HW 49

Before I begin my profound sociological analysis of the film, I must point out... Evan is so gangster XD

Since our class didn't finish our teacher film, I wrote my analysis on the other class's. Thus, I didn't actually have any part in the film.

The message of the film seems to be that in a situation where the students don't want to learn, very little can actually be accomplished no matter what the teacher does. The teacher first attempts to simply teach over the students, which fails miserably. He then uses some Andy-esque put-downs to glean a little attention from the students, but it only lasts for a moment and doesn't inspire them to learn. The point where he finally explodes, in ordinary movies, is where one student would give a rousing speech about he always believed in them and it's time they gave him something worth believing in, but that didn't work either. The mood at the end is one of sadness and pity for both the students and the teacher, as it seems that nothing will ever change for any of them.

I don't think that this film is really comperable to the other films that we watched in class, because of the utter difference in tone, message, and even sheer purpose. The tone of the average savior teacher film is uplifting and inspiring, while this was depressing and gave the sense that there is no hope for the school system. These tones reflect the messages of the films: A general savior teacher film has the message that the kids just needed someone from outside of their prison-like lives to come and show them that they do mean something, while the message of this film was that that stuff doesn't work in real life. Finally, the purpose of a savior teacher film is to be released publically and make millions in the box office, while the purpose of this film was to send the message that movies are not really relivant.

I think that it is not particularly unusual to expect school to provide a means for escape. As discussed in a previous post, school is commonly thought of as a battleground for poilitical change, and heavily relied upon as a mold for the future of the current school-age generation. School is thought of not only as a powerful positive force, but also as somewhat a counter-negative: in some neighborhoods it as advertized as nothing more or less than a way to keep kids off the streets.