Today I was watching Matilda and there was this one scene in the movie where Ms. Honey's class has to hide almost everything in the classroom from the vile principal, Ms. Trunchbull. The students pulled down sheets to cover up all the art projects hanging on the walls, anything colorful, or anything that could be of sentimental value. The classroom transformed from a fun learning environment into a dreary, colorless, lifeless room. When Ms. Trunchbull came in the classroom she made it clear to the students that she knew/saw everything and whatever she said what the final word...basically if she said up was down, then up was, in fact, down. Ms. Trunchbull reminded me of Big Brother from the book 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, Big Brother tells the people what to believe and how they should lives their lives. It was interesting to see this figure in another context (other than cultural revolution/communism) and think about how lucky we are to have all the privilages we do...but what about the controversy over the moment of silence in advisory and its voilation of the first ammendment...though not as extreme as the customs that Ms. Trunchbull enforces, maybe our school isn't so different from hers after all?
3 comments:
Linz, this is a really good connection! You explained it very well! It gives me a pretty eerie feeling when I too made the connection between 1984-Matilda's school- The Moment of Silence @ NT. I know the scene that you're talking about in Matilda and it does remind me a lot of 1984, the principal says she sees all, and that it has to be strictly learing. Like that movie we watched that Bolos made, "There should be no love, except the love for Big Brother. There should be no life...". It's chilling to think that we quite possibly could be heading down that path as well, by conforming to this moment of silence, and it really makes me wonder two things. Where are we going to go after this? [How much farther can we stretch the constitution?] and, What is REALLY the goal of this moment of silence?
In response to your last line I agree that our school isnt far off from that. If administers keep telling us what we have to say/do they pretty much control our whole world that happens inside of school. There has to be a limit to what kind of impact they have on students during the school day. Also, I like your comparison between the movie and the book and how our school is starting to resemble to one in Matilda.
Lindsey! I love the movie Matilda and it made me so happy to see your connections from a book to this amazing movie. I think that a colorless environment can sometimes be distracting but honestly, what isn't a distraction. That particular part of the movie where they have to cover up all the "light in learning" isn't given enough credit for what it's worth. That important scene doesn't only show how cruel Mrs. Trunchble (excuse the spelling of the name) was but it also shows how peers take power over their followers and youth. Could this be what happens with intimidating political figures in today's society?
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