Question: Do you know any movies about a person in a powerful job, who loses the ability to relate to their friends?
I have a friend who either is intolerably immature, or takes a position of dictatorial infallibility and when challenged, will deal with the confrontation by picking up and leaving. This is causing him to become more and more alienated from his circle of friends. He was not at all like this before he became a highschool teacher. It took me many months of pondering his psychology for me to finally come to the, somewhat obvious, conclusion that this erratic behavior was directly related to their being a teacher. I think being a teacher has required him to be more of a adult then he feels comfortable with, and he deals with it by regressing to his childlike demeanor when out of school. Now, when he is called on something while in this state, he will react either by leaving in a huff, or by trying to intimidate the challenger into accepting his authority and letting him define the situation as he pleases, just as a teacher might.
Now I could simply ask him if he thinks this might be the case, but he often gets defensive and hostile when he’s put in a vulnerable position. I have given much thought to how I might get him to face up to his schizoid manner, considering his unapproachability, and another friend offered up a solution: Present him with a literary reference or better yet a movie where his behavior is mirrored. Maybe this will allow him to save face by allowing him to discover the truth for himself. But what movie has a character that has the same personality defect? I really have no idea, and no clue as to how to go about finding one.
I have but one hope: That the great minds of this exalted forum will provide me with the kind of movie or book that I am looking for. So there it is my good friends; you are my only hope.
“The play is the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”
Yes you may. Believe it or not I too concluded the same but over time have found such an explanation to be inadequate. To put it simply: People are not always so simple. I am not interested in debating my conclusion further with you, as I doubt your brilliance is such that you can divine what has eluded all of his and my mutual friends after many hours of discussion. However, If can answer the question posed in this thread, then please do.
Yes you may. Believe it or not I too concluded the same but over time have found such an explanation to be inadequate. To put it simply: People are not always so simple. I am not interested in debating my conclusion further with you, as I doubt your brilliance is such that you can divine what has eluded all of his and my mutual friends after many hours of discussion. However, If you can answer the question posed in this thread, then please do.
Those look kind of like what I’m looking for. I remember a movie I believe was called Mrs. Miniver? where a school teacher became kind of megalomaniacal, but I don’t recall it very well.
Ideally, I’d like a movie where the main character alternates between childlike silliness and insufferable overbearingness.
I don’t know about a movie, but I recently read (or rather, listened to the audio version of) The King of Torts by John Grisham. It’s about a lowly public defender who unexpectedly stumbles across a windfall of cash and becomes a major class-action lawyer overnight. He loses all sense of why he became a lawyer, becomes less and less human, and eventually gets the rug yanked out from under him.
Try something I have seen only once and that was 20 years ago - Robert Duvall in The Great Santini. As I remember it Duvall’s character Bull Meecham is a control freak with his family but plays childish anti-authority tricks in his Marine role. It’s funny and tragic and contains a couple of unforgettable scenes.
Having been a high school teacher long ago, it is very hard to develop a sense of superiority from it. High school teachers in this society are not looked up to or valued much. This attitude is thrown up in your face often. You really do not have much authority…really. If you want more authority, teach college (much better IMO)
My theory…based on the change of behavior from before/after becoming a teacher.
Being a high school teacher can be an extremely stressful job. Do not fall for the cultural attitude dismissing teachers and their problems here. It can be extremely stressful more so than almost all the jobs out there.
If your friend is having problems with classroom control, and therefore losing his job or not doing well, a teacher needs to get tough.
They must achieve classroom control and hold onto it. This is something easier to do at the beginning but hard to do once you let it slide for a couple of weeks. Unless your friend had a ‘challenging/realistic’ student teaching experience and a good mentor during this time, he will likely have failed on this and started out without establishing control.
This means his life/career is hellish right now. He probably realized his mistake (or was informed) and is now trying to rectify it. It can be very consuming and may be hard for him to let go after he leaves work. He feels he must have control. To not have control caused his problems and so he must leave the situation.
Your friend will probably be ok once he gets more experience at teaching.
Your friend could be in hell right now and the stress can be overwhelming, more so than you realize. Be his friend. Give him some slack.
{personal experience - I did well teaching high school. I lay some of the reason to the fact that I had a miserable student teaching experience and a absolutely wonderful mentor-advisor. Several teachers in my class who had a great/fun student teaching flamed out/fired/quit their first year actually teaching.}
Here are some other answers.
>Can you name a film that contains a character that alternates between
>childlike silliness and insufferable overbearingness.
>
The Tony Gaza Story
Hmmm. . .Well, I think the mother in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT might fall into this
category. I can’t remember the character’s name, but the actress was Shirley
MacLaine.
“Scent of a Woman”
“Hamlet”
“The Rose”
“Three of a Kind”
“Lawrence of Arabia”
“The Horse’s Mouth”
“Annie Get Your Gun”
(much better IMO)