John Hugh’s movie, The Breakfast Club, is a timeless classic depicting five teenagers who because of indiscretions spend their Saturday in detention and battle to release themselves from the stereotypes that other’s have brander them with. Though the era in which this movie was originally filmed is different from the era of today, the scenario of teenagers tackling the struggles involved with high school, introspection, altering the state of and stripping away stereotypes, being rebellious, and ultimately dealing with the fear of judgment are all situations that are themselves timeless. One of the teens, John Bender, is seen going through a dynamic change throughout the course of the film as he strives to overcome the stereotype others have branded him with; his conquering of this challenge in his life is so internally gratifying that it causes him to spontaneously do a victorious fist pump into the air after the completion of his time in detention, and making friends.

This process of Bender stripping away his stigma of being a rebellious and carefree recluse is nearly complete as the final minute or so of the movie plays and the five teens exit the school after confiding with one another in detention. During this scene, the song “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds is playing, the letter written by Brian on behalf of the five students is being read, and Bender is seen walking across the school’s football field, concluding the film with a freeze frame of him giving a celebratory and glorious fist pump. Those final moments are crucial to the understanding of the internal changes that took place in those eight ordinary hours of Saturday detention. That song was playing because he didn’t want others to “forget about [him]” in the sense that he was an individual, and not just a stereotype, which ties in with Brian’s letter because by being a stereotype, before he as being defined by the “simplest of terms, in the most “convenient definition”. The fist pump symbolized the optimism that he was once lacking in the beginning of the movie from the other branded teens present.

The fist pump also displays that because he is no longer seen as a stereotype, and no longer sees the other members of The Breakfast Club as just a stereotype, that he achieved seeing basic goodness in them, and they achieved seeing it in him. This is a dramatic change of heart and feeling, considering that in the beginning of the film, as the students get settled into detention Bender rebelliously antagonizes anybody in sight from his peers to Mr. Vernon with disrespectful, yet witty remarks without real cause other than the fact that he believes that everyone’s already judged him, so he in turn has the right to judge them. Informing Allison that if she “ke[pt] eating [her] hand [she] wo[uldn’t] be hungry for lunch” and asking Mr. Vernon if Barry Manilow was aware that his wardrobe had been raided was Bender’s way of expressing his rebellion and angst at the world for stereotyping him.

As the movie progressed however, Bender’s behavior displayed basic goodness, and that he wasn’t really the stereotype that other’s believed him to be at all. From enraging Claire with the question about whether or not Andrew had ever “slip[ped] her the hot…beef…injection” to sacrificing himself on behalf of these strangers to face the wrath of Vernon when it appeared as though they were all going to be caught for running in the hall when they shouldn’t have been, Bender began to undergo this change. He realized that if he showed the others who he was little by little, and releasing himself of the layers and barriers he sported before instead of just accepting the stereotype he had already been pegged as, that the state of the stereotype could change, and that he could be seen as a real person; someone different from anyone they could have veer imagined him to be. He even went as far as to let them smoke his weed with him, so that they could get a fuller view of that reality that he wasn’t this awful alien in the room that wouldn’t be able to connect with anyone.

Lastly, Bender gave that triumphant fist pump because he had at last built the personal connection that he so surreptitiously wanted and desperately needed, a relationship that he was originally convinced could never happen. He built this relationship with Claire, a girl who was branded with a stereotype that was on the other side of the spectrum to his. Throughout the movie, he had antagonized her quite a bit in regards to the fact that because she had money and that any and all of her teen problems would have been petty in comparison to his. However, towards the end of the movie, after the five teenagers had taken part in their therapy circle, Claire goes into the closet that Bender was supposed to be locked up in to visit him. He finds this astonishing considering that he had just previously offended her in the therapy circle, when she was attempting to show who she really was. Surprising him even more, she goes as far as to ask for his opinion as to whether or not he was truly disgusted by her lipstick trick, showing him that she actually cared about him, his thoughts, and his views on things, especially his view of her. The icing on the cake for him afterwards was when she kissed him in the closet, and then gave him her diamond earring before parting from the school, as a symbol of their connection and newfound relationship with one another.

In conclusion, John Bender was a high school teenage that basically conquered adversity with the help of five other teens who he found out faced problems parallel to his own in one form or another. Together, they were able to stray from the status quo by befriending one another, and Bender realized along with the others that by opening himself up to the world, that he could free himself of his stereotype, and for this major high school victory and realization, a fist pump was in order.