John Bender

Name:  John Bender ( played by Judd Nelson)

Stereotype:  John Bender first comes off as a very stereotypical character, the reckless out of control bad boy who doesn’t care what people think and loves to cause problems with both his authorities and class mates.

Personality: John Bender is represented as a criminal, bad boy and rebel, though we see that well as tough, he is vulnerable. John is a stuck up good for nothing brat who does not care about anyone or anything.He comes from a broken home. Evidence of this is in the opening and closing scenes of the film, when the other students are getting dropped off/picked up, Bender both arrives and leaves alone. It is also shown when he does a re-enactment of his home life, where he portrays his father as an abusive alcoholic and his mother as uncaring and unloving. Bender resents anyone who he believes has a better life than him. He hates Claire for having daddies money, the nerd for having what he imagines to be a perfect home life. Bender has a short temper, smokes marijuana, tends to objectify women and tear other people apart. He is not unreachable however, throughout the film he learns that there is more to people than there seems and begins to empathize with the others.   Physical appearance:  John Bender wore very stereotypical clothes for a ‘criminal’. Denim jacket and jeans. A long sleeve shirt with cut-off sleeves and a plane white tea shirt underneath. Leather gloves, boots and belt. He also wore a scarf and a wool trench coat so as to better hide and avoid attention.  Connection/Importance to the plot: John Bender has a very important role to play. He is the main antagonist of the group and is the reason why everyone ended up friends. John Benders character clashed with all of the characters at one point or another. He does it in such a way that he brings out the truth about their lives, allowing them all to relate and better understand one another.