The Breakfast Club

1. From this shot, the audience knows that the film will be set at a high
school, which typically gives the idea that the main social group being
portrayed revolves around teenagers.
Further enhancing the teenage social group representation is the sound.
When this shot appears, music begins to play that is of a pop-style genre
– which is music that is particularly aimed at large teenage audiences.
The narrator is speaking over the shots, telling the audience that a group
of students have been called in to detention on a Saturday morning for
something they’ve done previously – this tells us that these teenagers are
troublemakers.

2. This shot introduces us to our first
on-screen character; a teenage girl.
We see her and who we assume is
her dad through the window of a
BMW, where the logo is placed at
the forefront of the shot. This could
be an indication that her family is
rich, giving the impression already
that she is quite snobby and has a
poor attitude. Our first clear shot of
her reinforces this idea of a spoilt
teenager. She is seen to be wearing
lots of makeup – perhaps she is self-
conscious of her looks. As stated her
attitude is rude and disobedient, as
she complains to her dad how he
“couldn’t get her out of this one”

3. Our second character is
introduced shortly after. The
shots seem to portray him as
quite a geeky character in the
narrative, representing this type
of teenage role. We can assume
this because his mother is quite
strict on him to study during his
free time, so he probably
doesn’t socialise as much as he
should do for a teenager. Also
his selection of hat can be
deemed quite geeky because it
isn’t one of the typical teenage
fashion of the time – which also
links in to his babyish facial
appearance.

4. The next character we are
introduced to is the typical
representation of an American
high school ‘jock’. The audience
can see this straight away,
which is given by the standard
blue and white sports jacket
that he is wearing. He seems to
have a calm attitude as he
probably wants to be seen as a
cool person. His dad’s attitude
indicates that he isn’t very
smart but rather relies on his
sporting ability to get through
school – he only cares that he is
in detention because it could
harm his chances of going to
college.

5. After the jock gets out of his car we
are promptly introduced to another
two new characters. The first of
which can be portrayed as the
criminal who doesn’t seem to care
about anything. For example, when
he crosses the road he doesn’t stop
for the car that is passing by, instead
he keeps walking. Also when he is
approaching the detention room he
is fiddling with items as he walks
past. When he goes to sit down, he
kicks the geek out of his chair and
sits down with his feet up on
another chair. The second character
is a socially awkward teenage girl
who is deemed a ‘basket-case’. She
is looked at strangely by the other
characters and is laughed at. Her
social role is contrasting to the one
of our first girl that we saw.

6. In this shot we are introduced to
our final character as he walks
towards the camera. We can
assume that he is a large figure of
authority within the narrative as
he is wearing an expensive suit,
telling us that he is probably the
headmaster of the school where
the film is set. Further enhancing
his sense of authority is his stature
and tall body frame. The way he
walks (large swinging of the arms
back and forth) indicates that he is
confident as he is very aware of
the authority he possesses over
the teenagers that he is attending.