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A history lesson with fresh human witty words - British film "History Boys" (English name "The History Boys")
British film "History Boys" (also known as "High School Boys"), according to the highest award in the British and American drama circles From the moment of its birth, the adaptation of the classic repertoire of the National Theatre of London, which honors the Tony Award, has focused on the English campus atmosphere with its witty dialogue, eight distinctive boys and a wonderful fusion of classical and modern. From Europe to North America, from the West to the East, the eyes of students from all over the world won the crown of the best film at the London Film Festival that year. The mystery of its success is that although "The Boys in History" has a youthful boy with a free and easy image, it does not follow the line of popular idol dramas. On the contrary, "The Boys in History" has the same style as the prominent male protagonist in the film. , is taking a line of independent thinking that is based on the classical British complex, but boldly challenges the tradition. And it is this refreshing idea of film creation that makes this youth campus film bloom with unprecedented and exciting splendor.
From the perspective of narrative structure, the film "History Boys" is based on the teacher-student interaction between two teachers with different teaching styles and eight boys, which runs through the two generations' fresh views on history, society and life. Different thinking, they firmly believe that "the truth will become clearer", young people who are not afraid of tigers question the traditional historical morality, and their eyes are not limited to the concepts written in writing, the difference between real life and career Planning, the distress of adolescence and emotional confusion have all become good subjects for them to speculate on the topic of literature and history. Confucius, the sage of Chinese Confucianism, once went to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to ask Laozi for teaching. When he was parting, Laozi gave Confucius a sentence: the words written in the book are all spoken by the ancients, but the ancients have already died and turned into bones. The words in the book are too dead. It means that the true meaning of learning is not in black and white on the books. You have to use your own mind to digest what you have learned, and turn the dead knowledge in the book into a vibrant one that is truly yours, which is integrated with your life. Part of knowledge is not dead, but alive. For a smart student, learning knowledge is to create a new life for himself, rather than making himself a slave to book knowledge.
The bold and open learning atmosphere has created a vast sky for the eight boys to grow their personality and shape themselves, but after all, they are still in the critical step of leaping from youth to maturity. Courage is the most valuable quality for young people to seek knowledge, but only courage and Personality is not enough, for boys, the guidance and guidance of a wise and experienced elder is very important. And the chubby old teacher HECTOR was lucky to play the role of such an elder.
The reason why HECTOR can be loved by students is not how knowledgeable and rich he is, but his flexible, tolerant and inspiring teaching attitude. Vibrant art and literary histories combine to educate and entertain, bringing his classrooms to life. At the beginning of the film, in order to let the boys experience the fun of creation, teacher HECTOR opened a lively drama performance for them. He respected the wishes of young people and brought the Victorian brothel into the classroom. The students played the roles of prostitutes and prostitutes. The client, in the joyous and indulgent laughter, mastered the vocabulary usage of the classical era flexibly. This bold and traditional teaching method cannot but make people admire this old man who is over fifty years old.
Teacher HECTOR himself explained his teaching method in this way. He said that he wants to train students to discover and discover the beauty in history by themselves. He hopes that these boys can experience the beauty of knowledge in the history of poetry, music, drama, and literature in their best years, rather than waiting until his age to regret the waste of life. "The greatest joy in reading is that you suddenly realize something, a thought, an emotion, a perspective that resonates with someone you have never met, like someone holding your hand," he said in his class Turning into a vibrant art palace, he believes that brainstorming is the only way to stimulate the vitality of children's lives, even if they have to hit their heads with books.
Different from HECTOR's focus on art education, another young teacher, IRWIN, was hired by the principal to provide tutoring and preparation for the upcoming Oxford/Cambridge entrance exam for students. Teacher IRWIN pays more attention to boys' homework and essay writing than HECTOR. There is no doubt that IRWEN has more solid practical skills and experience for exams. Although compared with the old teacher, his class lacks some flexible drama methods, but The historical discussions with new perspectives are also enriching the hearts and brains of the boys.
In this way, the British film "History Boys" has opened a bright and beautiful window for Chinese students to look at history through the vivid history education of the two teachers. Growing up under the exam-oriented education system, history classes are nothing more than the opinions summed up by some predecessors who need to memorize by rote for exams. For Chinese students, what textbooks and teachers say are all correct and timeless truths. History has become a heavy burden that has lost its vitality and has no soul, and the HECTOR teacher in the UK in the 1980s told us that history is very beautiful, and history lessons have nothing to do with exams. , we study history in order to enrich our lives. IRWIN teacher also said when teaching students how to write essays, As for truths, scripts, forget it. Knowledge, pursuit it for its own sake. Regarding those recognized historical facts, those same things in textbooks, there is no need to memorize them . The same thing is not the thesis, it is the thesis that can say different points of view and think in the opposite direction. History is an outsider's view of the past that has changed over time. Therefore, we need to find a new and flexible perspective to re-examine and analyze what happened in history. For the same piece of history, find their differences from different angles and methods. Only such learning and research are valuable, can help us analyze and summarize the laws of history, and allow us to continuously explore and approach the truth of life in the universe.
How does histry happen? History is just one fucking thing after another, nothing special, ordinary stuff. Interestingly, this insanely vivid line comes from RUDGE, a sportsman who is considered to be "developed on all fours and simple in mind". Such an experience must have come from the vivid drama class of teacher HECTOR. The use of subjunctive tenses in theatre performances is one purpose HECTOR wants to instill in students. I guess that teacher HECTOR wants to use the virtual tense to create a performance world where students can expand their imaginations. It is composed of a series of accidental "shit" events, but these accidents finally form a result - that is, there are inevitability and specific laws of their occurrence in accidents.
In this way, teacher HECTOR, who has learned from the past and the present, and teacher IRWIN, who is easy-going and abides by his teaching responsibilities, started a contest among the eight boys with their flexible and fresh history education and different teaching styles. Smart boys are also using what they have learned and ways of thinking to solve their life and emotional distress. The film did not waste the scenes of the specific life of each boy's family and campus, but structured the vast sky that the boys had on the ivory tower of knowledge and ideas. The boys' learning space is by no means limited to small classrooms, and teachers will bring them to a richer and broader perspective. The classical British cultural relics inherit the ideological spark of the ancient Greek humanistic spirit, the medieval churches of the Renaissance, and even the solemn and beautiful campuses of Oxford and Cambridge that they yearn for, have left the footprints of boys exploring their ideas. Here, I have to sigh that Europeans respect and care for historical and cultural heritage. These classical buildings have completely maintained their original appearance. There is absolutely no pollution of any modern city here. The trees and lawns in the four fields are lush and vibrant. The beautiful, clear air seems to be calling from a long-standing civilization, and this attitude of respecting history and culture can't help but make people awe-inspiring.
"History Boys" not only gives us a witty history lesson, it's also a moving poem about love and human emotion. The eight boys in the movie have a profound and ambiguous relationship with the teacher, and the budding homosexuality between boys has become another shining theme of this movie. And those beautiful poems and music have become the most direct way to express inner emotions. Posner, a weak and kind Jewish boy, is the most emotional one among the students. In his clear eyes, there is a girl-like sensitivity and delicacy. His heart is like a clear and transparent stream, which cannot hide any secrets. And his admiration for DAKIN, a bohemian, intelligent and heartfelt boy, is also seen by the boys. When he sang love poems with heart in the class, his eyes also cast affectionately towards DAKIN sitting in the back row. Obviously, this love song from the heart is dedicated to the lover in his heart - DAKIN. However, the distress of homosexuality also tormented the boy who was uneasy about the future. He asked Mr. IRWIN, the book said that most adolescent boys will have ambiguous feelings between the same sex. Is this feeling really just a period of distress in adolescence. He can't decide whether to let this emotion pass. On the one hand, he is afraid of the uncertainty of the future; on the other hand, DAKIN is not only handsome and dazzling, but his daring and daring style has also profoundly affected him. DAKIN is not only his The object of his admiration is his courage and example to illuminate his life. He is not willing to lose him, and would rather keep him an irreplaceable position in his heart forever.
In stark contrast to the emotions that POSNER put in his heart, DAKIN is born with a brave spirit who dares to challenge the taboos without any hesitation. Shout out: Don't think I'm going around you like everyone else! When the HECTOR teacher was about to be dismissed by the principal for "sexual harassment of students", DAKIN took the lead in breaking into the principal's office, threatening the principal with the secret of the principal and the female secretary, and finally forced the principal to withdraw the order for the dismissal of the HECTOR teacher. DAKIN is still a boy who can't be sure about his own sexuality. He said to the teacher IRWIN who is wearing glasses, take your eyes off. The subtext means, please take off the mask that you have been hiding yourself! On the eve of graduation, he stared at Mr. IRWIN with unconcealed eyes, and spoke out the tacit secrets between him and Mr. IRWIN. Maybe you should buy me a drink, he said. No, we don't have to say that, frankly, I want you to give me oral sex! ——Such arrogant and sturdy emotional confession still occurs between students and teachers! This line of DAKIN is enough to scare the professors of all famous universities in China. And this boy's arrogance is not because of his lack of education, but from his innocent and innocent heart. Such a story scene can only happen to the "History Boys" in the UK, and it can only happen to a unique boy like DAKIN!
At the end of the movie, teacher HECTOR leaves the class he loves because of a car accident, and leaves the students who have always loved him. All of his students did not despise him because of the "sexual harassment" that the "gay" teacher had inflicted on them. On the contrary, this teacher was a natural and pure family member with his passion for education. His care and love won the respect of all boys. Among the eight boys, the "comrade" posner inherited the ideal of a HECTOR teacher and became a middle school teacher who devoted himself to education. Reminiscent of the gay tendencies of European Renaissance artists repeatedly suggested in the film, and the love of male homosexuality in ancient Greek culture, the ancestor of European civilization, I can’t help but wonder if the film director is telling us that it was gay teachers who brought the educational ideals of British history and culture to the fore. accepted. I am reminded of the poem that postner once read for teacher HECTOR. This poem is also the most vivid interpretation and memory of the teacher's life:
Drummer Hodge was thrown into the pit and buried,
as found, without a coffin:
his burial was a hill in South Africa,
slightly tearing the surrounding plain;
every night above this tomb,
exotic constellations lay to the west .
Having just arrived here from his home in Wessex,
the young drummer Hodge couldn't understand what was the point of the
bushes, the fertile soil and the dust, the
vast arid plateau?
The dark night is vast, and
the twinkling constellations are strange.
It is in this corner of the nameless plain that
Hodge will sleep forever and never leave;
he will grow into a big tree in the south,
with the simple mind and heart of the north,
let the stars twinkle with strange eyes, and
rule his destiny forever.
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