HW 49-

Savior/Teacher Film Analysis

In our group project, I had the job of back-up director. During the first few days of filming that essentially meant that I did nothing, as I would only work when our director was unavailable. On the 16th though, our director no longer wished to direct so I stepped-in as director. We did one day of filming under my direction and then eventually did not finish the film, as certain key actors were unavailable when needed. Therefore, the rest of this post will be in reference to the film made by class 1.

In class 1's film, the teacher, played by Will C., is sitting at his desk drinking (What I assume to be alcohol) after a long day of teaching. From here the film flashes back to a past class, where Will is attempting to teach the class about literary techniques used by famous writers. However, the class is not really responding particularly well to his lesson and is largely brushing him off, while being disruptive. Despite this, Will seemed to be enjoying himself overall and was functioning as a happy, if ineffective teacher. The next day, he has had enough and no longer has the drive to teach the class, although he has it in him to personally critique nearly everybody in the class, analyzing them and pointing out their flaws, after which he leaves. Upon his departure, the classroom antics return to normal and everybody proves to be as unaffected by his teachings as always.

The message of this film seems to be that students need to be more well-rounded and open to new ideas. This is supported by the ending of the film, in which Will points out to Devin that all he knows is school and nothing else and calls this pathetic, implying that focusing too much on school is a bad thing. He further supports this with his next interaction, with the so-called "Gossip Girls", who are talking about social things, and he then says that this is all they will ever know, and that's it for them, implying that they are not well-rounded either, just in the other direction. The tone of the film completed this nicely, as it was portrayed as very subdued, which highlighted the students reaction to Wills teachings (They being ineffective). This subdued tone stayed constant throughout the film and showed how his efforts meant nothing in the long run.

This film had a lot in common with many of the savior/teacher films that we have watched in the past months. First among the similarities are the supporting characters, the class. The most notable among them would be the rebellious youth/leader of the class. Next would be the straight-A student and also the group of chatty girls unaware of everything going on. All of these students can be found in other films, including but not limited to Freedom Writers, Stand and Deliver, and Hamlet 2. In addition, the teachers in many of these films tells the kids that they need to fix something about themselves to become a better person (Not directly, but implied), and Will as teacher does the same thing. However, it is the way that this is done that allows this film to differentiate itself from the others we have seen before. In the films we saw in class, the teachers would make revelatory statements that define a student and the student becomes a better person as a result. This was normally through a course of self discovery though, when the bad habits they need to change have caught up with them and they decide to try something new instead. In the film by class 1, the students bad habits have not caught up with them yet and as a result when Will tells them what their problem is, they don't fully accept it because they haven't experienced first hand what the consequences of continuing their course or action will be. The film by class 1 is also different in that he outright fails the class. Despite his best efforts, the class brushes him off and acts as if nothing had happened, where all of the other films at least had the students change their ways in one form or another. This film had the teacher fail, not the students.

The reason that everybody sees salvation in the movies and never in the real world is really very simple. Everybody wants to be in the position to save somebody, nobody wants to have to be saved. Granted, this is an overall encompassing statement and there will be exceptions, but overall, nobody wants to be the damsel in distress. When you require a savior though, you place yourself in the place of the damsel in distress. Since this is the case, whenever people ARE put into a situation where they need to be saved, they are too stubborn to admit it and deny the help of the savior. This is shown by class 1's film, where everybody finds out something very important about their character and yet they complete ignore it because they are too stubborn to accept help. Those who are able to suck in their pride and accept they need to be saved are the students who change their lives dramatically, however this is rare and much more complicated than that. However I feel that in order for schooling and education to be truly revolutionized, it's the people and not the system that need to change.