Confession up front: I was indeed influenced by a movie in my decision early on to want to teach at the college level—and to focus on English studies, to boot. I’ve been well aware of it since it occurred, but have faithfully kept it to myself after harassing many of my blonde friends who promptly declared they want to be lawyers after Legally Blonde came out. The movie that put the twinkle in my eye was The Mirror has Two Faces, a tale of a literature professor, Rose—played by Barbara Streisand, who was unlucky in love until she met and fell in love with Gregory, played by Jeff Bridges, a math professor who wanted to marry her because he was not attracted to her physically (he seemed to not be able to function on his math problems with all of his blood rushed elsewhere—idiot). So—that sort of sounds depressing, right? Well, so it would appear, except Rose was brilliant at lecturing about literature to a large hall of students (packed, by the way, and all of the students were—hanging—on—to—every—word—she—said). The depressing part of her life didn’t even phase me; I was enamored by the way she taught and, of course, by the way her students responded. I was hooked. Why mention all of this, you ask? Well, here it is folks:
Article 9:
Carens, Timothy L. “Serpents in the Garden: English Professors in Contemporary Film and Television.” College English 73.1 (2010): 9-27. Print.
Carens runs down a long list of recent (and not so recent) depictions of English professors in film and TV—and, holy cow, it was not a flattering picture! The obvious picture rises to the surface: an older, male professor seduces a young, beautiful (and super naïve) student and ultimately takes her innocence. The lovely image of a powerfully engaging female professor is not the dominant image. Carens illustrates how this running narrative about English professors ultimately is about a power struggle over knowledge—the professor has it, and the young, female students wants it—but she has to pay a price for it.
And why is there such a focus over English professors (as opposed to faculty from other disciplines)? Well, Carens states that “we preside over a discipline that seems to have abandoned epistemological certainty for the borderless freedom of interpretation” (17). In other words, we live foot loose and fancy free—not in the realm of facts and reality, like other disciplines. This “borderless freedom” is prime ground for ridiculous behavior, apparently. Carens concludes by taking the position that he is encouraged by the amount of times English profs appear in movies and TV because “the broad viewing public shares our enthusiasm for literature” (24). I think Carens is a little deluded here. The films and TV shows he describes don’t show an enthusiasm for literature—they show a bunch of old dudes in tweed jackets acting like douchebags. That’s not all that encouraging in my eyes. All of the films about high school English teachers are—to my recollection—encouraging (if not crippling inspiring). I’d like to see the public image of college teachers move in that direction (but maybe that makes me deluded).
This brings me back to yesterday’s article and the perceptions and expectations that students bring with them. God help us if they’re bringing any expectations from these movies! Though I suppose it would explain the looks I get on the first day of class when I walk in and they were expecting an old dude with elbow patches on his jacket.
If nothing else, I have a long list of movies to watch now! And, after watching all of that smut, I’ll definitely need to re-watch my Streisand movie.
More tomorrow!
mk
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