Alaiza Ruiz

P.6

March 4, 2019

The Breakfast Club Character Personality Analysis

John Bender is one of the main and most important characters of the Breakfast club. His

reckless and rude attitude is what drives most of the plot in the movie. John Bender represents

the stereotypical bad boy persona who appears as aggressive and edgy, he has a natural

rebellious spirit and at first glance seems fearless. I honestly don’t have an abundance of similar

traits with John Bender however I do see little features that he and I have in common. For one we

are both reckless, we say things without thinking and act without planning first which can get us

into some deep trouble. Bender also shuns the thought of revealing or showing off his

insecurities, he’s the type of person who tries to act tough or deny someone when they mention

what his weaknesses are so he plays the bad boy character to avoid having his insecurities

revealed. Although I don’t play any bad girl persona, I do try to avoid or deny talking about my

insecurities and weaknesses because It’s something I don’t want out in the open or something I

don’t like to acknowledge. One last personality trait I’ve noticed that John Bender and I have in

common is that we both have a low conscientiousness meaning we are both disorganized and not

very careful.
 From the psychodynamic perspective, John Bender’s rebellious nature comes from his

experiences from his childhood and from his relationship with his parents. From the beginning of

the movie, it’s obvious Bender does not have a healthy relationship with his parents seeing as

that every other character had arrived with a guardian but Bender enters detention alone and

leaves alone as well. He seems to get physically and mentally abused by his father and neglected

by his mother. This is where his bad boy persona comes in, because of the aggressive

environment at home and the lack of attention he gets, he acts foolish and rude because he wants

attention. His belligerent attitudes is also caused mostly by his Id, the Id is a reservoir of

unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, demanding

immediate gratification, it seems that arguing and his sexual remarks towards Claire is a way to

satisfy his Id. Although his Id seems to have control of Bender most of the time there are times

where his Ego steps in to stop Bender mediating between his Id and Superego, this is seen when

he refuses to punch the principle. Using the free association assessment, I can analyze the part of

the movie where he’s asked to impersonate his family at home. When Andrew asks Bender what

his family life is like, he immediately gets up and does a scene where him and his father are

arguing and his father continues to call him numerous hurtful things, this scene to me seems like

unconscious feelings and undesirable memories Bender has.

The humanistic perspective focuses on the self, meaning self-actualization, self-growth and the

idea that people are usually morally good. In the movie, Bender hasn’t reached self-actualization

yet, it seems he’s still confused of what he wants to be and has trouble accepting himself and

growing from his insecurities. He has little close relationships which can make it harder for him
to reach self actualization and although it looks like he’s open about family issues, he uses this as

a tactic to hide what his real thoughts and feelings are and in truth he’s not open at all but

actually scared of admitting what he really feels, this can also be shown with his relationship

with Claire, because he does not want to actually show his romantic attractions towards Claire he

hides them with rude and sexual remarks. Going through Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, it’s

obvious that Bender is lacking on all levels. Bender does not feel safe nor is he emotionally

stable which is why he keeps up the tough boy act because he still feels vulnerable and feels the

need to protect and shield himself at all times. At school and at home he doesn’t receive much

love thus his belongingness needs are low and due to lack of attention his Esteem needs must

also be low which could be a reason for why he always tries to act so high and mighty and above

everyone else.

Using the Trait perspective and the Big 5 self rating scales including the basic five traits I’ve

determined that Bender is more of an extravert having a high extraversion score. From the

second Bender enters detention he’s already wanting to seek excitement and although he is rude,

he is also outgoing. Also in the scene where Claire is going through Bender's pictures he states

that most of those are girls he considers his girlfriends and it is hinted that Bender has numerous

friends. The beginning of detention Bender also seems to stir up trouble with Claire and Andrew

this could be due to the lack of excitement wanting more social interaction. Bender has a low

score for emotional stability this is proven by how easily aggravated and annoyed he gets. He has

trouble controlling his emotions and is easily provoked. Bender is also not one to easily agree

with anyone, he’s stubborn, aggressive, pessimistic and does not give off a friendly demeanor
therefore his agreeableness score would also be low. Also if it wasn’t obvious by Bender’s messy

and sloppy fashion and looks, Bender is the type to be disorganized and rash. He tends to act

without thinking first and doesn’t care much about consequences, he's also inattentive,

irresponsible and hotheaded. As for his Intellect/imagination score, Bender does not seem open

to new experiences or change, although this changes throughout the movie. Of course, these

scores aren’t set in stone because throughout the movie, you can see the way he changes and who

knows maybe when he grows up he could turn out to be a completely different person.

The social-cognitive perspective shines light on how people and their environment interact.

Bender is involved and surrounds himself in negative environments. His home environment is

toxic and on Saturdays, he always attends detention, this explains his disobedient and

unmanageable attitude and personality. During most of the movie he leans towards the external

locus of control. Most people who believe that fate is out of their hands seem to be more

depressed, do worse in school and cope with stress through negative and unhealthy actions. I

believe that Bender feels his future is out of his hands and during the discussion between the

group whether they were to turn out as their parents or not, Bender didn’t have much to say and

looks sorrowful and scared of turning out like his father like it was something he can’t control.

His views his life as something he can’t manage and copes with this fear and stress through

drugs and other unhealthy choices.

The behaviorist perspective is about how our environment controls our behavior. At home

Bender lives in an abusive environment. He lacks the power to stand up to his father therefore he
is helpless living under his father’s control and insults. Because of his toxic environment at

home, outside of home and at school, Bender tends to challenge the authority figures and in the

movie, the authority figure happens to be Mr. Vernon who is in charge of detention. Multiple

times throughout the movie, Bender mocks and argues with Mr. Vernon because he likes the

sense of power it gives him, the power he lacks in his home environment.

Under the behaviorist perspective is what is known as the Social Learning theory where it

explains how our behavior is modeled and learned by imitations and reinforced by operant

conditioning. John Bender seems to imitate his father. Although we never meet his dad, it’s

pretty obvious what kind of person he is due to Bender’s detailed descriptions. His father is

abusive and resorts to violence most of the time, he frequently gets into fights using fists or other

ways such as burning someone with a cigar. He’s aggressive, rude, ill-mannered and

disrespectful. Bender exhibits most of these personality traits throughout the movie by talking

back to Mr. Vernon, constantly arguing with Claire and Andrew, and bullying Brian. Although

Bender doesn't want to, he does imitate his father whether he likes it or not.

Bender, also known as the “criminal”, is your typical high school bad boy. His relationship

with his parents causes a desire for attention and is the main source for why he acts so

aggressive. He lacks basic belonging, esteem and safety needs which is why he hasn’t reached

self-actualization and on the inside seems insecure thus he creates a barrier around himself

through his tough guy act to protect himself. Bender is more of an extravert wanting to seek

excitement however he has low conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness

scores. His toxic environments such as his home and detention is what shapes his disobedient

attitude and his father is one of the reasons why he always challenges the authority figure.

Bender’s aggressiveness is also largely due to his imitation of his father. Although his

interactions with the other characters in the movie slightly changes him and his personality and

while the movie starts to reach its end Benders does consider changing his outlook on life.