The Best and Worst Teacher in Film Pt. 1

Some time ago a friend of mine, Katie, requested suggestions from her Facebook friends for examples of teachers in film being good at their job. She also specifically said she didn’t want “cheesy” examples like Michel Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds and the like.

As the child of teachers (and as a critical bastard when it comes to education in general) I was inspired, and with the help of http://www.movieteacher46.com/ I compiled a list of what I think are the best moments of teaching ever seen in film.

For each good example I’m going to include a bad one to illustrate the kind of cheesy fuckery that passes for “inspirational teaching” in most movies.

So, in no particular order, here are my best and worst examples of teaching on film:

The Good:

Drew Barrymore and Noah Wyle in Donnie Darko

Writer/director Richard Kelly may not be able to string together a coherent plot to save his life, but one thing he can do is show what good teaching really looks like.

Look at this poster. Congratulations, you now understand the plot as much as anyone who has seen this film.

Both Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore’s characters are perfect exemplifications of the kind of teachers who have meant the most to me. They’re a bittersweet blend of respect, irresponsibility, honesty, and “off the record” conversations. I once had a psych teacher tell me the best way for me to deal with my problems was to “stop being such a pussy” and she was dead on and she knew it. A really good teacher has enough respect and intelligence to read when a student is mature enough to handle harsh truths and complex ideas and these characters are perfect examples of that.

Donnie Darko: A scathing critique of the Furry-lifestyle.

The Bad:

Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds

I figured I might as well start with my friend’s previously mentioned example of teacher cheese, since it illustrates so many things that make for a shit teacher in film.

The school dress code emphasized leather jackets and flannel.

First of all, a bad movie teacher would be a very good real life teacher. This is perfectly true of Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in Dangerous Minds. If someone in real life could really confront the system and get through to a bunch of undereducated street toughs, they would change the world. The problem is, as Hamlet 2 parodies, that’s a laughably unrealistic interpretation of education and it gives people unrealistic expectations of the roles of teacher and student.

In the real world putting on a leather jacket and being a badass Marine will not let you “get through” to an entire class that’s been slipping through the cracks of education for the past 12 years. It’s possible to show really inspirational teaching without going into the realm of the impossible and Dangerous Minds fails at that.

What is that, a Go-Gurt? She is so not prepared for the Gangsta Paradise.

On another point, it’s pretty racially insensitive to suggest that a white person can completely “fix” blacks and Latinos. The idea that any teacher can have an all-encompassing impact on their entire class is unrealistic, but when that class is strictly comprised of minorities and that teacher looks like a successful S.S. coupling, we enter a whole new, more troubling, realm. This is why every “teacher inspires a dysfunctional class” movie since has A) tried to toss in a white kid with the “urban youth,” and B) Had the teacher be played by either Denzel Washington or the living death mask that is Edward James Olmos.*

*I would have included Samuel L. Jackson for Coach Carter, but I refuse to call a basketball coach a “teacher.” Sorry coaches, but Craig T. Nelson and Gil Thorp ruined whatever esteem your position once had.

Comments? Frothy, bile-fueled disagreement? Let me know and come back next time for Finding Forrester and Dead Poets Society. Which will I applaud and which will I teabag via teh internetz? Tune in to find out.