How was student agency depicted in the film you watched? You might describe and react to student agency in the film or compare characters in the film and whether/what kinds of agenda they possess. Feel free to also suggest topics for discussion when we meet to discuss.
The movie I watched for my second film selection was "Class Rank". Overall, i really enjoyed the film and thought that it brought up a lot of good points when it comes to ranking systems and competition in high school. This film definitely focused on student agency rather than instructor authority like the previous movie. In fact, the only times in this movie where a teacher ever speaks is when they are directly talking to one of the students. The story struck me as more of a "coming of age" film, and strayed away from previous themes discussed so far in the course. The two main characters set out to run for the board of education in order to have the class ranking system abolished. The film follows the two main characters as the campaign for election and try to win over the hearts of their fellow students and citizens. I think the two succeeded in winning over the student body, but unfortunately were unable to convince the adults. The two main characters did this by listening to the issues that the students thought were important, and by legitimately attempting to keep their best interests in mind. The primary female character in the film had the primary agenda to end class rank, and then she convinced another boy student to help her. Along the way, they both became heavily invested in the campaign for more reasons than originally intended. At the end, they ended up losing the election, but i believe the moral of the story was to see how much of change they made, and the power of the students. Overall, I really liked the film and thought it had a lot to offer.
ReplyDeleteThe movie I watched was The Breakfast Club (1985). It was a hard watch for me until the last 45 minutes. For the beginning of the film, I silently asked myself, “Can they all stop yelling, sit down, and write their essay so they can leave?” That would seem like the most logical action at first, right? They all don’t want to be there, so why not hastily write an essay, so you can leave? These questions showed how I would govern myself and my level of agency in that situation. On the other hand, these students had a high amount of agency during detention. The teacher wasn’t watching and they didn’t want to write the essay, so they literally did everything but write the essay.
ReplyDeleteThe film also did a good job of showing how the student’s agency was limited. The end of the movie displays the similarities the students share despite their different backgrounds/walks of life. They realize that the cliques and social norms of school confines their actions and “prohibits” them from being friends/associating in public. Another similarity among the students is that their parents limit their agency as well. For example, Andrew couldn’t think for himself and found his personality restricted to wrestling due to his father. Brian constantly felt the pressure from his parents to do well in school. I think the issues the students share are relatable to many people.
Christine Jacob:
DeleteIn the Breakfast Club, student agency was explored in various degrees through each of the six students. John and Allison appear to have the most agency, as they each kinda do whatever they want, though not in the exact same way; John speaks disrespectfully and does things without caring how it damages his environment and other people, while Allison acts without seeming to fall into “conventional” behavior. However, both of them have this agency because they’ve been written off and nobody really cares about them, including their parents and the school body (though John does have friends); this feels reminiscent of the kids in the show Welcome Back, Kotter. Claire and Andrew, the two that belong to the more popular and “conventional” crowd, seem to have the least agency due to the people they hang out with and their parents. Both of them saliently feel forced to act in a way that is expected of the popular and athletic kids respectively, with Andrew even saying that he can’t think for himself. Brian’s agency is limited by feeling the pressure, partly from his parents and partly from absorbing it into his identity, to be a good student. Although these situations are all technically different with their own nuances, essentially all of the Breakfast Club kids feel pressured to fit their stereotypes, taking away from their agency. As they get to know each other and break out of the rigid stereotypes they conform to, the students’ agency increases. All the students’ agency decreases in the presence of Mr. Vernon, especially in the beginning of the film, which seems to imply that students have the most agency when adults or authority figures are absent. They slowly push the boundaries of how much Vernon limits their agency as the film progresses only by working around his presence to make their own choices and making the most of the time he is not in the library. Even John, who seems to act freely in the library even when Mr. Vernon is there, is rendered helpless in a sense when Mr. Vernon puts him in a closet, threatens him, and attempts to goad John to fight him and face retaliation then and there. Even in the end, they don’t face him directly but leave him with their “essay” that fully expresses their thoughts.
In The Breakfast Club (1985), student agency is the central theme as the film portrays the coming of age struggles of five high school students from different social groups, all stuck in detention together. Each character struggles with issues of identity, peer pressure, and parental expectations and the film explores how they exert agency in their lives despite constraints. The character John Bender stood out to me a lot, because I have seen this type of student during K-12. Bender exercises agency by rebelling against authority, specifically against the school's principal. His destructive behavior often comes from a sense of powerlessness in his personal life. His defiance is his way of asserting control, even though it backfires. His tough face hides his insecurity, and as the day goes by he begins to soften. His sparring with the principal and his heartfelt talk with Claire shows him torn between whether his agency is based on self-sabotage or self-expression. In class I want to discuss, Is Bender's rebellion a true form of agency or is it a reaction to powerlessness? Can rebellion be seen as self-sabotage in some cases?
DeleteThe students here had a lot of agency, even when in detention. Bender in particular has a lot of agency, going actively against the Principal. Although they leave the library when they aren’t supposed to, they still stay within the confines of the school. They also show less agency when the Principal is near. While bender shows a lot of agency, that agency can also be self-destructive for him. But his said agency inspires the others to be more independent. Andrew is a unique case when he says he can’t think for himself, and only acts when what his coach and father tell and expect from him. But even he shows agency throughout the movie, showing more than meets the eye with him. By the end, everyone has changed by the experience they had at detention, and in the end they show more agency by choosing not to write a whole essay.
ReplyDeleteThe second film I watched was Moxie, in this film the female students use their agency to fight back against the popular football player who walks all over everyone. The main character, Vivian, creates booklets that empower the other women to be their true selves and use their voices. She was inspired by the new student, Lucy, who spoke up against the old ways of doing things, and specifically, Mitchell. This is what initially inspired Vivian to bring the women of the school together. Mitchell, has a lot of agency and does whatever he wants, with no punishment from the school staff. Vivian's best friend is shown as not caring to (and sometimes unable to) show support for these causes, which causes tension in their friendship.
ReplyDeleteIn The Breakfast Club, the students had a significant amount of agency despite being stuck in detention. The film really emphasized their individuality and the choices they made as separate people. At first, I thought Bender would be my favorite because of his character & rebellious nature. However, the character development of Andrew and Claire really made me appreciate their role in the movie more. When referring to Bulman’s ideas (once again), this movie differs from the first because the suburban students depict their individualism through self-expression and the realization that there’s value in rejecting societal expectations and norms (whether it’s from peers or their parents).
ReplyDeleteMarkayla ^
DeleteAubrey:
ReplyDeleteThe second film I watched was ‘Class Rank’, 2017. It follows the top 2 ranked students in the entire high school who join forces to abolish class rankings and change the school board for the better. The moral of the story was that it doesn’t matter how smart or talented a person is. What matters is what one does with failure or an achievement and how they continue to move forward and continue to ascend to be their best version of themselves. For example, the two top students could have decided to cruise through their Junior year knowing that they are already at the top, but instead they both faced challenges to rise to their own potential. Bernard, an eccentric, old soul continues to voice his opinions at the Board of Education meetings even after they continue to dismiss him. Veronica, ranked #2 does everything she can to ensure her acceptance into Yale, thus hoping to abolish class rankings by convincing Bernard to run for the Board of Education. Together they learn about politics, hardships, life, and love. I enjoyed the film as well as the insightful dynamics of both characters. I loved how not only was it focused on the two characters but also Bernard’s grandfather and his everyday routine + character development (individually), and Veronica’s mother; her guidance and stories that she shares with Veronica.
The film I watched is “Class Rank”. I think that it was a pretty interesting movie! It was nice to see a female character take the lead in her education, even though she ended up using someone else to do her bidding. Bernard was always known to be active in the community and the environment and Veronica took advantage of him to make him elected as council member so there would be no class rankings anymore. She had one goal and she was dedicated to making it happen. Bernard wanted to go to college as well but he was willing to push that off and stay with his grandfather if that meant he would be on the council and be able to create more of a change in the community. Bernard and Veronica had widely different goals but they both worked together to make a change which is what they had in common. In my mind, they both represented different perspectives on life. Bernard represented routine/comfort and environmental change and Veronica represented change with moving forward and risks. I think they were both a good influence on each other and showed that even students are capable of change.
ReplyDeleteJeff Baker
ReplyDeleteThe movie I watched was clueless. I actually enjoyed the movie a lot more than I thought it would, and it was pretty funny. Student agency was a little hard for me to point out in the movie but Cher's whole matchmaking thing throughout shows that she used her sense of agency to actively try and make peoples lives around her better, even though it might've failed at times she tried her best and impacted people.
I watched clueless I actually kind of enjoyed this movie. Although it was somewhat plotless like most coming of age movies I still found it interesting. I did think them being so into their teachers love lives was a very unrealistic and I also think her getting her grade up from a C to and A was also unrealistic. I do think it's interesting though that it's loosely based off of Jane Austen's novel emma. I think they did a really good job at adapting such an old piece of work into something so modern and enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie class rank. The movie was based around 2 highschool students who were trying to elected as president. The film is based off of student agency and the power a student can get fighting for a cause. The thing I see most in the film that relates to the world is how the students have almost no power alone, and need votes / signatures to get people on board instead of higher ups like teachers who are capable of telling students what to do. The main fight the students were putting up was for the removement of the class ranking system. As the system tends to put stress on students by telling them where they rank. I enjoyed the film and thought it had some really good points to share.
ReplyDeleteThe second film that I had ended up watching was the movie class rank which was basically about two high school students who are trying to have a probable cause of things wanting to have a voice which means having other students to vote for them because they're knowing they're teachers will vote against it. to which these two students are wanting the ranking system for the class to go away because of the school board.
ReplyDeleteThe major characters in the movie "Class Rank," especially the driven and aspirational pair, Cameron and Veronica, demonstrate student autonomy by their decisions and behaviors. They actively work to change the high school atmosphere and resist the limitations placed on them by the educational system and adults. They exhibit their agency in a number of ways like Proactive Initiatives, To bring about the reforms she feels are required, Veronica, for example, decides to run for president of the student council. This demonstrates her determination to take charge of her education and stand up for her peers. Another is defying authority; both characters question the rules and expectations of their school. Their attempts to foster a more inclusive and responsive school atmosphere demonstrate their willingness to be active participants, rather than passive users of education. Also
ReplyDeletePersonal Growth; Throughout the film, their separate agendas change to mirror their personal development and identity formation. Cameron, who was previously focused on his grades, learns to embrace relationships and self-expression, whereas Veronica balances her objectives with the importance of true connections.
Rachel Wolburg:
ReplyDeleteThe Movie I watched was Moxie. In the high school set movie, the female student body is oppressed by the men and the patriarchy. When a new student transfers to the school named Lucy, she doesn’t sit back and take the sexism thrown at her like the rest of the females at the school do. Her retaliation encourages and inspires a girl named Vivian to take control of her agency and to speak up and fight back against the sexist practices and behavior in their high school. She forms a club, writes a pamphlet, speaks out against the behavior of the boys at her school, and brings light to the school administration's apathetic attitude towards the unfairness happening in their school. Eventually, the girls (and some of the male student population who support Moxie) protest and actions force the school to “punish” (air quotes because we never actually see what his punishment is) the movies antagonist Mitchell who represents the patriarchy and is one of the main harassers in the movie.
The movie I watched was "Moxie." As has been the case with most of the movies/shows we've discussed, there is always an argument for and against each party having agency. Student agency in Moxie is depicted through the kids in the school who are able to change sexist policies and norms that they are unhappy with. However, the children struggle against the authority figure of the principal, and their agency relies on the collective all being on the same page, otherwise the students have virtually no agency. It takes loads of time, effort, unity, and acts of borderline heroism to achieve results, which while impressive and beneficial, should not be so difficult to enact(there may be a touch of realism here). Furthermore, while the students change their own school for the better, similar to Freedom Writers, no systemic changes have been made. Nothing outside of the school changes(at least of what's shown in the movie). To me, this brings up a question that I feel we haven't really talked about in our conversations about agency---we've always defined agency as the capacity to execute decisions(or something along those lines)---but what about the extent of difficulty it takes to exercise that agency? Is that a factor that should be considered in the definition, and should obstacle that increase the difficulty reduce agency? Other topics I would like to discuss about this movie include intersectionality, white saviorism, and men in feminisim(or lack thereof).
ReplyDeleteHow was student agency depicted in the film you watched? You might describe and react to student agency in the film or compare characters in the film and whether/what kinds of agenda they possess. Feel free to also suggest topics for discussion when we meet to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThe movie I watched was clueless. In this movie I felt the students had a lot of student agency, in the first scene of the classroom students were each doing their own thing whether they were on their phones, talking to their peers, or drawing in their notebooks. None of the students seemed very interested in what the teachers had to say. As for the main character Elle Woods, she had the most agency I believe, she even managed to get her teacher to change her grade from a C to an A and claimed she’d persuaded other teachers to do something similar every other semester. I think she got her powers of persuasion from her father who is a lawyer; he expects her to argue her way out of anything and even gets pride from it. Overall I really enjoyed this movie, I’ve seen it before when I was younger but watching it now with a new perspective was very eye opening.
The movie I watched was Class Rank. The movie was overall very enjoyable, with the characters growing on me very quickly after an initial annoyance with both. The movie was heavily focused on student agency rather than teacher agency, with barely any plot points revolving around the teachers. Both main characters in particular were driving the plot with their agency, both highly disciplined and campaigning for change in the system in their own ways. Both characters had their own personal agendas they wanted to push which would end up sparking conflict, with the male character campaigning to change his town for his own lifestyle and the female character campaigning to remove the ranking system in schools to boost her chances of getting into Yale.
ReplyDeleteThe movie that I watched was Clueless. In terms of agency, Cher demonstrates it by attempting to play matchmaker and generally I would say she had more freedom as than other students in films and real life. I thought that the movie was more coming of age and romcom like than education based, however it was still possible to see some of the themes we've talked about in the movie in smaller ways. Overall, the movie was fun and lighthearted and pretty enjoyable but felt unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteThe movie that I watched was the film Moxie. The plot of the movie steams from standing up to the patriarchy systems that has been set up in their school. The main chapter Vivan is known to be quite shy and to herself, even though her mother was an active feminist when she was younger, Vivan was not as outgoing as her mother in the beginning. Until she meets the new girl at her school named Lucy, who is complete the opposite. Lucy was being harassed by the star football player Mitchell, which caused her to be ranked on a degrading list. This list outraged Vivan and caused her to anonymous create the feminist group in her school called Moxie. Vivan and the other students within the group used their agency to go against the sexist system that ran through their school. They rejected the ideas when it comes to sexism and fought against it through protestes, speaking up in class, and walkouts against the teachers and the unhelpful principle. Overall, I found myself enjoying some parts of the film while others were a little bit too on the nose. I enjoyed the message that they were portraying, but it did seem a bit rushed and the main character definitely got caught in the white savior trope at times.
ReplyDeleteThe film I watched was Moxie. As far as agency went, I think all the students had agency to make change within their peers. Some students, however, had more agency in the system than others like Mitchell. Vivian and her friends had the agency to move their peers and educate them on the problems at hand, but Mitchell and his friends had the ability to make systematic changes because the principle favored them. They all had agency, but what kinds of agency can be defined?
ReplyDeleteClueless portrays student agency mostly through the lenses of privilege and self-discovery, as the students manage their personal and academic environment to varying degrees. By the time the movie ends, Cher begins to realize that real agency entails more than just controlling other people through matchmaking; it calls for reflection and personal development, particularly when she faces her own emotions about maturity and relationships.
ReplyDeleteThe second movie that I watched was the breakfast club. In this movie the students have both a lot and almost no agency. In the beginning of the movie when Mr. Vernon is in the room, the students are not allowed to get out of their seats, do homework, or even talk. When Mr. Vernon is around he has all of the agency. Once he leaves though, the students have all of the agency and were able to do pretty much anything they wanted. Bender was able to smoke a cigarette, the started smoking weed, and the boys even got into a fight.Towards the end, while they are choosing to not write the paper and talk among themselves, they are actually getting ideas about themselves and how what they should write about in their paper.
ReplyDeleteIn "Moxie," Vivian's journey from a quiet observer to an eager activist demonstrates student agency. She writes about the start of a movement among her peers, encouraging them to express their complaints and fight the toxic culture at their school, which she was motivated by her mother's past and her own experiences with sexism. This self-expression demonstrates how individual creativity may motivate others to act. Claudia, on the other hand, shows how friendship might encourage agency as they go from hesitation to involvement. On the other hand, opposite personalities show the difficulties faced by students who want to make their opinions known. They represent the resistance to change. The movie's main idea is that autonomy among students is necessary for addressing injustices and starting important discussions in the community.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie I watched, Clueless student agency was apparent in the main character Cher. Cher intefeared with her teachers social life so that she would get a higher grade in her class, other students also show agency when debating in class, however the debate was promoted by the teacher.
ReplyDeleteMy movie #2 was Moxie and I believe the concept of student agency is depicted throughout this movie almost as part of the storyline. The main character, Vivienne, works to create her own independent voice, separate from school and her peers. Her efforts are focused on calling out sexual harassment, in its many forms, and mostly perpetrated by the male jocks. Separately from Vivienne, the male jocks of the school express their agency freely for which it was automatically handed to them. They don't receive punishment or warnings for their behavior unlike the women of the school. Moxie shows the power of students, primarily women, acting for themselves and for the betterment of others in order to draw a line between the school and their own voices.
ReplyDeleteThe second movie I watched was *The Breakfast Club*. In this film, the students have very little control when Mr. Vernon is around—they can't leave their seats, do homework, or talk. He holds all the power. But when he leaves, the students can do whatever they want. Bender smokes a cigarette, they start smoking weed, and the boys even fight. By the end, even though they're not writing their papers and just chatting, they're really figuring out who they are and what to write about.
ReplyDeleteThe students seem to have their typical categories and stereotypes. The populars ,the skateboarders,the nerds,the emos etc: Cher is definitely in the popular category. She can basically say and do whatever she wants and nobody questions it. She can argue her way out of any problem. She wants to convert Tai to be popular and hide her love from the skater boy Travis. Cher ends up learning that she can't always avoid her problems and she must solve things the right way. She lets things naturally unfold and everything ends up where I need to be.
ReplyDelete-Christian Harper
The movie I watched was clueless. This movie shows agency in the students, especially the main character Cher. The students and Cher did whatever they wanted in class and barely paid attention to the teacher. Cher was also able to change her grade from a C to A, because of how persuasive she was which I believe she gets from her dad, since he's a lawyer. This movie is definetly a coming of age movie and self reflection like movie because Cher is growing as a person and become a better person and helps people around her be better. Overall, this movie was good and entertaining, but definitely unrealistic on some aspects.
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