A Allison Reynolds from the Film The Breakfast Club

Last Updated: 13 Mar 2023
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In The Breakfast Club, a 1985 film directed by John Hughes, Allison Reynolds is a secluded and dark social outcast. She is shy and silent, and the other teenagers facing detention with her don’t bother with her because they think she is strange. From the very beginning of the film, we viewers come to understand that she is different from the rest of the characters. Each person is introduced individually through bits and pieces of dialogue between their parents and themselves as they drop them off for their Saturday morning detention. Allison is the last teenager seen outside of the high school as soon as she tries to look into the front window of the car she had just gotten out of, it quickly drives away before she gets the chance to say goodbye. This scene already reveals that she is socially isolated and that not many care to pay any attention to her, Allison isn‘t necessarily cocky or self-absorbed, but rather careless.

She sits alone in the library among the rest of the detention students, but she keeps her head down and sits sideways on her chair for most of the time. She is dressed in black and her hair is dirty and matted. There are some additional scenes where she makes different noises (i.e. biting her nails or chewing on her pixie stick and potato chip sandwich) that get the other teenagers’ attention, but she doesn't let their reactions bother her. She continues to follow through with her actions She generally keeps to herself for the first part of the film, but there are some moments that show that she still pays attention to the other characters’ conversations. As The Breakfast Club progresses, Allison begins to reevaluate and reexamine her identity with the help of the other characters. She becomes appreciated by the others because they collectively come to understand that they are all facing similar difficult situations in their lives.

Before this discovery, Allison wants nothing more than for everyone else to treat and think of her as a basket case because that is what her parents think of her. Falling under the pressure of her parents’ opinion, she believes that a basket case is the only thing she can be or can act like in public. Her parents ignore her and pretend that she doesn’t exist, therefore, she socially isolates herself from the rest of the world so everyone else will treat her in the same manner. However, when all of the teenagers realize that none of their parents understand them, they realize that it isn’t a situation they must face alonei Their ability to compare their own life situations with one another is a huge force that brings them all together by the end of the film, Allison changes her identity by helping herself before she helps others At first, she is too afraid to open up about her personal life, and she constantly threatens the others to “go away” when they try to interfere.

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She tells them that they all have problems, but in reality, she is only too scared to admit this to herself because she refuses to let anyone in to listen to hers Sooner or later, she begins to let loose a little bit, and she allows the other teenagers to help hert She makes the daring decision to confide in Andrew, the jock of the film, when he pulls her aside to speak with hen In this scene, she admits that her parents are the reason why she faces problems in her life, and that she is constantly ignored by them, Allison consistently lies to the others, but she only does this to pressure them into admitting different things that they wouldn‘t normally openly speak of. A scheming technique such as this can come across as devilish or rude, but it is her way of understanding and getting to know the other students.

Towards the end of the film, Allison begins to participate further in different conversations/discussions, but this is only because she had originally allowed herself to bond with the others Because they begin to show a general interest in her, she feels that she can simply open up and become less isolated from them, For example, she allows Claire, the “princess” of the film, to give her a makeover at the end When she asks Claire why she is being nice to her, Claire responds and says that she is because she is allowing her to be, Allison’s change in identity is completed once the others see her for the first time after her makeover.

The way she presents herself, both physically and mentally, makes her seem less secluded and cold-hearted. Andrew is immediately attracted to her new look because he believes he can finally understand her for who she truly is. At this point in time, it is clear that how she had been originally (a basket case) was never what she really wanted for herself. She had spent her time hiding away because her parents ignored her and thought that she was nothing but worthless. It wasn’t until her soon-to-be friends started listening and paying attention to her when she realized that she had a place in the world, and that she didn’t have to face all of her problems aloner.

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A Allison Reynolds from the Film The Breakfast Club. (2023, Mar 13). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/a-character-analysis-of-allison-reynolds-from-the-film-the-breakfast-club/

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