The Movie Blackboard Jungle was extremely interesting to me as I am embarking on my own journey to become a teacher. I felt that the movie was quite dynamic, adequately representing societal tensions of the time era and the economical conditions experienced by inner city inhabitants. On this note (the idea of inner city) the movie was intriguing because, rarely do we as an audience experience seeing a representation of classrooms from the inner city and the delinquent students they held. Usually we see the whole “leave it to Beaver,” representation of what teenagers were, but the movie really did do a great job of showing the teenage delinquency that society was afraid of.
The whole concept of city kids being “left behind,” is an idea I want to address. In our conversation for class we really went in depth as to why this delinquent generation started. The whole idea of city kids, and white suburban kids that didn’t belong were really the beginnings of a new generation that would essentially rewrite the way Americans looked at life, as they knew it, from the beat poets to the hippie revolution. At a time when Elvis, rock and roll and blues were forming, the only thing the generation could do was to “multiply themselves.”
Now, I would like to bring up an idea that encompasses the ideas brought up in the movie, our conversation in class, and the reading, which was extremely pretentious and confusing in my eyes. It’s my hope to better illustrate the structural idea the reading poses and define what it means to me. All right, so basically the author of the reading lays out the characters roles in a structural or triangle format. This means in its simplest form that the character development, importance, and roles all line up in an actual triangle formation. Let’s address the first scenario, which is the concept of the movie representation societal issues as brought up in class. Secondly the concept of, “buddy movie,” comes up meaning that a male relationship has to from to achieve full potential of character developments essentially defined by Miller and Dadier. We’ll put them in two separate corners of the triangle with Ann in another. When dealing with the societal issue of the black man being a threat to the white woman, especially with her carrying child, we have to examine the tension between Miller and Ann. Though as the reading and our conversation in class indicates, they are never seen on screen together, extinguishing that said tension and opening the corner of the triangle, needed to be filled by a different threat who come in the form of Wes. We cannot remove Dadier because he is a constant “middle manager,” and Miller as well needs to stay because he is the still representation of societal fear, “the black man.” The movies camera work as well does a good job of defining for an assumed white audience his position as a stereotypical black man, as every time something bad happens, the camera goes towards him; perhaps a representation of the stereotypical views prejudged onto the race. So now, with Wes, Dadier, and Miller in the triangle, and trying to achieve the concept of a male relationship, the buddy idea, Wes needs to go, as Dadier already installs a bond between miller and himself. As the audience sees the connection between Miller and Dadier grow, Dadier is relieved of his racism and shown in a light of understanding toward Miller. Miller the whole time in either triangle plays the role of the delinquent, but the resolution is the relationship between himself and the white teacher. The more Miller sticks up for Dadier, the more Wes drops out of the triangle, which becomes basically just a line between himself and “teach,” resulting in the buddy idea.
This is what the reading in a lot of aspects looked like to me. Though I could debate this theory all day I think that the biggest ideas to draw out of the movie, conversation and reading, were the understanding of defining societal preconceptions of race and delinquency and better illustration the struggle of race that perhaps no white suburban person really wanted to address. All in all I feel as though the whole experience of Blackboard jungle yields for a great conversation and one I am happy to be a part of. It’s a good remainder of where we as a society have come from and even better indicator of where we are going if we don’t break free of our past mistakes.
I agree with everything that you have said thus far on the movie and reading. I hadn’t realized how interesting the movie is when you think of it in comparison to other movies in its time. I like that you brought up the whole “leave it to beaver” aspect, and how in most movies from the 1950’s only showed a cheery version of what schools and life was like. I really enjoyed the ideas that the reading presented, but it came off in sort of a pretentious way. The triangle effect was interesting, and I think that I agree with it. I was confused by this at first, but was fine with it after class discussion today.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I have noticed that wasn’t brought up in class was Miller, and how he struggled as the ring leader of the class. In many respects, this is similar to how Brando’s character in “The Wild One” dealt with the same complex. Both characters have been internally struggling with their own problems, and as a result feel left out of the very groups that they lead. Brando’s character struggled with a low comfort with himself, which was reflected onto his relationships with others. Miller on the other hand dealt with the feeling of being an outsider due to problems of race within the classroom. Despite his inner feelings of feeling left out, Miller remained as the lead example for the rest of his class. Dadier targeted him from the get go, because it was evident to even a new figure in the classroom that Miller was really in charge.
I did find the camera angles very interesting. I didn’t realize that subliminally the camera angles were forcing the viewer to think in terms of race, since each angle made him the focus when something had gone wrong. This film was a lot darker than expected, and gory too. This film did an exemplary job of making social commentary both on juvenile delinquents and race I thought that this was going to be one of the sleazier exploitation movie, but was pleased with a pretty good B movie.
I appreciate your insight and comment. I really like the connection you have made between this movie and “The Wild One.” I didn’t make the connection like what you said until I just read your post. There is really an interesting point to be made about the role of leaders. Miller’s internal problems obviously make up whom he is but I feel like it’s only through others and him establishing his leadership role in the classroom and with teach that he overcomes his personal demons. Do you think that a person has the ability to lead a group with personal problems in any situation? Do you think the internal conflict the leaders you presented make that said leader a better leader?
ReplyDeleteI also agree with a lot you said in your posting. I was a little confused on the whole 'triangle' aspect but I think you were able to explain that very well. I thought the movie was good. It was interesting to see the tension caused by racism back then and how it compares to now. Not a whole heck of a lot has changed. Because of the camera angles, it portrays Miller as the main character who is the trouble maker and who of course is the black kid. I knew that during this time the racial tensions were high, but I had no idea just how bad. I had no idea that people were trying to rebuild white society in attempts to reproduce to have more white kids. I also wasn't aware that they thought that any ethincs were trying to take over and that white women had an obligation to keep their race going. That is crazy. Not only all of this but it only got worse as the years went on by all the segregation rules and whatnot. The triangle was interesting in how they almost all connected in some way. How it went from Dadier and Miller to Ann and then to Wes. Wes was the real problem and the real racist even though he was the white boy and the leader of the group. I like what Jerome said about the comparisons between The Wild Ones and Blackboard Jungle. I never though about Wes and Brando's characters but they do have a lot in common. They both seem to take on the role as the male leader of the group and somehow can take control of the situations.
ReplyDeleteThe reading once again was not my favorite by far. I feel like it was long and there were way to many assumptions that should have been avoided. I understand more about the triangle now and about the tensions at the time, but I didn't like the assumptions they made about Miller. I also thought it was interesting how we talking about the crazy fragile wife and how she could be compared to Dadier in the aspect that they were both trying to save their children.
I also wanted to briefly mention the Emmett Till story. I think it's saddening what they did to that poor kid who didn't know any better. I looked it up online and the things they put that poor kid through were absolutely horrible. On top of that the killers got away basically scot free. I can't believe things like this actually happened.
I think a few good points where made about the film " black board jungle". I agree that the movie is a great representation of racial tensions that where taking lace at this time. It also shows the the difference of what inner city schools where like. I think the description of the inner city was interesting because of my preconceived notions about inner city life today. Most inner city schools today are filled with minorities. But if you look at the film there is almost all white kids in the school with just a few black and other ethic groups. I think that back in this era it was probably more comment to see more white kids in inner city schools because minorities where still not treated with equal schooling rights in all parts of the country and in other areas they had just recently been allowed so the numbers where still not in their favor.
ReplyDeleteI liked how the movie started out with obvious black racial over tones as everything negative was directed at the black boy in the class. Then the movie shifts and the real villon is relieved; a white racist trouble maker that was the one that had the class acting badly. It showed how one person can control the voice of many. and how a gang mentality can spread easy but also how it can be handled. The movie seems to point out how we as people just cant give u on the youth just because they are rude and seem like they don't want to learn. That in the end its our job and duty to try and reach the kids black or white and make their life better.
I found the movie boys be wear" was a neat concept at the time and really shows peoples fears of homosexuality. I don't think really allies to the movie so much because instead of dealing with how to deal with wild teens its showing them how to avoid homosexual encounters with others. But i feel it help to show how we as a culture where fear full of the new emerging changes in teens and in adult "i.e homosexuals" and at the same time how we where ignorent of the truth at this time.
I really appreciate everyone's comments. You guys have brought up some very good points. I wanted to add into the conversation about the reading. It seems like everyone had some trouble with it and i really do hope my little triangle analysis helped out, but i too agree that the assumptions made about Miller were a little crazy. It seems to be a general trend that the readings make random points and try to justify them by adding in the social context. I would really like to know if the director was purposely using the camera angles to show Miller in this light. I don't know about everyone else but the readings are a bit to pretentious for my liking. I also looked up the Emmett Till case. It was so terrible and my heart just dropped when i read more about it. I do have to agree that social tensions were prevalent and still are. I thank you all for your contributions.
ReplyDeleteTo sort of go on a little tangent (and apologize for my lateness in responding), I actually sort of want to go in to the little 'Social triangle' perspective. This is certainly not an uncommon formula for a movie to follow, it isn't now, nor has it ever really been. This triangle existed in "The Wild One" as well, the theory just hadn't been brought up in class or the reading.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other things that sort of popped out at me in the movie is how the 'juvenile threat' was much more of an issue compared to the 'biker threat' that embodied "The Wild One." It has been brought up numerous times in class, as well as by myself, but the depiction of these students in schools embodied my vision of a gang much more than the film that was supposed to do just that. The way it was depicted in this movie seemed very similar to the way it is shown in "A Clockwork Orange," which, to me, embodies just the type of delinquency that society should be worried about; unbridled, violent, and cruel teenagers able to constantly terrorize a population.
This movie was also shot in a way that also played on the viewers' expectations. A lot of the panning and cutting that swayed viewers in to thinking Miller was guilty, also depicted West to be very near, if not adjacent to Miller. This sort of plays on the audiences' opinions at the time, and tried to outline Miller as the one harassing Dadier's family and person.
Another side note, I received a 503 error when I attempted to log in with my Wordpress information, so I am posting this using my Google log in.
Really good job sorting out the triangle structure, Frank. You rephrased it very clearly. Ben's point is also well-taken--it's a common structure in movies, especially movies about male relationships that happen across racial or class lines (hence the Buddy Movie formula, though she's not nearly as clear about that as I think she could be).
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind though folks, that this movie doesn't depict what inner-city schools were _actually_ like. The film depicts a social anxiety, white-middle class conceptions of what they _thought_ they were like--same thing with The Wild Ones. Social anxieties are generally only peripherally related to reality, and tend to blow things out of proportion. Think the post-Columbine panic about goths and kids wearing black for comparison.
I wish there had been more time to discuss West. His fate was kind of unsettling--he's a lot like Brando's character, (more so than Miller, in my opinion, who is a lot more composed and articulate and has a better sense of himself and community).
Good discussion, guys.