I am going to be reflecting on the events that occurred in the film The Breakfast Club, and how they are relevant to themes presented in our text that cover topics on family and peers. The Breakfast Club brings to light a lot of theories in adolescence, and expands upon them in extreme measures, but measures that are abundant nonetheless. The characters I am going to be focusing on are Claire, Bender, and Brian. .
Claire is portrayed as the popular girl, or "princess". She is in detention in the movie because she skipped class to go shopping and hang out with her friends. Her father shows a form of parenting called Indulgent parenting. He tells her that she should go to classes but never places a punishment on her, and then gives her a gift. The Definition of indulgent parenting is a parent or parents that are very involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them (Santrock 2012, pg. 261). This usually leads to lack of control or respect for the parent. Claire's father loved her, but placed no blame on her actions, which could lead her to believe that although the school gave her a detention, she won't really receive any real punishment or guidance from her father.
Another character I will be exploring is Bender, because bender is one of the more unique characters in the film, not having his parents present in the beginning or end of the film. There is a scene in The Breakfast Club in which bender shows how his home life really is. He finishes taunting Brian's parents before he is told, "alright, what about your family". He then began to talk about how the only thing they do is belittle and hurt him, calling him "ugly, lazy, and disrespectful" amongst other things. John has neglectful parents. Neglectful parents are very uninvolved in their children's lives, and most children of neglectful parents are forced to be independent, due to the lack of parental monitoring (Santrock 2012, pg.