Blog Nine. Restreppo. "We're going to war."

1.  What scene or moment stands out to you, and why do you think that is?

2.  You all have grown up during the two longest wars in American history. After you turn 17, you could enlist and become a soldier.  What do you think of soldiers?

3.  We don’t know these men very well yet, but what is your impression of them?  Can you think of some specifics to help anchor your thoughts? 

Blog Eight. Creed. "I'm Not A Mistake."

Here's the end of the fight between Adonis Creed and Ricky Conlan.  Take a look at it.

Creed was both a box office success ($173.6 million) and a critical success.  It doesn't necessarily break any new ground—it's fundamentally a genre film (boxing) that pays attention to all the tropes of the boxing film (the training montage, the relationship between the young fighter and an older trainer/manager, the big fight, the resolution of the fight being left hanging).  If you've seen The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, if you've seen Million Dollar Baby with Clint Eastwood, Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman—if you've seen Rocky—you know the plot. Critics have proposed that rather than a sequel to the Rocky films, this is a re-imagining of the original Rocky, an interpretation I agree with.  If anything, this movie assures us that Michael B. Jordan is a major star, Sylvester Stallone is not a one-note washed up action star, and that Tessa Thompson can hold her own with these two talents.

So:

1.  What did you think of the movie?  What scene or moment stayed with you—and why?

2.  What is Adonis—Donnie, Baby Creed, Kid—driven to prove? What's the meaning, the significance, of his telling Rocky that he's "not a mistake"?  How does that reveal his need to fight, his need to not let Rocky call the fight?

3.  What is Rocky's role here?  Adonis calls him "Uncle."  Rocky says he's proud to part of Adonis's family—even though, as Bianca notices, he's white.   In the context of what Adonis is going through, in terms of his struggle(s), how does Rocky fit in—what does he give to young Creed?

4.  What does it mean to you to prove yourself?  Do you feel the need to prove yourself?  Have you ever felt the need?  If so, why and to whom?

Here's a young Michael B. Jordan in The Wire. And here he is in a promotion for Friday Night Lights.  He comes in about a minute-eighteen in it. 

Blog Seven. "It makes me feel alive."

1.  To start with:  Over the last couple of days, and today, we noticed a buzz, an eagerness, to get to Creed.  What was your eagerness all about?  If you were not one of those eager, what is your reaction right now?  Are you captured? If so, by what?

2.  What draws Adonis to boxing? First off we get that it’s his father, but go further based on some of the themes we’ve talked about so far and on what we see in them movie?

3.  Given what Marianne Creed, Apollo’s wife,  says to Adonis, “Do you know how many times I had to wipe his ass? “You want brain damage?” and the hype and excitement around the sport, what do you really think about boxing?

Here's the trailer for the movie.

Blog Six. “Man, can I just have one day where everyone isn't all over my ass?”

Children are typically powerless; they have to adapt to the reality handed to them.   Some of you felt that he is often being criticized, and that might be so.  He is somewhat of an observer, maybe a little dreamy, and so is a little bit at odds with the external world.  He has often had to deal with ways in which he has fallen short, or adults have made life hard for him.  We have also been watching his character develop as a result of everything he faces.  We’ve seen the kid who wanted to believe in magic, the kid who had a bully for a stepfather, the kid who faces bullies in the junior high bathroom, and the kid who is “camping out” with older boys and who is facing their masculine boasts and pressure. 

At the end of today’s viewing, we see Mason chastised by two male figures, the photography teacher and his mom’s boyfriend.  They don’t see him as we see him since we have been watching him grow up, but their lack of this perspective does not necessarily negate what they see and what they say to him. 

1.  We want you to see Mason from two sides. Not a simple good/bad assessment, but more descriptive.  What do we see?  What do they see?

2. On his 15^th birthday, his mother doesn’t get mad at him when he comes home and admits to having been drinking and smoking weed.   She is being lenient.  In some ways, this contrasts with the men above.  What do you think of her leniency, and how might this contribute to Mason’s character?  Don’t speculate.  Stay close to the actual events in the movie. 

3.  Is Mason soft?  Yes or no--& why?

Blog Five. "I'm a warrior without a war."

Blog 5

Fighter pilot.  Marine.  Father.  Husband.  Friend.  We talked about each of these roles today in class.  Some he did well; others he did horribly. 

The general tenor of the class seemed to be one of trying to see him as a good man based on his intentions.  However, there was a countercurrent which held that Bull  Meechum must be held accountable for his actions, no matter his intentions, and when he is held accountable, what the do we make of him then? 

Maybe good or bad is the wrong question.  It’s more complicated than that. 

1.  For those of you who are going easy on him, why do you think you are going easy?  How does your thinking go?

2.  For those of you who are hard on him, why is that?  Expalin your position.

As you answer one of these, take into consideration whether it has to do with your view of what masculinity and what a man is. 

What about love?

He has a wife who loves him, who we see in tender moments with him, and who defends him to her children.  We see Ben who, after grappling with his feelings, says, at the end “I get it now” and “I love you, Dad.”

 What do they love about him? 

We’re assigning the following people to answer #3:

Logan, Will Budie, Will Johnson, Sam, and Evan

3.  What does his wife love about him?  Why do you think she defends him?

other guys answer this one:

4.  What about Ben?  Why does he love his father? 

Blog Four. What is Great about The Great Santini?

Bull Meechum works in the sky where he trains others to shoot down enemy jets.  

On the ground, he is different: boyish and funny, full of practical jokes, contemptuous of authority and rules.  When Bull complains about being passed over for a  promotion, his friend Virgil cautions that he better watch himself.  Even though the commanding officer of the base tells Bull that he is “a disgrace to the Marines,” he also tells him that the flight squadron needs shaping up and that he’s a “fair leader and a crackerjack pilot.”  Bull wants his squadron to imagine that what he says is coming from “the burning bush.”

Rules and authority appear to be important to the family.  Waiting for his return at the airstrip, their mother plans a decorous welcoming, yet when they hear his “stand by for a fighter pilot” and see him, they break ranks and run to hug him.  We assume they love him, and then the next morning, after tenderness in bed with his wife, he wakes everybody up at 3 a.m. to drive to a new home.  In the car he asks the kids, “Has the Great Santini ever let you down?” the kids all scream, “Yes!”  At the new home, he demands excellence from his kids and orders them to make sure that the little town of Beaufort knows that the Meechums have arrived.

In the movie (and novel) the focus is primarily the relationship between Bull and Ben.  There is also the counter-current in the relationship with Ben and his mother.  So far, the main scenes depicting these relatoinships are the basketball game, Ben’s discussion with his mother afterwards, and then the morning of Ben's 18th birthday in which Bull brings his gift, and later that day when he reads his mother's letter.  

What can you say about the relationship between father and son?  Consider the game, the birth story, and the gift.  The mother and son?  About the character of Bull Meecham?  

Blog Three. Breaking Away. "You're Not A Cutter. I'm A Cutter."

ROY.  I cut the stone for this building...I was fine stone cutter.  Mike’s dad, Moocher’s, Cyril’s, all of us.  Well, Cyril’s dad...never mind.  Thing of it was, I loved it.  I was young and slim and strong.  I was damn proud of my work.  And then buildings went up.  When they were finished the damnedest thing happened.  It was like the buildings were too good for us.  Nobody told us that.  Just, just felt uncomfortable, that’s all.  Even now, I’d like to be able to stroll through the campus and look at the limestone, but I just feel out of place. You guys still go swimming in the quarries?
DAVE. Sure.
ROY.  So the only thing you got to show for my twenty years of work is the holes we left behind.
DAVE.  I don’t mind.
ROY.  I do.  Cyril’s dad says he took that college exam.
DAVE.  We both took it.
ROY.  How did both of us do?
DAVE.  Well, I don’t know. One of us did okay.  But neither of us...Hell, I...don’t want to go to college.  To hell with them!  I’m proud of being a cutter.
ROY.  You’re not a cutter.  I’m a cutter. What, are you afraid?
DAVE.  Yeah.  A little bit.  And then there’s the rest of the guys.
ROY.  Well, you took the exam, all right, didn’t you?
DAVE.  Yes.
ROY. Well, that’s good...

Breaking Away is primarily a movie about identity:  having it, the loss of it, the search for it, the conditions of it.  We see this in the main characters.  Mike, our one-time QB, laments that he'll never be the star again and can't be a cutter either.  Cyril early in the movie says, "You get to vote and drink when you're 18, what do you get when you're 19?"  Dave's father was once a cutter and was proud of it, but something changed, and now he is living bitterly with that loss or lack of direction.  And there's Dave who has found cycling and with it a pretend identity as an Italian exchange student.

And not to be ignored is the fact that our characters are townies, working class guys who live alongside the more wealthy college kids in their Mercedes convertibles, blow dry haircuts, and trips to Italy.  At a low point Mike says, "They might really be better than us."

There's a lot going on here in the search for identity; many factors are involved in it:  leaving childhood, friendship, work, economics, class, ambition, family.

Write about 300 words on the following:

1.  How do you see Dave's struggle for identity?  What role does the fake-Italian phase play in his struggle?  How is he different than his friends (if he indeed is)?  And what strikes you about his relationship with his father in this struggle for identity?

2.  Who do you identify with in the film—the cutters or the college kids?  And how so?

3.  In your search for identity (assuming it is part of being a 16 and 17 year old), what are the the main factors that play into your identity at this point in your life?

Here's a clip from the television series that was made from the film in 1980.  It was actually pretty good.  It only lasted a season unfortunately.  Local note:  it was filmed in Athens. 

See you all tomorrow.

Blog Two. Shane Part 2. "I Love Shane Almost As Much As I Love Pa. Is That Okay?"

1. In Shane, Joey is offered two versions of manhood.  Consider when you were younger, say 9 or 10.  Who did you look up to?  Who was your hero?  And how so—what did you admire about this figure?  Do you see that figure differently now?  Would you feel the same about that person today?

2.  Who do you most look up to now—and why?  And how does this person compare or contrast to your younger hero?

3.   One could argue that Shane is a movie about little Joey and his fascination with violence through his worship of Shane,  his fascination with Shane's pistol, and his wide-eyed obversation (if not interest) in killing.  How do you explain this?  Remember—this is a nine year old boy.  And (the big question): write about your own fascination—or lack— with violence.  Remember: a number of you clamored for us watch some really violent movies later in this class—what's that about?

Here is the clip of the final shoot out: take a look at it.  And here is Shane showing Joey how to shoot. Watch both.  Remember: 300 words.  See you tomorrow.

Blog One. Shane. "Can You Whup Him? Can You Whup Shane?"

SHANE.  You were watchin' me down it for quite a spell, werern't you? JOEY.  Yes I was.
SHANE.  You know, I...I like a man who watches things go on around.  It means he'll make his mark someday.

Here's the trailer to Shane when it came out in 1953.  It was, by the way, a huge hit, raking in over 20 million dollars against the three million dollars it took to make.

Thrower, like you all, has never seen the movie, a classic American film.  He called it straight-forward—as genre pieces (like a Western) often are (most of you know what's going to happen because you know how the genre works); yet at the same time he saw its complications.  There's a whole lot of deep looks going on between our characters; Joey's looking at his dad and Shane and his mom; Marion is looking at Joey and Shane and her husband Joe; Shane is looking at all them and Joe; and Joe...it's not clear—but he sure is in love with his little lady, as he calls him.  The tension here is not necessarily what is going to happen, but how it's going to happen, and what it will do to these decent people.  It can't end happily. 

But to the concerns of our class.

1. We talked about your concerns today as a young man.  What do you foresee your biggest concern being in 10 years?  In 20 years?  In 30 years?  Just one concern for each year.

2.  In today's discussion, your concerns broke down pretty much into the following: concerns of

a. responsibilities
b. emotions
c. not knowing the future
d. relationships

Which of these do you think is the most important concern for not just you, but for young men your age—and why?

3.  Shane:  What do Shane and Joe offer little Joey in terms of modeling a way for him to be?  For each adult, give the main thing he offers Joey.  And who do you see Joey leaning toward at this point in the film—and why do think this?

4.  Finally: you're Joey.  Who do you lean towards-and why?

That's plenty.  We're looking for about 300 words in total for your response to the questions.  Good class today.  See you guys tomorrow.