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When movies go to classTeri Polo, who did a stint on West Wing a couple of years back but is best known on the big screen for comedy, love interest, and comedic love interest (e.g., Meet the Fockers), is finally set to star in a movie that will not be a comedy. At least not intentionally. According to The Hollywood Reporter, in the indie film The Beacon, Polo's character, Sally Helppie, and her husband move into an old apartment building while mourning the death of their young son. Sally begins seeing the spirit of another dead boy, and with the help of her college professor husband and his college professor friend, they try to save him.
Save him from what undead dilemma, I know not, and I'm really not sure I care. If I wasn't over the “I see dead people” phenomenon after all of the ghastly copycats riding the ghostly coattails of The Sixth Sense, trying to watch a season of The Ghost Whisperer did me in. (The things I do to catch Aisha Tyler.) Anyway, the movie's really not my point. Musing about the film, Cinematical.com's Monika Bartyzel pointed out the almost magical abilities of college professors in film to do everything from exorcising spirits to helping people figure out that the little voice in their head narrating their day might actually be Emma Thompson and not a condition requiring heavy medication. This is a movie cliché I could have mentioned last week.
As in the hallowed halls of academia itself, the guys usually bag the big roles, whether it's an action flick like Indiana Jones (where knowledge is power) or a Dead Poets Society, one of those inspirational teacher movies that are a genre unto themselves. But occasionally we get a woman professor. In Mona Lisa Smile, a free-thinking arts teacher tries to change her students and society. Julia Roberts fared a little better than Robin Williams, though. Lower death toll.
I'd say The L Word's Dean Porter and Jodi Lerner qualify in the category of small screen unrealistic (despite my undergraduate fantasies) representations of university professionals. Their magical abilities? Fighting the conservative campus minority and shaping young minds through artistic expression and at times rather, er, inappropriate other means.
And one I blame for the hours I spent digging plastic dinosaur bones out of my sandbox as a kid. Looking at the poster, I'd say the magic here wasn't in the touching encounter between woman and dinosaur, but in the glory of the craptastic dinosaur animation.
So what am I missing? Who are your favorite fictional profs? Submitted by on February 25, 2008 - 6:03pm. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Wonder Boys
Holland Taylor in Legally Blonde
I did!
Sorry
Holland Taylor
Holland Taylor rocks!!!!
I wish I had teachers like that in med school
It's a kind of magic
Kelly Rowan as Ms. Wallcot in 'The Truth Abou Jane', she was pretty magical. But if you want real magic then look no further than Alan Rickman's 'Professor Snape' <swoons> If only we were both straight! ;)
Dude, yes!
Ms. Walcot, like, appeared out of nowhere every time Jane was having a gay dilemma. I kept thinking 'who is this woman and why does she keep conveniently popping up' during the movie. Though it made a bit more sense later in the film. Still the ninja stalking skills cannot be explained.
Uh, does Giles count? 'Cause he knew EVERYTHING... expect pop culture references.
~It means pride.~
Loving Annabelle
yeah although
I'm drawing a blank on
I'm drawing a blank on college professors but if we can go high school teachers...
Enough said!
I totally agree. Love this
I totally agree. Love this movie in it's own right. But if I didn't...Tina Fey would be a very good reason.
Simone
My thoughts exactly!!
http://legallyout.blogspot.com
hot teachers
Professor Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) on The Mirror has two faces! or Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series... now that's hot!
crs
Vivian....
gah
Mona Lisa sucks
Indiana Jones.....
Teachers I would like to have
Hillary Swank ----> Freedom Writers
Michelle Pfeifer ----> Dangerous Minds
Gillian Anderson ----> In season 8 or 9 Dana Scully gave classes on Quantico.
"I am a teacher first, last, always."
Maggie Smith is just so, so wonderful
Lengthy quote comin' right up!
Jean Brodie: [after Miss Mackay has read a supposedly incriminating letter, written by Sandy and Jenny] There's very little for me to say, Miss Mackay in the face of your extraordinary prejudice and hostility.
Miss Mackay: Miss Brodie, I am not asking you to say anything. I am asking... demanding... that you put your signature, your own signature, on a letter of resignation which I have prepared for you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign.
Miss Mackay: If you will not resign, you will force me to dismiss you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign and you will not dismiss me, Miss Mackay. You will not use the excuse of that pathetic, that humorous document to blackmail me! Mr. Lowther, you are a witness to this. Miss Mackay has made totally unsupported accusations against my name and yours. If she has one authentic shred of evidence, just one, let her bring it forth! Otherwise, if one more word of this outrageous calumny reaches my ears, I shall sue! I shall take Miss Mackay to the public courts and I shall sue the trustees of Marcia Blaine, if they support her. I will not stand quietly by and allow myself to be crucified by a woman whose fetid frustration has overcome her judgment! If scandal is to your taste, Miss Mackay, I shall give you a feast!
Miss Mackay: Miss Brodie!
Jean Brodie: I am a teacher! I am a teacher, first, last, always! Do you imagine that for one instant I will let that be taken from me without a fight? I have dedicated, sacrificed my life to this profession. And I will not stand by like an inky little slacker and watch you rob me of it and for what? For what reason? For jealousy! Because I have the gift of claiming girls for my own. It is true I am a strong influence on my girls. I am proud of it! I influence them to be aware of all the possibilities of life... of beauty, honor, courage. I do not, Miss Mackay, influence them to look for slime where it does not exist! I am going. When my class convenes, my pupils will find me composed and prepared to reveal to them the succession of the Stuarts. And on Sunday, I will go to Cramond to visit Mr. Lowther. We are accustomed, bachelor and spinster, to spend our Sundays together in sailing and walking the beaches and in the pursuit of music. Mr. Lowther is teaching me to play the mandolin. Good day, Miss Mackay.
Maggi Smith's performance in this movie is just perfect. She makes you love a thoroughly unlikable character.
mona lisa smile
heads up!
After reading this blog I went to Yahoo to check my emails and saw this artical....
Selma Blair playing lesbian teacher in comedy
Selma Blair is in final negotiations to play a lesbian high school teacher romantically involved with a student in the indie black comedy "Driving Lessons."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080226/ten-uk-selma-d3877cb_1.html
Could be good, I do like Selma but she always looks like shes on the brink of starvation, bless!
:Heads down thumbs up:
hm..I like this topic...
I def agree with Tina Fey and Diane Gaidry from Loving AnnaBelle.
What about Hilary Swank from the reaping?
I dont think many people have heard of this chracter but i'll throw it out here...
Professor Elizabeth Grant from The Best Years, She's quite the looker...see...=}
"You motherf---in' liar! F--- you, you lyin', lowdown, nanny-f---in' motherf---er"- Kit porter
"You can take it or leave it, but I'm not going to change, not for anyone."-Christina Aguilera