with him to retrieve marajuana from his locker. he sacrifices himself to save them from getting caught, then escapes the closet hes locked in through the vents. he hides from vernon and sparks up the whole gang, making it back to the closet before vernon comes looking . he even canoodles with the princess claire in the closet. possibly the real resolution was between the kids, in that they reconciled their differences and realized it was stupid to throw away their new found friendship in favor of their strict cliques.

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Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory | The internal v. external

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Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory | The internal v. external

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Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-American psychologist born in 1917. He is known for developing the ecological systems theory.

This theory is based on the cognitive development children. it is one of the most accepted explanations of the influence of social environments on human development. This theory argues that the environment you grow up in affects every facet of your life. The model consists of five systems, or layers. The individual is in the center of the model, age, sex, and health being key information. Surrounding that is the technical first level, the microsystem; the immediate environment(school, religion, peers, family, neighborhood, conditions of these people and their interactions with the individual.) The second level is the mesosystem; the relationships between the groups in the microsystem and how that effects the individuale.g. parents and school. The exosystem is things that don't directly ivolve the indivual but do affect them. (use parentss job and relationship to kid asp). The level called macrosystem is the larger social, political, and cultural context. Whereas the previous levels were all ringing out from the center, the chronosystem is the level below all this, the role of time in a persons life and the changes time brings. perosnal or external events. These layers are not clearly divided from each other, as in there are circumstance where they overlap.

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Some criticisms of the ecological systems theory are that it's hard to tell if the outcomes of the application of this theory were, in fact, caused by the application. Also several aspects of the theory are vaguely defined and understood. Another criticism of Bronfenbrenner has been that the model focuses too much on human development in regard to biological and cognitive aspects, and not enough on the socio-emotional aspect. Bronfenbrenner's theory has been used as a basis to form more comprehensive views of human development.

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1. According to the theory/theorist which developmental stage(s) did you character experience?

John Bender is an adolescent, approximately age 16, boy. he's still a child. He seems to be in great physical health, but mentally and emotionally he is erratic, and guarded. he has outbursts and an attitude problem. he loves to antagonize the other characters, its as if he's the mastermind behind an incredibly amusing game at all times. He's never bored. He is deeply affected by his parents abuse and the presence of the preps at his school, two of which are present in the room, Claire and Andrew. Brian could also be considered to fall under the prep category though he is not popular. He constantly acts out in a way as if he's proving himself. His religion is unknown, he is definitely on the outskirts of the school community as he shows open hate for rich popular kids. The vice principal has a sour relationship with him. The janitor seems neutral towards him. Throughout the movie, the other kids warm up to him, especially Claire the "good girl" who is charmed and becomes romantically involved with him. When he asks her why she kisses him, she responds "because I know you wouldn't" Claire acknowledges Bender's guarded nature.

2. How would your theorist evaluate or assess the character? Using your theory as a guide, discuss the major life events, circumstances, inclinations, and predispositions that impact and influence your character’s development.

Bronfenbrenner would evaluate Bender to be someone profoundly effected by his immediate environment, his parents, vice principal, and peers. His father's unpredictable violence and verbal abuse has made him edgy, guarded, and verbally abusive himself. His mother's complacency and inability to defend herself has made him resent women. The vice principals treatment towards him has left him even less people he can trust. he seems to push his peers to the limit as a way to test their worthiness, as in how cruel they can be back to him. Still, he craves understanding and camaraderie, and this is seen in his repeated attempts to connect with the rest of the breakfast club. His abusive father burns him with a cigarette for dropping paint in the garage, leaving a scar which he shows the other kids as proof. He doesn't come from much money and he has an inclination towards theft, violence, and drug use. The vice principal repeatedly talks about how he'll end up in prison and in a deleted scene the janitor says he'll be a junkie. He is polyamorous and has trouble letting go of partners because he was never shown a healthy example of love in his home.

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Did the theory do well in explaining your character’s development? 

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Did the theory do well in explaining your character’s development? 

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1. Was the theory capable of capturing or explaining all the experiences of your character?

The theory did well to explain how each relationship in John Bender's life has effected him.

2. Is this theory a good “fit” when making a psycho-developmental assessment of your character?

This theory is a pretty good fit for making a psycho-developmental assessment of John Bender because he has a lot of problems stemming fro his experience at home and at school.

3. Given your character’s identity (e.g. based on their cultural, religious, gender, sexual identities) are these theories valid to use? Why or why not?

These theories are valid because as a young person John Bender has profoundly effected by the contrast between his home life and the culture surrounding him. He can't stop comparing the two and the stark difference between them. To Claire, he says "Don’t you ever, ever compare yourself to me, okay? You got everything and I got shit. Fucking Rapunzel, right? School would probably fucking shut down if you didn’t show up. Queenie isn’t here. -You know what I got for Christmas this year? It was a banner fucking year at the old Bender family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said, “Hey, smoke up, Johnny.”"

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In Chapter 9 of My Psychology by Andrew M. Pomerantz , titled Adolescent Developement, it is discussed how decisions surrounding a child shift from their parents to themselves. This leads to the emerging of personalities. on page 883, the text reads "This growing independence means that there is much more variation in development during adolescence than there is in the earlier childhood years. Kids go in different directions once the teenage years hit. Adolescents play different sports, listen to different music, take different classes, and even begin to develop interests in different careers."(Kuhn & Franklin,2006; Lerner & Steinberg, 2009 as cited in Pomerantz, 2018) This is demonstrated perfectly in the breakfast club as each character is wildly different, even from the adults in the movie. Claire is into beauty, Allison is into art, Andrew is into wrestling, Brian is into studying and John is into breaking the rules at all times. another line from the text is also on page 883, "It can be tough to generalize about a group of people branching out in so many different ways."(Kuhn & Franklin,2006; Lerner & Steinberg, 2009 as cited in Pomerantz, 2018).This is what the viewer and characters also think at the beginning of the movie, that they have nothing in common. But, as the movie progresses they learn they all have problems connecting to the adults in their lives, and keeping up with familial and social expectations.