{"id":30789,"date":"2012-10-01T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30789"},"modified":"2012-09-30T09:44:52","modified_gmt":"2012-09-30T14:44:52","slug":"running-down-a-dream-sequence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30789","title":{"rendered":"Running Down A Dream Sequence"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to “Won’t Back Down” over the weekend.<\/p>\n

I’ll come back to that.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

A couple of bits of background before we get to the review:<\/p>\n

I’m A Teacher’s Kid: \u00a0<\/strong>My dad and my mother’s parents were all teachers. \u00a0So’s my sister, more or less. \u00a0I’m not ignorant of what a teacher’s life is like. \u00a0Or was like, really, years ago and in a much smaller place beset by a level of common sense that’d be subject to Department of Justice litigation today.<\/p>\n

I Hate “Teacher” Movies<\/strong>: \u00a0Almost always, anyway. \u00a0They always, always, inevitably seem to follow a template; plucky teacher dumped into failing school by uncaring system seems group of struggling, troubled or apathetic kids – usually minorities – and has an idea on how to each ’em. \u00a0Uncaring system tries to beat plucky teacher down. \u00a0Plucky teacher tries, but soon teeters on the brink of losing the fight – until some event gives them a blinding flash of epiphany, leading them to the solution that leaves the uncaring system nodding its head in sage belief and the struggling, troubled or apathetic kids changed forever, and the plucky teacher filled with that saintly glow of superhuman accomplishment. \u00a0The movies –\u00a0<\/em>whether\u00a0Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, Mr. Hoilland’s Opus\u00a0<\/em>or any of a slew of others (heck, even School of Rock<\/em>) – are all different and yet, it seems, all the same; they pound the problems of not just teaching kids, but of teaching scads of\u00a0different<\/em>\u00a0kids, into a too-cheap-and-easy Hollywood resolution.<\/p>\n

They make my skin crawl. \u00a0 In part because – oh, one more thing…<\/p>\n

I’ve Had My Own Battles With The School System<\/strong>: \u00a0We’ll come back to that one.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

I saw the trailer for\u00a0Won’t Back Down<\/em>, and I pretty much figured it out. \u00a0I thought I spotted the usually 21st Century Hollywood film story crutches:<\/p>\n