Five high school students must spend their Saturday morning together in detention. Their punishment: write an essay. The topic: “Who you think you are.” This snapshot comprises the “inciting incident” from the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club. Initially, each of the five teenagers comes with a label: “the brain”; “the athlete”; “the basket case”; “the princess”; “the criminal.” Partly imposed by others, these images govern the identity and behavior of the protagonists. By the end of the movie, the five have outgrown their labels. Their essay summarizes their new insight: “Each one of us is a
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