Essay, Research Paper: Rules Of Relationships In Of Mice And Men And The Breakfast Club

Rules of Relationship

Kyle and I decided to research relationships as they are portrayed in movies for our presentation. Between us, we watched "The Breakfast Club", "Dead Poets Society", "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Of Mice and Men." Today I'm going to discuss how rules of relationships were used in "The Breakfast Club" and "Of Mice and Men". I will list the rules portrayed in these movies and provide you with insight on the happenings of each movie. I think that "The Breakfast Club" and "Of Mice and Men" did an excellent job of demonstrating the rules of relationships.
"Of Mice and Men" is a classic story with a timeless message. It's very good movie and novel. This movie is great drama for anyone from thirteen to ninety-nine years of age. In "Of Mice and Men", there are two rugged men, Lenny and George, who are good friends. Lenny, played by John Malkovich, is a soft spoken, big, and gentle character, who is unfortunately mentally disabled. Because of Lenny's problem keeping a job, the brothers are forced to move frequently. Lenny likes to touch things that appear to be soft or comforting to touch: hair for example. Lenny loves animals. George, played Gary Sinise, tries his hardest to be a good friend. He seems to be trapped by the fact of having a life that is full of unhappy things. George is about 35-40 years old. He is hard working, trustworthy, patience, caring, and a very responsible man. Throughout the movie, George seems to have gotten the short end of the stick. At the same time, I feel that George's meeting Lenny also had a positive impact on George. George learned a great deal of patience from his friendship with Lenny. This story ends in trajedy. George is forced to do what he thinks is best for all by killing Lenny after Lenny accidently killed a woman. With Lenny's death, George is given a chance to move on with his life and not have to worry about taking care of his friend. The other movie I'm going to discuss is "The Breakfast Club". This movie would be enjoyed by people ranging in age from junior high to middle aged. It's more of a younger portrayal of how life was and is in high school. It's a story of how five supposedly completely different students end up in detention on a Saturday and how they discover and use their similarities to make the day more enjoyable. As the story progresses, they learn not only about each other but also about themselves. In "The Breakfast Club", Andrew Clark, the jock played by Emilio Estevez , always seems to be pleasing other people: his father, his coach, his friends. They all see him as a person that he doesn't necessarily WANT to be. Rather than disappoint them, he simply becomes who they think he is. This creates a lot of internal anger, which surfaces often throughout the movie. Brian Johnson, Anthony Michael Hall, excels academically but has little self-confidence to show for it. He tends to be hard on himself, and can't handle failure. Straight-laced and timid, he rarely bends the rules. My favorite character in the movie, by far, is John Bender, played by Judd Nelson. He has a lot of issues he doesn't care to talk about, and he deals with them by using dry humor and sarcasm. Allison Reynolds is a basket case. She's screwed up. One thing's for sure, Allison Reynolds, played by Ally Sheedy, LOVES attention. So she's got her quirks. She uses dandruff as "snow" on a picture she's drawn. She eats Cap'n Crunch and sugar from a Pixie Stix on bread as a sandwich. She doesn't speak for the first half of the movie, and when she finally does start talking, she doesn't stop. Allison leaves you wondering who she really is, but weird or not, she's certainly likable! Claire Standish, the spoiled brat played by Molly Ringwald, reminds me of the girls that I couldn't stand in high school! She places herself above everyone else in the movie. Sure, she's got her problems, just like all teenagers. But somehow, to everyone else, her family's wealth and power and her alliance with the "in" crowd seems to diminish whatever problems she may have. To the other characters, she's just conceited Claire.
"The Breakfast Club" takes place Saturday, March 24, 1984 in Shermer High School. Shermer High School is located in the town of Shermer, Illinois. "Of Mice and Men" takes place in California sometime in the 1800's. It was never exactly stated when it took place, but it was when slavery was still in use.
I chose to apply the "Rules of Relationships" according to Argyle and Henderson. The "Rules of Relationships" is defined in eleven rules, listed on page 261 of the Communications Mosaics textbook. A few of the rules are as follows, stand up for a friend when they aren't around, share your successes and how you feel about them, give emotional support, and trust and confide in one another. In "Of Mice and Men", I found that eight of the rules were used. For the most part George is always sticking up for and defending Lenny, giving support, trust and confiding in Lenny, helping him, making him feel good, is not too critical of Lenny, protects Lenny's confidences, and leaving his faults alone. Lenny uses what he knows as far as rules of relationships go. Lenny is mentally challenged, so he does what he can by giving support and just being a good guy. In "The Breakfast Club", three of these rules are used. They all give one another emotional support, they trust and confide in each other, and they make each other feel good. In "The Breakfast Club", they fight, but now matter what they're talking about, they seem to take sides and defend their case. Although Bender made Claire cry, he gave her support soon there after. All the teens trust and confide in each other by telling what they did to end up in detention. Each of them seems to have a terrible story of why or how they ended up in detention. Each story has great weight on ruining who they are or ruining their reputation. To help his new friends feel good, Bender gets everyone high off of smoking weed in the movie. In "The Breakfast Club" not many of the "Rules of Relationships" were displayed, but that is greatly due to the fact that they began as strangers put together by circumstances beyond their control and grew to become friends through the course of the movie.
"Rules of relationships" describe how an ideal relationship would be. A movie uses some of these rules, but for dramatic and real-to-life purposes relationships like this aren't usually seen. I think that "The Breakfast Club" shows us what more modern relationships act like. "Of Mice and Men" gives us a more sincere, true-to-life feeling of true friendship. I think that a movie like "The Breakfast Club" may not have a profound impact on the American way of life, but for now and maybe for another short while longer, this movie will display how high school's function. "Of Mice and Men" is a timeless movie, which displays friendship to be a great thing. The ethics of both these movies show possible ways that relationships develop and demonstrate how members of a relationship should treat each other.