After a season of fun in the sun it’s once again time
to sharpen pencils and break out the backpacks. As students and teachers
prepare to resume classes we can’t help but remember our own teachers who, for
better or worse, influenced the people we have become. While many teachers
serve as sources of inspiration long after we leave the classroom, others
remain lurking in our memories despite our best efforts to forget them. This week
I’ll be turning the spotlight on the very worst in cinematic education by profiling
three film teachers that give teaching a bad name.
 |
| Don't even think of raising your had |
Elizabeth Halsey: No bad teacher list would be
complete without Cameron Diaz’s blackboard bad girl herself, Bad Teacher’s Elizabeth Halsey. At the
start of the film, Elizabeth quits her job in anticipation of leading a life of
leisure after becoming engaged to her wealthy boyfriend. Her plans are put on
hold, however, when he breaks off the engagement and she is forced to earn her
own income. She reluctantly returns to teaching, and makes it clear to everyone
in her orbit that her only career aspiration is to earn her weekly paycheck
until she is able to secure another sugar-daddy. As the year progresses she
flagrantly disregards her responsibilities by playing an endless stream of inspirational
teacher films in class instead of actually teaching and refusing to even learn
her students’ names. All seems to be going smoothly enough as she charms the
administration into allowing her shenanigans until she learns of a bonus that
is awarded to teachers whose classes earn the highest standardized test scores.
She then springs into action by lying, cheating, seducing, and even teaching
her way to ensuring that her class has the district’s highest test scores, even
as a suspicious colleague closes in on her schemes. By the school year’s end
she has engaged in more bad behavior and adolescent hijinks than all of her
students combined, all while learning about life, love, and the pursuit of a
state pension.
 |
| On today's agenda; manipulation and mayhem |
Miss Jean Brodie: The most deceiving entry on this
list, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie begins
as an homage to inspirational teachers. At the film’s start Maggie Smith’s
titular educator is presented as an eccentric, but dedicated teacher in the
mode of Dead Poet’s Society’s John
Keating. Like Keating Miss Brodie encourages her students to defy convention and
pursue larger than life aspirations. The inspirational tale quickly gives way
to a cautionary warning, however, as it becomes apparent that Miss Brodie only
encourages her students to defy the same conventions that she does, in the same
way that she does. As the school year goes on, any guise of encouraging
individuality dissipates as each of the girls in Miss Brodie’s class gradually
transform themselves into younger versions of her. Her cult of personality
takes a toxic turn when the girls begin putting her questionable lessons into
practice. In keeping with Brodie’s staunch fascist politics naïve Mary (Jane
Carr) travels to Spain to fight for the Nationalists where she is killed almost
immediately after her arrival. Similarly, bookish Sandy (Pamela Franklin) embarks
upon an affair with the school’s married art teacher, and Miss Brodie’s former
lover Mr. Lloyd (Robert Stephens) in an effort to emulate Miss Brodie’s
promiscuity. Even popular Jenny (Diane Grayson) nearly gives in to Miss Brodie’s
manipulations after Miss Brodie attempts to groom Jenny into replacing her as
Mr. Lloyd’s mistress. By the film’s conclusion Miss Brodie is finally dismissed
and her students have all learned a shattering lesson in the dangers of
following a group mentality. Based upon actual events at a girls’ school in
Scotland, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
is a chilling example of how easily a teacher’s influence can be abused.
 |
| The price of chewing gum in class |
The Trunchbull: Roald Dahl is a writer best known for
his ability to capture a child’s view of the adult world, and his portrait of
public education in his classic novel Matilda
proves no exception. In the 1995 film adaptation of the novel Matilda (Mara
Wilson) is a child genius raised by a family of ignorant louts who neither
recognize nor appreciate her value. While eager to attend school to escape her
negligent family, she is stunned find that her intelligence is just as much a detriment
to her at school as at home. Although her kind teacher, Miss Honey (Embeth
Davidz), encourages Matilda’s abilities, the school administration, led by vicious
headmistress Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) see Matilda’s talents as a direct
threat to the status quo. When she isn’t making it her personal mission to suppress
Matilda’s brilliance, Miss Trunchbull spends her days tossing students out
windows, throwing them over fences, and forcing them to eat potentially deadly
cafeteria food. Worse yet, Miss Trunchbull maintains a modified version of an
iron maiden known as ‘the chokey’ that she uses to torture ‘misbehaving’
students. Her cruelty is not restricted to students, however, as she
psychologically torments her staff, particularly her own niece, Miss Honey,
whom she has victimized since childhood. Her repeated phrase of, “I’m big, you’re
small. I’m right you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it” serves
as her motto in life as she transforms what should be a haven of learning into
a children’s prison. Although portrayed to an absurd extremity, Miss Trunchbull
personifies education at its most tyrannical.
No comments:
Post a Comment