I hope they didn't cut the scene where I get carried out of the school on the shoulders of the kids.

[raybear]

Hey look, they made a movie about me as a teacher. I guess two years have passed and we were due for another attempt at capturing the magic of Dangerous Minds.

Also, when did Hilary Swank become the dead ringer for Jennifer Garner?

Comments

swank/garner

[broqued.livejournal.com]

it's the limp hair/forehead combo.

[fightingwords.livejournal.com]

ha! my friend was talking about this this past weekend. do we really need this story again?

[ladisastre.livejournal.com]

oh! don't be so quick to judge!! have you read the book? i mean, of course this has hollywood drama all over it, but this isn't dangerous minds! she's committed to social justice and ditched the curriculum to teach the holocaust after finding a piece of paper a student drew of an african american boy in class with an exaggerated nose. she started by showing the propoganda pieces of jews and the kids wrote to a holocaust survivor and a teenager from sarajevo eventually raising the money to bring them out to long beach. she convinced administrators to let her loop with the students and they continued to do great things, including journaling about their lives -- which is what was eventually published in the book.

i saw her speak a few years ago, and she's inspiring. she wrote in my book: "pass the baton" and that's what i'm doing. i'm definitely looking forward to the movie.

/soapbox.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i have no beef with the real-life tactics. i mean, i wasn't being totally facetious when i said they made a movie about the type of teaching writing i do/want to do. i'd probably be interested in reading her book or seeing her speak. i just personally don't need to see a watered down movie version of people's real lives, especially when it's a story that's already been told in movies.

[sinsense.livejournal.com]

While I will keep an open (okay, slightly ajar) mind about the book, the movie -- as all teaching movies -- is pure annoyance. Valiant White Teacher! Hoodlum Colored Children! The True Meaning of Christmas Learning! Gahhhh. Though it will probably never happen, I dream of a movie where they show the sheer messy wackiness of teaching, with an inspiring end result.

The book for Dangerous Minds is hilariously entitled My Posse Don't Do Homework. It's actually a little more bearable than the movie, though she is really self-important and never fails, ever.

You might actually like Losing My Faculties, though. It's one of my favorite teaching books.

[ladisastre.livejournal.com]

is that the teacher or writer speaking? as an english teacher who has read her students' book, met her and developed as a teacher with their experience in mind, i will support this movie -- even if it is annoying. i will organize groups of teachers in my department to see the movie. i will take students with me to see the movie. i will watch the movie with my friends and my lover. this is my rent.

it's important to me, and it makes me sad that you're letting the writer in you take over and write this off as a story you've already seen. i don't know of a successful movie critic who can write about a movie he hasn't seen. if you hate it after seeing it, then fine. spread the word and don't see it. but this if this is about your life and who you want to be, then by god, put aside what you think the movie will be like and go see it! in fact, tell me what showing you want to go to, and i'll buy your ticket.

there are a group of people in real life who had stories to tell. their book was published. now their movie is out. they're looking out at us to see if we'll watch the movie, or if we'll stay home because their movie, their life looks to many like a movie they've already seen before. i've already read this same discussion about the movie on the imdb chat boards. critics who thought it would be like dangerous minds came out impressed and encouraged others to not make the same mistake.

now, the movie will be free to you -- tell me what time and what theater. give me your address, and i'll send you the book. it means that much to me.

[sharkysmachine.livejournal.com]

I thought there was already another movie staring Matthew Perry.

I find these movies so awful. Where's the movie where the teacher does blow in off the cover of her/his lesson plan and pops ativan during spelling bees?

now there's a movie I'd go out and support.

[sharkysmachine.livejournal.com]

I think I just find the subject matter trite. White savior, brown kids, EDUCATION ENSUES.

What kind of narrative is that for a conscious teacher to support.

I personally wouldn't think much of teacher who in 2007 still thinks this is a story that NEEDS to be told.

that's just craziness.

[sharkysmachine.livejournal.com]

I think we get one every ten or so years, lest we forget that if it weren't for white teachers going into the ghetto, brown kids would have nothing to inspire them!

[mintwaster.livejournal.com]

thank you

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i don't think i have to separate out myself as the writer or the teacher. and this is probably because the type of writing i teach is different, i'm not in the full time public education environment, my creative writing experience and leanings come from more of a teaching art perspective that's able to be more youth-led, youth-focused, because it's not happening during a school day.

instead of a multi-million dollar movie that tells the story that *might* inspire others, i would prefer a multi-millions dollar campaign to implement the curriculum directly into school systems. i'm sure some would argue the movie can help with that, but it feels too much like a sort of trickle-down economic theory.

i can totally appreciate the passion and fervor you have -- not only for this movie, but for your teaching in general. and thank you for the offer to buy me a ticket, but i cannot accept. curiosity will probably get the best of me and i might rent sometime in the future. but i'm not interested in partaking in this narrative again, because of the reasons mentioned by others -- the white teacher savior redeems the troubled teens of color. i KNOW that overall it's more complicated than just that -- which is why i said i would be more likely to read the book -- but that doesn't mean i can just ignore the problematic framing either, or that i have to support it, just because there's nothing else out there better.

now if the kids themselves made a movie about their experience, i'd see that in a heartbeat.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

hey, it almost happened this year!
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/half_nelson/