ABSTRACT
This chapter considers Mary-Lou Galician's (2004) seven-step dis-illusioning directions to analyze and critique romantic myths and stereotypes in one of the earliest and most popular of these teen romantic comedies, John Hughe's The Breakfast Club. Galician's seven-step method is a media literacy-based extension of traditional textual analysis and criticism. The seven steps are Detection, Description, Deconstruction, Diagnosis, Design, Debriefing, and Dissemination. The Breakfast Club could probably be just as successful without the unmotivated two romantic relationships. Instead, basis for the friendships between all five characters should be strengthened. Various film trends catering to young audiences had emerged over past generations, but movies in the last 20 years of the century appeared almost fixated on capturing certain youth styles and promoting certain perspectives on the celebration of adolescence. Rutsch argued, "Though it has aged, The Breakfast Club is no cultural relic. Its examination of social classes, basic human interaction and high school dynamics continues to make it fodder for college classrooms".
