5 Lessons Every Man Can Learn From ‘The Breakfast Club’
Almost thirty years ago, five high school students, all from different background and social circles, showed up to their high school on a Saturday morning to serve detention. Eight hours later -- after some incredible soul searching, a lot of arguing, laughing and dancing -- the five emerged as unlikely friends.
'The Breakfast Club' is perhaps the quintessential movie on the topic of teen life and it's still as relevant now as it was in 1985. Not only young adults, but even grown men, can learn a great deal from the John Hughes classic. There are more than a few lessons in the movie about how to be a man -- no matter your age.
Here are five classic scenes from 'The Breakfast Club' and what they can teach the modern man.
How To Make an Entrance
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. You also never get a second chance to enter a room. Sure, you could walk in and out of the doorway like you’re OCD, but people will only remember the first time you stepped into the room. Making an entrance is important because it tells the story of the type of man you are -- either the type that commands a room or the type who sits in the back and allows others to dominate the situation.
Though this wasn’t Bender’s initial entrance (it was also rather memorable) this scene did tell a great deal about his character -- bold, daring, and willing to crawl through a ceiling just to prove no one can keep him locked up for long.
It’s Good to Run in Different Packs
Friends are, and hopefully always will be, friends but it’s a smart idea to branch out and mingle with different social circles. It will make a guy more universally well-like. It will cause a man to evolve. It opens a man’s eyes up to different worlds.
Jocks, princesses, stoners and nerds, ‘The Breakfast Club’ proved that even though the world tries to shoehorn people into different classes and social circles, we’re all just people trying to navigate this screwed up thing called life.
Stand Up for Others
A man has to stand up for others in certain situations. Even if it means possibly getting his face smashed in the process.
Andrew barely knows Claire, and he certainly doesn't know what a nut job like Bender is capable of, but it doesn't stop him for standing up for her.
Every Man Needs a Catchphrase
Think of all the most important and influential men in life and one of the first things that springs to mind is an expression or catchphrase. Successful men know sometimes it's acceptable to speak in catchphrases.
Principal Vernon's catchphrase probably lasted around the high school long after he retired.
It's Not What You Say, But How You Say It
Often, men feel the need to resort to offensive language to prove a point but once a guy let's an "F bombs" fly he loses all credibility. It's not what you say, but how you say it.
Bender proves this point in one of his many altercations with Principal Bender. Would "eat my shorts" really offend anyone? Not likely, but coming from Bender it sounds like the most offensive phrase ever uttered inside the walls of Shermer High School.
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