An Education (Scherfig, 2009)

[ayaa1977]

Well that is say more about you and the way you evaluate yourself, but that doesn't diminish the importance or the need for education.  People CAN and DO succeed without education, but that is a rare case, the exception that prove the rule.

As for your final comment, what would that achieve for her if she did? and how does that count as a step in the road of success?

[animatedude]

Well that is say more about you and the way you evaluate yourself, but that doesn't diminish the importance or the need for education.  People CAN and DO succeed without education, but that is a rare case, the exception that prove the rule.

As for your final comment, what would that achieve for her if she did? and how does that count as a step in the road of success?

you don't live on planet Earth eh? again,what's success to you?

Well that is say more about you and the way you evaluate yourself, but that doesn't diminish the importance or the need for education.  People CAN and DO succeed without education, but that is a rare case, the exception that prove the rule.

As for your final comment, what would that achieve for her if she did? and how does that count as a step in the road of success?

she would be doing what she always WANTED to do...ummm don't you think this count as a reason? hehe.i can't tell you how many smart students i met at college who chose this major or that major because daddy or mommy wanted to,it was a brain damaging experience to find this out....i thank my god every day that my family gave me the freedom since i was a kido to choose my path.

[X.]

I just saw this film so can participate in this discussion.

Firstly, the film -- I didn't like it. The tone is a big problem for me. It is a romance, bitter-sweet kitchen sink drama, a subtle feminist propaganda piece, a historical comment on how England began to emerge from the 50's on the cusp of the swinging 60s. The director is Scandinavian and that explains the detached quality, which I actually like. But the sweetness and romanticism sits uneasily with this. Also, Carey Mulligan looks too old for that part and I hated the way she laughs.

Secondly, I think Animatedude has a valid point (with his first comment) about how the film states that she needed go through some kind of a rites of passage and have her innocence destroyed before she can mature. Obviously the meaning of "an education" is double-edged, but the entire film struck me as a less-than-complex study of growing up, from a girl's perspective.  

I am enjoying this discussion between Ayaa and Animatedude and would encourage you to continue because both your insights are interesting to read. However, try not to get too personal so that it alienates casual readers.

[ayaa1977]

AK, I started writing a reply to animatedude's last comment then I realized that we will be beating a dead dog over and over again, so I stopped. I guess I got my share of "education" after all, gone through  my own "rite of passage" and "matured" 

Anyway, don't worry about me and the dude getting personal, we have been for a while sorta kinda "friends", am I right Dude?

[fizz]

While the film is clearly feminist slanting (Peter Sarsgaard is evil and has abused the trust Mulligan placed on him, the father is disillusioned in wanting his daughter to be successful, without knowing what success is) I think the film touched well upon the paradoxes that comes with parenting and the ever changing desires of youth. As guardians, parents just want what’s right for us - and this means, sometimes through subtle coercion, trying to make us do what they want us to do. Jenny DID get away with what she wanted to do - she left school, went to France, all under the false pretence of having a steady future because she hooked up with the right man. This didn't work out but if it had (i.e. David was not a con man), she would forever have deprived herself of learning (not necessarily educating in the vocational sense) anything of value - essentially turning into the dumb vapid zombie that Rosamund's Pike Helen was (i.e. illitrate about art, culture etc). I also think its too much to watch the film as a deliverer of a moral point of view. I don't think it had a moral as such - it was far too simplified for that and despite my being pleased with it, I could have used a better ending.

The film also functioned as documenting the coming of a change - with women taking more independent roles for themselves in the 60's. I think it trumped the idea of women being dependent on men for their sustenance (as Jenny would have had she gone ahead and married Sarsgaad's character) to women being able to stand on their own without a man if they had the right skills or education. I don't think the film singled out being a rebel as being "wrong". Jenny was a rebel, got away with what she wanted to do in her life (at that time) but she was also naive and learned her lesson (the nuts and bolts of this are based on a true story documented in an autobiographical book). The value of education cannont be overstressed and is not even a moot point so animatedude's "argument" makes little or no sense to me. It is also important to note that the film was of its time and reflected the values and culture of this period. Its easy for someone who has had a priveledged education to look back and ask what was its use (considering you are now firmly poised for growth and success). I disliked all of the educational instituitions I was placed in, never agreed with their methods etc, but cannot disregard that as houses of learning, the place and perhaps not necessarily the people taught me a lot that I know today and am able to use that to my advantage both personally and professionally.

[ayaa1977]

Bravo Fizz I could never ever put it so beautifully and eloquently the way you did. I too know how much flawed my education was, from both sides of the equation. But I am what I am now because what I learned in school and by my own. If you are not learning something new about yourself and the world around you then you become stagnant and that is death to human being because we are fated to move literally and figuratively.

[animatedude]

AK, I started writing a reply to animatedude's last comment then I realized that we will be beating a dead dog over and over again, so I stopped. I guess I got my share of "education" after all, gone through  my own "rite of passage" and "matured"  

Anyway, don't worry about me and the dude getting personal, we have been for a while sorta kinda "friends", am I right Dude?

you are not on my facebook friends list  

[ayaa1977]

you are not on my facebook friends list  

And what are you going to do about it Dude?  I have never recieved a friend request from you before, but if you wanna add me go ahead.

[ozzylogic]

Get a room you two. Who gives a shit about the FB friend's list anyway? Ayaa baby, you've got me yeah?

[animatedude]

i don't know you real name therefore i can't add you...