History Film / TheBreakfastClub

* ShopClass: Bender takes it because he thinks it'll be an easy "A". That didn't turn out to be the case, however.

* FootFocus: In the uncut version of the movie, the only copy of which was on a VHS tape lost after John Hughes' death, the part where Allison notes that she can "write with her toes" was followed with Ally Sheedy actually writing with her toes, completely filmed.

* HandyFeet: Allison claims she can write, eat, and play the piano with her toes.

* AtomicFStrike: Bender's epic "FUCK YOU!!" to Vernon.

* HateSink: The parents.

* DoWrongRight: Andrew's father in the beginning chastises him for getting caught after screwing up, not for screwing up.

* DeanBitterman: Principal Vernon, who as Carl points out, wanted an easy job where children respected with him and couldn't handle the reality and lashed out against the children.

* MilesGloriosus: Bender. He puts out an image of toughness but Andy is able to take him down with ease. Even when Bender pulls a knife and casually talks about killing Andy, he's slowly backing away from the fight. Confirmed when Principal Vernon challenges Bender to a fight.

* JerkJock: Deconstructed through Andy. He feels like he has to be an asshole and a bully to the weaker students because his father expects that behavior out of him. When he plays a humiliating and painful prank on another kid, he feels terrible about it afterward, but his dad is only upset that he got caught. Before revealing why hes in detention he is possibly the kindest of the characters, sticking up for Claire and Brian when Bender picks on them, showing real concern for Alison when she is upset and even regrets accusing John of lying about his abuse and he sees how angry it made him.

* StonersAreFunny: The scene where Bender retrieves some marijuana from his locker and all of the teens smoke it, leading to a humorous bit where Andy does some cartwheels all over the library while under the influence of the drug. [[SarcasmMode Now we can see how he's the brother of Charlie Sheen.]]

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Bender
** TheLancer: Claire
** TheSmartGuy: Brian
** TheBigGuy: Andy
** TheChick: Allison

** The parents, UpToEleven.

** The parents. At the very least, the ones we see are very, very selfish people who could care less what they do to their own kids in pursuit of their wants.

* VanityLicensePlate: The front license plate on the car of Brian's mom has Einstein's theory of relativity.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The parents of the Club are downright bad people, but the Club themselves and arguably even Carl and Vernon operate in lighter shades. Bender is a protagonist and sympathetic character, but also a relentless bully who steals, vandalizes, and harasses the other students, but also deliberately gets himself in trouble to save everyone else from it.

** The rest of the students are suitably horrified to learn that Brian is in detention for [[spoiler: bringing a gun to school. When he learns it was a flare-gun that went off in Brian's locker]], Andy starts laughing. He stops when Brian insists it isn't funny, but then starts laughing again. Brian then admits it is a little funny.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played extremely cynically. They're either apathetic, horrifically selfish, or borderline sadists.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Claire toward Bender.
* AlmightyJanitor: Carl.
* AlphaBitch: Deconstructed with Claire.
* AngryDance: Andrew... oddly enough, his reaction to getting stoned.
* AttentionWhore: Bender. He's always insulting somebody (whether it be the principal, the janitor or his peers), and it's obviously for attention. There's also his thorough, speculative impression of Brian's household, and the way he announces it out of nowhere without being asked and just assumes (correctly) they'll all watch.
** Around the middle of the movie Allison turns into something like this. She butts in at every conversation with something SHE has done or is about her. Even if it does not fit the conversation at all.

* BigEater: Andy.
* BigManOnCampus: Andy.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The parents of the Club are downright bad people, but the Club themselves and arguably even Carl and Vernon operate in lighter shades.
* BreakfastClub: [[TropeNamer Obviously]].

* CloudCuckooLander: Allison.
* ColonelBogeyMarch: Whistled by the kids.

* CondescendingCompassion: Claire's drama partially stems from the fact that[[spoiler: her friends force her to be unkind to the unpopular kids]].
* CrapsackWorld: Implied. And it's not even PlayedForLaughs, as Hughes did in ''{{Film/Sixteen Candles}}''.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than a lot of Hughes's other movies.

* DeanBitterman: Principal Vernon.

** Claire, the AlphaBitch, is a Type A StepfordSmiler who feels that her life is empty, and that her parents only use her as a tool in their endless arguments. And she's hardly the "queen bee" -- in fact, it's peer pressure that essentially molded her into the snobbish bitch that she is, and she feels miserably forced into it.
** Brian, the {{Nerd}}, hates how [[EducationMama his parents]] have destroyed his social life by pushing him so hard to succeed, and is so obsessed with his grades that [[spoiler:he [[DrivenToSuicide tries to kill himself]] (or [[AxesAtSchool worse]])]] after getting [[TheBGrade an F in shop class]]. [[InsufferableGenius His attitude]] is also little better than that of the "popular" kids that he hates, as shown when he talks about how he took shop class because he thought it was an easy A that only "losers" like Bender took (as opposed to his advanced math classes).

** Allison, the [[LonersAreFreaks crazy loner]], intentionally acts crazy and theatric in order to [[AttentionWhore get attention]], something her parents don't give her. She doesn't bother to hide her blatant thefts and eccentricities, and her withdrawn persona is actually just a ploy to get people to give her more attention.

** They also have a variation of the trope -- their lunches represent their parents (who packed them) as much as it does the kids. Claire has expensive Japanese food that working-class Bender has never even heard of; Andy has a massive lunch loaded with carbs; Brian has a typical "mama's boy" lunch complete with crustless PB&J; Allison (whose parents "ignore her") ditches the baloney they put in her sandwich to make herself a Pixy Stix and Cap'n Crunch sandwich on Wonder Bread; and Bender, who neither brought a lunch or was made one by his parents, makes out like he's going to forcibly share Brian's, although he doesn't in the end.

* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Bender to Brian: ''"So, what are we having for lunch?"''

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Bender.
** TheLancer: Claire.
** TheSmartGuy: Brian.
** TheBigGuy: Andy.
** TheChick: Allison.

* FreudianExcuse: All the kids have this. A major theme in the movie is how adults can shape their kids for better or worse, intentionally or not. Bender grew up learning how to be tough because his dad beats him (he got burned with a cigar for spilling paint in the garage), Andrew is driven to compete and bullies another kid because his dad is always pushing him and going off on the wild things he did as a teen, Allison acts like she's nuts because her parents ignore her, Brian is a socially-inept nerd because his parents are always forcing him to study, and Claire is a shallow popular girl because she feels empty inside due to her parents using her as a weapon.

* GrowingUpSucks

* EducationMama: Brian's parents are a '''cruel''' deconstruction. Worst of all, it's implied its not even for his benefit.

* StonersAreFunny: The scene where Bender retrieves some marijuana from his locker and all of the teens smoke it, leading to a humorous bit where Andy does some cartwheels all over the library while under the influence of the drug. [[SarcasmMode Now I see how he's the brother of Charlie Sheen.]]

** TheLancer: Allison.

** TheChick: Claire.