In the 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, five diverse inmates are forced to spend a Saturday in detention (Hughes, 1985). When they first arrive, their stereotypes and prejudices prevent them from seeing that they could possibly show empathy and understanding to the different dilemmas they are all going through. On the surface, The Breakfast Club is a heartwarming story about a group of teenagers who, from strangers, realize they have much more in common than they thought. After looking beyond the surface, it is evident that the story consists of many issues that teenagers face on a daily basis. The Breakfast Club illustrates the major struggles that adolescents face, such as adolescent egocentrism, identity confusion, parent-teen conflict, and peer pressure. Adolescent egocentrism is a theme that remains constant throughout the film. According to John Santrock, author of Essentials of Life-Span Development, adolescent egocentrism is the heightened self-consciousness of adolescents (Santrock, 2012). All characters demonstrate self-centeredness to varying degrees, but Claire is the epitome of adolescent self-centeredness. She is too concerned with her own worldview and how she is perceived by her peers to attempt to empathize with others and their problems. After arriving in detention, she takes a quick look at her inferior company and declares that there must be a mistake. She can't stand having to spend the whole evening with people who are much lower than her on the social ladder. In addition to her pretentious attitude, Claire also suffers from severe self-esteem. In the scene describing how difficult her life is, she says, “Do you know how popular I am? I am... middle of paper ...... conforms to their peers when they are unsure of their social identity and when in the presence of someone they perceive to have a higher status than them (Santrock, 2012).In conclusion, The Breakfast Club is much more than the story of a group of teenagers who spend a Saturday in detention together. It's the story of teenagers coming together to realize that their situations aren't so different. From parental pressures to peer groups and cliques, the effects of letting societal pressures dictate who they think they are has led them to find themselves in the position they find themselves in. The film embodies many dilemmas that teenagers are forced to face and overcome. From adolescent egocentrism to identity confusion, the characters prove that while they may appear different on the outside, their problems and struggles aren't much different..