Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Back to School Blogathon



Hey there! I'm taking part in another movie blogathon: Back to School hosted by Wendell of Dell on Movies. Basically you're suppose to fill the class with characters from movies in school archetypes such as jock, class clown, troubled youth and so forth. So head down to his blog, check out the rules and create your own class.

I think I've switched around characters and movies at least several times over for each of the archetype before settling with the below. Plus I'm going for an all female route which can be pretty challenging for certain archetype which you will soon see.

So take your seats. Class is now in session.



Proprietress and headmistress of Appleyard College for girls, she is a severe authority figure demanding obedience from students and staff alike. She is especially cruel to the quiet orphan, Sarah, whose guardian has fallen late on school fees. Trouble in store for Mrs Appleyard is not slipping academic grades or teen delinquency, but 3 students and a teacher disappearing after a picnic at Hanging Rock.


I guess the first thought when picking this archetype was an inspirational teacher, in the end I thought why not flip it and feature a bad one. Swim teacher of an all girls boarding school, Miss G is young, pretty, exudes glamour and charms her students with romantic tales of adventure. Her impressionable students all adore her; except for the worldly new foreign student who sees past her fictitious tales. Miss G who loves adoration, craves attention from the new girl and soon begins obsessing over her.


I honestly couldn't find anyone better to fit this archetype. She's extremely bookish and was after all a star student at Hogwarts.



So I had a hard time finding a character to fill this archetype. The girl jocks that immediately came to mind were playing sports outside of school (Whip It, Bend It Like Beckham) which didn't really fit with this blogathon. Why aren't school set movies not featuring more major female characters that are jocks? I mentally went through all the movies I watched and finally found feisty Kat. Remember that scene when Patrick serenade her during her soccer practice.



Almost picked Heather Chandler but as Regina had much more screen time and therefore we saw more of her meanness and manipulations I ended picking Queen Bee Regina. By the way is 4 the magic number for mean girl cliques?


Seems like a lot movies usually feature popular girls to be also meanies. Pretty, rich and popular Cher may be incredibly spoiled and selfish, but she is generally good natured. She wants people around her to be happy because it makes her her happy and uses her wit and charm to match make her teachers and friends.



After being accused of sabotaging a party during the summer when she tried to call the cops, Melinda enters freshman year an outcast. When she is not ignored by her peers, they taunt her and call her "squealer". Kristen Stewart's awkwardness really works in this movie as a girl trying to communicate after a traumatic experience.



Class Clown - Jan from Grease (1978)
This was another archetype which was hard to fill. I couldn't think of anyone until I finally remembered Jan the goofy one in the Pink Ladies in Grease. She had the really short fringe and was always in pig tails. The joker of the girls, she doesn't seem to mind being silly for fun. Remember the toothpaste commercial at the sleepover.


Poor, overweight, illiterate, abused by her parents, already a mother herself at sixteen and expecting a second child, Precious is one of the most troubled youth we've seen on screens the past few years.


So that's it. Class is over. I hope it's been educational.

12 comments:

  1. Oh wow, that is a good selection. I actually considered going for a female jock myself, but it turned out to be hard to find ANY that qualified, letalone female ones. It was also nice to see you managed to find a popular girl who wasn't mean and even found a bit of racial diversity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You tried female jocks as well :), just so few of them in movies :(.

      Delete
  2. An all female class! Outstanding work. I actually haven't seen many of the movies listed (only Precious, Grease, most of Clueless, and a few bits of Mean Girls). You've got me intrigued about the others. Again, great class.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks.
      You haven't watch Clueless and a Mean Girls in full! You have to remedy that. They're very funny...10 Things I Hate About You as well.

      Delete
  3. Love this post! You've got some great choices in there. Man, the bar has really been set high!
    - Allie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post! We actually have some in common, though I haven't posted mine. I haven't seen some of the movies, but I've been meaning to check out Speak!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool...looking forward to seeing your list. Speak is great. I've also read the book and I think it is a pretty loyal adaptation.

      Delete
  5. Excellent list, definitely one of the unique 'classes' of the bunch. I've only seen 3 of the movies you've chosen but your other choices got me interested in seeking them out, which I'm sure was the whole idea of this blogathon. Good work, Wanderer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I had fun putting them together. I'm really enjoying doing all these blogathons...a chance to talk about movies and discovering interesting ones.

      Delete
  6. Nice bit of girl power. I thought about putting Cher in my list. I never even thought about Mean Girls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I decided to challenge myself :) Mean Girls is one of the more popular picks of those that took part in the blogathon.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...