When the 1970s came to a close the families of the baby boomers were evolving and most families now had a teenager within them. In the 1970s teens were of the counter-culture who were of the baby boomers. The new teens of the 1980s were raised by these counter-culture individuals and had created a new culture of their own. In the 1980s the emergence of cliques within schools and among teens were starting to appear as well as the new popular culture that movies were demonstrating. I believe that the movie The Breakfast Club, does an excellent job of showing how the teens of this time were different from those of previous time periods.
In The Breakfast Club, all groups of teens were represented. At the beginning of the movie we are introduced …show more content…
Brian experiences all of the pressures of his life from his parents and how well he does in school. We learn, once he opens up to the others, that he received the detention because he brought a gun to school. He explained further that he was thinking of killing himself because of a bad grade that he received in his shop class. He said that himself and his parents were so disappointed in him that he thought he had no other choice, luckily for him the janitor sees the gun and gets rid of it before he can hurt himself. Brian’s pressure of doing well in school is not only showcased in the movie, but in the 1980s themselves. An increase in suicide was taking place during the 1980s. Featured in a New York Times article in February of 1987, “Young American men from 15 to 24 years old are killing themselves at a rate 50 percent higher than at the beginning of the previous decade, according to a new Federal study” (Youth Suicide is Rising). Also, one of the other characters who feels the pressure to do well in school, as well as after-school activities was the athlete Andrew. We see in the movie his father pressuring him not to get detention ever again when he got detention for doing something that he thought he would proud. His father tells him that if he gets detention again it can jeopardize his chance at getting a scholarship for wrestling. Most families either did not have enough money to send their children to college or were hoping that they wouldn’t want to go or even if they could they would get a scholarship in order to pay for the
In The Breakfast Club, all groups of teens were represented. At the beginning of the movie we are introduced …show more content…
Brian experiences all of the pressures of his life from his parents and how well he does in school. We learn, once he opens up to the others, that he received the detention because he brought a gun to school. He explained further that he was thinking of killing himself because of a bad grade that he received in his shop class. He said that himself and his parents were so disappointed in him that he thought he had no other choice, luckily for him the janitor sees the gun and gets rid of it before he can hurt himself. Brian’s pressure of doing well in school is not only showcased in the movie, but in the 1980s themselves. An increase in suicide was taking place during the 1980s. Featured in a New York Times article in February of 1987, “Young American men from 15 to 24 years old are killing themselves at a rate 50 percent higher than at the beginning of the previous decade, according to a new Federal study” (Youth Suicide is Rising). Also, one of the other characters who feels the pressure to do well in school, as well as after-school activities was the athlete Andrew. We see in the movie his father pressuring him not to get detention ever again when he got detention for doing something that he thought he would proud. His father tells him that if he gets detention again it can jeopardize his chance at getting a scholarship for wrestling. Most families either did not have enough money to send their children to college or were hoping that they wouldn’t want to go or even if they could they would get a scholarship in order to pay for the