breakfast clubClaire Standish (Molly Ringwald) was detained on Saturday because she skipped school to go shopping. As a privileged “princess”, she clearly believes it’s her fault to be detained and repeatedly refers to her belief that it’s unfair for her to be detained.
First of all, she is an unsympathetic character. However, as time goes on and the five students get to know each other better, the audience learns that Claire, like the rest of the group, breakfast clubhas her own problems and her life is not as perfect as it seems at first.
Her first line shows her spoiled side
“I can’t believe you can’t get me out of here.”
According to Brian’s recommendation, this is breakfast club, A movie full of memorable quotes. At the beginning of the film, the characters are presented as Brian puts it, “in the simplest sense, the most convenient definition”. Tang You Du’s words are indeed “Princess”.
Interestingly, Claire’s father disagrees with Claire’s opinion that it is his duty to get her out of trouble. Instead, he tells her that he will make up for her. Claire is introduced as a spoiled rich kid who is used to doing whatever she wants. This makes things all the more interesting as the series progresses and the audience gets to know her.
when she thinks she’s in the wrong place
“I think it was a mistake. I know it’s incarceration, but I don’t think I belong here.”
Claire is still a spoiled princess, and when she begins her captivity, she tells Mr. Vernon that she doesn’t belong there. The implication here is that she deserves a better standard of detention, better suited to her privileged position.
The biggest villain in the John Hughes movies, Vernon often speaks to students in inappropriate or hostile ways. However, this time, his judgment was completely correct, completely ignoring what Claire said just now.
When she explained Bender’s behavior to him
“You know why people like you knock on everything? It’s because you’re scared.”
Claire offered to introduce Bender to some mass psychology. She tells him that he’s afraid he won’t fit anywhere and that’s why he laughs at everything. Unsurprisingly, Bender didn’t take her word for it, and her comments were as popular as one would expect.
What’s interesting about this line is that, in a way, Claire is talking about herself. Her need to be part of a popular group comes from a place of fear. Claire hates to do everything her friends say, but she does it anyway because she’s afraid she can’t.
when she talks about her parents
“It’s like they’re using me just to get revenge on each other.”
Andrew asked Claire if she was arrested that night because he wanted to invite her to a party. Claire doesn’t know if she’s grounded – one of her parents says she is, the other says she doesn’t. She said she wouldn’t go to the party because it would cause a fight between her parents and possibly lead to a divorce.
Claire feels like a pawn in her parents’ unhappy marriage, trapped between them. Many viewers thought it was especially cruel as Bender later teased her about being her dad’s daughter when her home life was unhappy.
when she explained what sushi is
“Rice, raw fish and seaweed.”
In 1985, when breakfast club When it hit theaters, sushi wasn’t as popular a lunch option as it is today. At the time, the dish was new to many Americans, expensive, and unavailable in the food court of every mall, so Bender asked her what it was. Her answer made him look disgusted.
one of the best roles breakfast clubClaire comes from privilege, and the lunch she chooses is filled with that privilege. It also shows how stylish she is for a teenager. She puts her lunch on a wooden plate and eats it with chopsticks. She turns packed lunches into a restaurant-style dining experience, but does so to further illustrate her snob.
when she brags about her popularity
“Do you know how popular I am? I’m very popular. Everyone at this school loves me very much.”
After smoking weed with Bender, Claire tells him how popular and well-liked she is. In later films, Bender ruthlessly vents his bravado on her during an argument.
As much as Claire shows that, it seems she’s talking about it as a way to escape her own insecurities. The way others see her at school means a lot to her. In Claire’s world, popularity is everything.
when she was forced to talk about her sexual history
“No! I never did!”
Earlier in the film, Bender interrogates Claire about her sexual history. That’s when Andrew steps in to stop him. However, when the topic came up later, Andrew and the rest of the group joined Bender to ask her to “answer the questions”.
This leads to Claire shouting, “No! I’ve never done that!” maybe just to silence it all. It’s not fair to this group to force Claire to answer, and it’s her credit that she hasn’t done the same to the others.
when she talks about the pressure of being famous
“I hate to absorb everything my friends say.”
Audiences have never met Claire’s friends, but based on every other John Hughes movie of the ’80s, it’s not hard to imagine what they were like. Claire is part of a famous group where status means everything. She tells Brian that the reason he’s not embarrassed to talk to Claire at school is because his friends respect her friends.
Brian calls her fantasy, and Claire breaks down, saying she hates her role as the popular girl. It is not surprising that this does not generate sympathy from others. Considering that by the end of the movie, Claire is dating someone her friends definitely won’t approve of, it seems like she’s decided not to care what other people think anymore.
when she’s nice to alison
“Because you gave it to me.”
The make-up scene at the end of the film was a controversial one, with many fans arguing that Alison shouldn’t have changed her appearance just to get Andrew’s attention. However, this scene allows for some meaningful interactions between Claire and Alison.
These two female characters don’t have any other scenes but just the two of them. When Alison asked Claire why she was nice to her, Claire replied that it was because she made her do it. Fans may not like Allison’s new look, but it seems Claire’s motivation is simply to do something nice for others.
when she kissed the band
“Because I know you won’t.”
Despite a feud for most of the film’s length, Claire and Bender are ultimately held captive as husband and wife. Interestingly, Claire takes the lead here. She visits Bender in the storage room and kisses him. It was an unexpected turn of events that many viewers did not expect.
Viewers will never know if things will go well between Claire and Bender. On the surface, the two characters are completely different. She was one of the famous mobs, and he was an outcast. However, during their incarceration, the two characters learn that they have more in common than they ever imagined.