As we enter the most fraught back-to-school season in recent memory, Be Reel looks back at Hollywood’s conception of underserved students and the inspirational educators who rescue their learning.
This week, it’s “Stand and Deliver” (1988), “Lean On Me” (1989), “Dangerous Minds” (1995), and “Precious” (2009) as we diagram the myth of the savior teacher. Joining us are Dr. Micia Mosely and Kia Walton from Black Teacher Project to discuss 2020 classrooms, ideas for updated and previously untold teacher narratives in film, and their organization’s mission to develop and sustain more Black teachers. (Learn more at Blackteacherproject.org.)
As for this week’s selections, we begin in 1988 with “Stand and Deliver,” an inspirational true story about Jamie Escalante (Edward James Olmos) encouraging his low-income students to take the AP exams in calculus–only to be subjected to higher ed’s scrutiny. (“Stand and Deliver” is currently on Netflix.)
Then, the following year, it’s the curious case of Joe Clark, played by an ascending Morgan Freeman in “Lean On Me.” With gusto and borderline criminal behavior, Clark turns a failing New Jersey high school around before state takeover, but is Clark an angel or a bully?
Next up, 1995’s “Dangerous Minds” returns to the ever-problematic white savior model of classic teacher movies like “Blackboard Jungle” and “Up the Down Staircase. Here, Michelle Pfeiffer stars as an ex-marine who shapes her students’ futures with Bob Dylan lyrics, candy bars, and unsanctioned outings.
LISTEN: Gordon Parks: The Overlooked Films Of A Legendary Black Artist [Be Reel Podcast]
Finally, we look at Lee Daniels‘ “Precious” (currently on HBO Max) to see whether the generally hopeful messages of the previous films can hold up in a famously bleak context, one in which abuse damages the potential for learning.
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