"Breakfast Club" vs. "The Graduate"

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that a surface level examination of 'The Graduate', directed by Mike Nichol, and 'The Breakfast Club', written and directed by John Hughes, may at first yield the idea that the films are vastly different in all aspects of comparison. However, the films, released in 1967 and 1983, respectively, share common underlying themes focusing on the need to rebel from society, the detachment from one's parents as one becomes an adult, and as social/societal alienation. The writer maintains that all of these themes can be summed up into one wide category dealing with the identity crisis faced by the collective youth of society. The writer concludes that, although 'The Breakfast Club' and 'The Graduate' are from different decades and have drastically different approaches, both deal with the identity crisis faced by the youth in the US to which people can relate to even to this day.

From the Paper:

"In The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate who returns home to a world of uncertainty and encounters a psychological crisis in the sense that he doesn't know who he is or what he wants. Benjamin's uncertainty about his future combined with societal expectations and parental pressures leads him to rebel from all of the forces that are constantly pressuring him. This rebellion comes in the form of an affair with Mrs. Robinson played by Anne Bancroft. Ben's rebellion comes from a feeling to conform to what he believes society wants him to be. I believe that when Ben started his affair with Mrs. Robinson, he felt that for the first time in his life he had actually done something that wasn't his parents idea and such action was liberating, if not also exciting to him. This is apparent due to the fact that Ben continued his rebellious actions with little concern for what was happening around him or for his future. His lackadaisical lifestyle consisted basically of two phases: lounging in the pool during the day and having sexual experiences with Mrs. Robinson each night; both phases having an underlying rebellious theme as well as a general lack of concern for the future or for societal expectations."

Sample of Sources Used:

• 'The Graduate' - director Mike Nichol
• 'The Breakfast Club' - written and directed by John Hughes

More papers on "Breakfast Club" vs. "The Graduate":

• Film Review # 6711 : "The Breakfast Club"
• Film Review # 124452 : "Love in "The Graduate"
• Essay # 86860 : "The Graduate"

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