The message of our movie was quite different from the 'Blackboard Jungle' movies. In our film instead of the teacher being the savior the roles were reversed. On the first day of school Mr. Westwood caught the students attention immediately and all the students were intrigued by his striking introduction. However some of the students came to realize their favorite teacher was not everything they thought he was cut out to be. When he was found on drugs and they shortly discovered the drugs hiding within the nooks of his classroom they felt extremely let down. It seemed as if the message being taught to them wasn't being lived up to by Mr. Westwood. The movie then flashes forward to the students gaining their respect back for Mr. Westwood because he recovered from his drug addiction but little do they know that after a close friend dies their favorite teacher goes right back to square one...
The tone of the movie is very dark and mysterious. I think the viewers might be able to see that the teacher is hiding something. This being because his body language and the way he speaks seems unsure and hesitant. In the scene of the climax of the story the tone starts out pretty normal but gets fired up and suspenseful when the students find him on the floor. The tone then changes completely when the students and the teacher reflect into a sort of bittersweet atmosphere. But shortly changes back to the dark, mysterious and suspenseful tone when he starts using again.
Our film was very different from the savior teacher films it was literally the complete opposite. While the teachers were the ones saving the students and attempting to turn the lives around, our teacher was the one needing to be saved. He was preaching a message to the students and inspiring them right from the start to be active learners. In the savior teacher films the teacher struggled to grasp the attention of the "delinquents" but once they did they felt like a life changer. In our film the teacher let the students down but used the reaction of the students to help himself stop using.
I feel as if the cliche answer for why someone wants to teach is "... because I want to and I like to help people." I think that after a teacher has reached a student they sleep better at night. The idea of knowing that you made an impact and a difference to even just one persons life makes you feel good about yourself. At my internship there was a new student teacher this week and she was probably about 45 years old. She told me that she had just recently decided to change careers. I am not saying that is unusual or a bad thing but it makes me wonder how did you wake up one day and decide to make this change? Is it because of the media? Are these savior teacher movies made to push people toward the educational field of work?
In many ways though every institution deals with helping people. I guess we all want to be the one to change the world and make it a better place. Although we don't like to admit that I can't think of any job that doesn't go right back to the helping of others. However like Andy said our parents biggest concerns are finding the best doctor and the best teacher. This being because we are most concerned about our health and our intelligence. We want to life long lives in a stable environment... the only way to achieve those goals are to find people who do their jobs well. Hence after savior teacher films and programs on TV like ER and Grey's Anatomy our perception of what is good and what is unrealistic become very discombobulated. I have had some very good teachers over my life and I can't think of one that reminds me of a savior teacher.
This is not to say they are not good but how the media portrays education is not accurate. I have a feeling that the teachers who are similar to the movies are not as successful as the ones who life by their own standards. The difference is they have no real passion just an idea set in their head of how they can lead a fulfilling life.
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