The making of a teenager: Bender (The Criminal)

The goal of this project is to consider how family relationships helped shape the characters in some of the most beloved films about teenagers from the 1980s.

Up next:: Brian (The Nerd)

Red jagged line = conflict

Red jagged line = conflict

Therapist Comment:

  • What would it take for Bender to expand his options beyond the violence he experienced (in his family) and the violence he acts out?

  • Do you think a future relationship with Claire (Molly Ringwald) could help soothe his troubled soul?

To learn how to create and understand your own family diagram, see Chapter 7 in Takes More Than Love by Dr. Aliza Israel & Avrum Nadigel, MSW.

For a general introduction to family diagrams see Monica Mcgoldrick’s “Genograms”

** The Breakfast Club (19856) was written and directed by John Hughes

Avrum Nadigel