\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have what?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the movies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So no Superbad or Pineapple Express?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yep.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0These were the words exchanged between three friends on a Friday afternoon in Askwith Media Library. Rays of artificial light illuminated their dejected faces as they flipped through binder after binder. Just when it seemed that there was no chance for cinematic satisfaction, one of the friends (me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I know, what a surprise!) saw an intriguing image. Underneath a laminated cover was a face. His face was almost as distressed as those of the three friends. His disheveled body stood in front of a large green board. The words CHALK<\/em> were scrawled across it. Finally. Movie magic.<\/p>\n The film \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chalk\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a mockumentary (much like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Office\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) about the ups and downs of high school through the eyes of teachers and administrators. Directed by Mike Ackel, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chalk\u00e2\u20ac\u009d achieves that perfect balance between humor and sadness. The level of reality portrayed by Ackel made it impossible to not be invested in the characters. I found myself immediately rooting for romantic entanglements between Mr. Lowry (the pathetic first year history teacher) and Coach Webb (the overly pushy gym teacher), while I could not stop laughing at the absurd nature of Mr. Stroope (the teacher who yells at students who use big words).<\/p>\n However, “Chalk” is not\u00c2\u00a0superficial in its intrigue. It truly is a fascinating cinematic commentary on the American educational system. According to the director at the start of the film, 50% of teachers quit within the first three years and what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more disheartening are the quality of some of the teachers hired. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chalk\u00e2\u20ac\u009d serves to illuminate these facts by showing the day-to-day struggles of being a teacher. Not only does the pay suck, but teachers also have to put up with numerous devil children (watch the first scene and you will understand the plight of teachers). After viewing this film I gained a new perspective on my own teachers, both past and present (maybe it was the students who made my freshman biology teacher a bitch\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 or maybe not). I also left with a newfound respect for these professionals whose life long goal (at least for some) is to educate and hopefully inspire.<\/p>\n If you are looking for a great way to spend a Friday night definitely check this movie out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely better than Superbad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have what?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the movies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So no Superbad or Pineapple Express?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yep.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0These were the words exchanged between three friends on a Friday afternoon in Askwith Media Library. Rays of artificial light illuminated their dejected faces as they flipped through binder after binder. Just when it seemed that there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}