Monday, September 15, 2014

Back to School Blogathon: Class One


A couple weeks ago, I decided to start the Back to School Blogathon in honor of the kids saying goodbye to summer and hitting the books once again. The basic task is for bloggers to create a class using movie characters and certain cinematic archetypes. My actual rules are as follows:

1. Choose at least 1 character to fit into each of the following roles:

Administrator (either a dean, principal, head master, or some other equivalent)
Teacher
Star Student/Nerd
Jock/Class Bully
Popular Girl/Diva
Invisible Girl (aka not popular girl)
Class Clown
Troubled Youth

Of course, include a few words on why each character was chosen.

Some of the categories have slashes because there is a lot of overlap within. However, feel free to break those up to make your class even larger. For instance if you use a jock who is a nice guy, you can also include a bully. As long as you have the minimum number of students and others, your class can be as large as you like.

2. There are NO RESTRICTIONS on age. Theoretically, you can have Zach fromKindegarten Cop in the same class as Rodney Dangerfield's character from...um...Back to School

3. You can use multiple characters from a single movie, but a class must be made up of characters from at least three separate movies.

4. Use movies in which school is an important part of the plot or are largely set in a school.

5. Finally, use my banner somewhere in your entry and link back to this post.


Cool.

If you noticed, the title of this post includes the phrase "Class One." It's simple. There are so many great characters out there to use, I'm going to do more than one class. I'm not sure if I'll stop at two, but we'll see how it goes. Today, we'll start with this one...

Principal
Joe Clark
Lean on Me
(1989)
This class is certainly not going to be a walk in the park. We need someone tough, who is not afraid to put students in their place. Crazy Joe...er...Batman (see the movie, get the joke), is just the guy. After all, if he can whip Eastside High into shape, there's no limits to what he can do. Not only am I confident he can handle the group of miscreants I've assembled, he'll make sure  that whatever they do, they'll do it expeditiously!


Teacher
Jonathan Shale, aka Mr. James Smith
The Substitute
(1996)
As the title of his movie suggests, Shale is actually just a substitute. Sorta. He's really a Vietnam Vet who works as a mercenary. When his girlfriend gets her knee busted up by one of the local riff raff, guess who springs into action by going undercover and kicking ass. Yup, this guy. If you can't tell, we're going for strict discipline here, folks.


Star Student
Derek Reynolds
Save the Last Dance
(2001)
Here's a guy who seems to have it all together. Despite growing up in a rough neighborhood with trying circumstances, he hits the books hard and hopes to be a doctor someday. He's also a helluva dancer. Nice kid, right? For the most part, he is, but even our star student has a little thug in him. You see, he has a tendency to hang with the wrong crowd and even dabbled in petty crime once upon a time. Don't worry, though. All that is behind him.


Nerd
Half-Pint
School Daze
(1988)
Poor guy. All he wants to do is belong to the in-crowd. He wants it so bad, he is willing to be abused for the privilege. This is evidenced by his trying to join the most popular frat on campus even though they clearly don't want him. Hazing comes as part of the deal just to get in for the guys they do want. Imagine what they have in store for him. His lack of physical stature isn't helping matters, hence the nickname Half Pint.


Jock
Drey
Half Nelson
(2006)
This basketball player may not be the star of her team, and truthfully she could probably qualify for another role in this class. What she brings to the table is that she is highly observant. This attribute just might help keep the class safe from a certain student. She also seeks out adult companionship (not like that). This will give our teacher and principal a valuable ally in the classroom.


Popular Girl/Diva
Isis
Bring it On
(2000)
Okay, it might be cliche to go with the head cheerleader for the popular girl. However, there's no denying the girl has got all the needed qualities. She's beautiful, a leader, resourceful and fiercely competitive. However, despite a bit of a standoffish attitude with those outside of her circle she's a diva, but not a bully. She's just someone who will stand up for herself, no matter what.


Invisible Girl
Lilly Moscovitz
The Princess Diaries
(2001)
Here's a girl who defines what it means to be invisible. She only has two people in school who even know she exists. One of them is her own brother. The other one was a similarly invisible girl. Of course, that girl found she was actually the princess of a small European empire. So where does that leave poor Lilly? Still invisible and, now, with only her brother for a friend as the princess is off to await her turn to rule. My heart weeps for her.


Class Clown
Fat Amy
Pitch Perfect
(2012)
I could've gone a lot of ways with this pick, but none seemed to be as good a pick as Fat Amy. Just start with her moniker. Who decided that the decidedly insulting "Fat" should precede her given name? She did, of course, "so twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back." Yeah, self-deprecating humor is definitely part of her repertoire. She can also give it to you if you insist on giving her a hard time. To top it all off, she's proof positive that confidence is sexy because despite her lack of "traditional" beauty she's going to give the other ladies in class stiff competition for the boys' attention.


Class Bullies
Stab, Pee Wee, and Zilla
House Party
(1990)
These three musclebound freaks aren't the sharpest No. 2 pencils in class, but they are relentless. And loud. And ruthless. Sure, they behave like bumbling idiots, but I promise you don't want to let them get their collective hands on you. And yes, since they are actually brothers, they come as a package deal.

Troubled Youth
Kevin Khatchadourian
We Need to Talk About Kevin
(2011)
Talk about troubled. Even his own mother has thought he was the devil incarnate since the day he was born. If his mom thinks that, what are the rest of us to make of him? It doesn't help that he's very fond of, and very skilled with, a bow and arrow. If, by chance, you catch wind of him making any diabolical plans I highly suggest you take it seriously. In other words, be absent whatever day he has marked on his calendar.


Well, there's my first class. If you'd like to participate, there's still time.

12 comments:

  1. That is an interesting class. I think I've only seen one of these at all (The Princess Diaries) but it is amazing that you were able to find so many black characters for the roles. I've had enough trouble finding even one.

    I should have my second class up soon. You'll be seeing one repeat (Albus Dumbledore, I know he was an obvious choice but I had trouble finding other good headmasters). I just have to find the class clown and I'll be all set.

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    1. Thanks. I really wasn't going for race, but less obvious choices. Glad it worked out to be fairly diverse. I'm also doing a second class, maybe by the end of the week. I'm putting the finishing touches on it and it looks to be even more diverse. Heading over ti check out your second.

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  2. I've only seen a couple of movies from your class, but I really loved your choice for troubled youth. I actually want to know what makes Kevin tick, considering that he's been evil since he was a little kid, and how he came to doing what he did. There must be something there. Lily Moscovitz is also an inspired choice. Fat Amy was hilarious.

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    1. Thanks. Kevin is truly a fascinating kid and the movie he's in is excellent. Fat Amy is by far the best thing about Pitch Perfect. Poor Lilly is so invisible I'd forgotten about her until I started combing through titles researching this post.

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  3. I totally forgot about Half Nelson, the movie didn't cross my mind at all. Perfect pick with Fat Amy and Kevin.
    Wandering through the Shelves

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    1. Half Nelson is a great film but people often seem to forget about it until someone brings it up. So don't feel bad.

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  4. This is such an awesome class! I love We Need To Talk About Kevin and Half Nelson. And Bring it On and Save The Last Dance were favorites of mine as a teenager.

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    1. Thanks. We Need to Talk About Kevin and Half Nelson are boy outstanding. Those other two are all sorts of fun, aren't they?

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  5. What a very cool class. A great choice for the Tortured Youth. I'd totally forgotten Lilly was in The Princess Diaries so another great shout. Thanks again for adding me to the list. I've only done one blogathon, on Foreign Favourites, but you're more than welcome to send one in for it.

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    1. Thanks. Just proves how "invisible" Lilly was, ha! No prob adding you to the list. I'll have to check out Foreign Faves.

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    2. Such a fan of your work (officially. You are already on the blogroll) that would love to include you. Would like to know how you come up with such original ideas too.

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    3. Thanks for such a wonderful comment. Not sure I could fully explain where my ideas come from. A lot of them just build on things other bloggers have done. Others are just me purposely trying to do something I haven't seen anywhere. I took a look at Foreign Favourites and I'll be happy to participate.

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