17 Again

Title - 17 Again (film)
Author - Burr Steers(director)
Release Date - April 17, 2009

Plot - Michael O'Donnell has a problem with his life.  It seems to be careening out of control before he knows it.  His wife is separating him; he is stuck in a dead end job; and he is forced to move in with his nerdy best friend.  He feels like his whole life took a shift when he was seventeen when he decided to marry his girlfriend instead of pursuing his basketball dreams because his girlfriend became pregnant.  He ends up getting a second chance of sorts with a magical encounter with a janitor who transforms him to the age of 17 again.  He decides to go for his basketball dreams but along the way ends up connecting with his own kids in a meaningful way as they are struggling with relationships and self esteem issues.  Through them he ends up connecting with his wife. 

Comic implications ensue as his daughter starts to fall in love with him (a weird Back to the Future role reversal), and he finds that he still has a passion for the woman that he decided to marry all that time ago when he was in high school.  The question becomes, is he too late?  Has life already passed him by? Or can he go back and fix things because he has come to realize that the one decision, was the best decision of his life.

Critical Review - An often copied tale of a person who seems to be at a crossroads in their life, wanting to go back and relive a portion of their former glory.  Like many in the genre, some magical event transpires and gives them the opportunity to see this through.  While some pick the route of taking the person back to the past, 17 again merely transforms the person into the age at which he felt like his life spiralled out of control.  I was surprised at the depth of character that was displayed by Zac Efron, the 17 year old version of the male lead.  There was a remarkable amount of emotion expressed in his eyes, and he did not overplay his role as the younger version of Michael O'Donnell.  Michelle Trachtenberg, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, plays the lost teenage daughter, who seems to need to have a stronger father role in her life.  She plays up the comic situations quite well, while transferring her affections from the high school bully to her unknowing(and now 17 year old) dad. Overall, it was lighthearted but meaningful fair that I can imagine a teen audience would appreciate while still maintaining the interest of their parents.

Annotation - What was the one decision in your life that you wish you could take back?  Would you live it all over again to get the chance?  Michael O'Donnell did and he is not sure whether he had made the best or worst decision of his life.

About the author - Burr Steers had an interesting life as his family history would suggest.  His father was a Republican congressman from Maryland, while his mother was the daughter of a socialite and a lawyer.  She would eventually divorce his father and get remarried having another brother in that marriage as well as five step-siblings.  His relatives read like a whose who list with people like Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson's Vice President and man who shot Alexander Hamilton, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as well as Oliver Burr Jennings, the creator of Standard Oil.  One can imagine the social and political pressure to be something big in this family.  This may have been too much pressure as he ended up being expelled from two separate schools. 

Eventually, proving that you can overcome anything, Steers would get his GED and move on to New York University.  Out of which he got involved in various film productions including Pulp Fiction and Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid. 17 Again was his second major piece in the director's chair.

Genre- Film, Comedy, Coming of Age

Curriculum Ties - Discuss coming of age stories in class such as Huck Finn.  Compare and contrast how alike and different these coming of age stories are. - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - N/A

Reading Level/Interest Age -  Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - Scene of sexual interest with 17 year old Michael O'Donnell and his older wife is slightly awkward and maybe considered gross.

Challenge Overcoming - Focus on intent of the story and that it still is Michael O'Donnell despite the appearance, for the sake of the movie.

Why Included - Zac Effron is a very popular film actor and somewhat of a teen heart throb especially since he was involved in the High School Musical set of movies for the Disney Channel.  I enjoyed this movie and its complexity of interweaving teenage themes with adult issue.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Title - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Author/Director - John Hughes
Release Date - June 11, 1986

Plot - What more can be said about Ferris Bueller?  "Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...," Ben Stein's famous teacher famously queries as he begins his history class.  Ferris Bueller has decided to take a day off of school.  He is a high school senior waiting for the last year of high school to finally pass by.  But he does not want to let it pass him by without fully being able to take advantage of it.  His best friend Cameron wants to hide under his sheets, letting it go by as quickly as possible, trying to hide from the craziness of high school life.  His girlfriend Sloane is nervous about what the rest of her life has in store. 

But Ferris wants to seize the day.  And seize it he does.  He convinces Cameron to take his dads incredible car.  He gets his girlfriend out of school by pretending to be her father, and he goes out on an incredible trip downtown, even ending up as the lead of a big float in a parade, all while convincing his parents that he is seriously ill, evading the prying eyes of his sister, and ditching his principle who wants to get him into serious trouble.  What more trouble can any teenager get into in one day?  Through it all Ferris convinces all around him to relax, and enjoy every moment of life, because if you don't, it will surely pass you by.

Critical Review - Coming out in 1986 in the middle of the Cold War and changing situations throughout the world, John Hughes has developed a little gem.  The character he has created for Matthew Broderick creates the perfect story around him.  But the message to live life to its fullest is a lesson that resonates throughout the ages.  Whether it be from the 18th century poets imploring their lovers to take advantage of the time given to them. or Robin Williams in Dead Poet Society encouraging his students to seize the day, the notion to take advantage of the time given is timeless.  Bueller perfectly encapsulates this message to those around him.  You cannot get caught up in everything that is going on around you or you are going to miss the opportunities and life that is given to you.  While maybe one shouldn't ditch school, lie to their parents and school administrators, and sneak into restaurants pretending to be someone you are not, Hughes connects to his high school audience in this way that may others do not.  This age is testing its boundaries more than any other.  Through his day off, Bueller tests the limits of his intelligence and the boundaries of his world.  And all the while he makes sure not to let his life passing him by without being able to truly live it.

Reader's Annotation - Driving hot cars, dating the hottest girl in school, going to high class restaurants, and being the lead float in a parade leading everyone to dance wildly across the street: what more could any high school boy want?

About the Author-  John Hughes grew up in Grosse Point Michigan, mostly quite and introspective as many of the people around him were women and older people.  Through this he developed his imagination and his ability to be creative.  When he got to high school he finally started his life having some sort of a direction.  It is these days in high school that he would be able to draw from when doing many of the high school comedies that he would become associated with.

Hughes got his big film break when he wrote the screenplay for National Lampoons Vacation, written to reflect his own experiences on family vacations.  In 1984, he would get his directorial opportunity to do something and he developed 16 Candles, wildly praised reflecting the teen spirit of the age as opposed to many of the comedies being released at the time.  He would go on to direct many efforts reflecting teens and their struggles with such classics as Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Genre- Movies, Comedy

Curriculum Ties - Literature as film - How does Hughes translate the teenage plight to find their identity.

Booktalking Ideas - N/A

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - It encourages disrespectful and negative images of authority figures.

Overcoming - Discuss classic literature that questions authority and whether or not questioning authority is a good thing.

Why Included - This was certainly one of my favorite teen comedies from my day as I was just about to start high school the following year.  This comedy seems to resonate then as much as it does today.

Veronica Mars - Season 1

Title - Veronica Mars - Seasons 1
Author/Creator - Rob Thomas
Release Dates - September 22, 2004 - May 10, 2005

Plot - Veronica Mars has lost her best friend to murder.  Someone has given Veronica the Date Rape drug and she woke up knowing that someone must have taken advantage of her.  Her dad has lost his job as town Sheriff.  All of this is revealed in the first episode of Veronica Mars, a story about a wise cracking, intelligent high school teenager, whose detective skills rival her father's.  The first season consists of a series of questions that the creator of the series slowly reveals as each episode has its own individual plot lines.  These questions consist of who: killed Veronica's friend; is Veronica somehow the half-sister of the guy who had formerly been her boyfriend; and what happened to Veronica on that fateful night when she was drugged and apparently raped.  All these answers end up to be unexpected things resulting in a final climax where Veronica's life is in danger and she proves that she needs other people more than she thinks.

Critical Review - I loved the idea that somehow a wise cracking teenage girl could be the lead of a television series.  Not only that, she rivaled any of the male counterparts in the genre, able to return quip for quip and still be the rival of any guy out there.  Whereas many may see this as an implausible series, I believe it does an excellent job of connecting to teens, and not so exclusive that an adult would not be able to find interest in the individual plot lines.  Rob Thomas does an excellent job of setting up the mystery from the beginning, allowing Veronica to tell the tale of her predicament through flashbacks.  This works well as it allows the past to have a kind of mystical quality, and also not allow the audience to be fully convinced that the past happened exactly the way that Veronica remembers it.  Slowly this past gets revealed in the present as Veronica must discover what happened before it is too late for those around her, and those she cares about.

Readers Annotation - Veronica has lost her friend, been drugged, and her dad is now out of a job as Sheriff.  It has been a very bad day.  But those who underestimate Veronica are doing so at their peril.

About the Author- Before he became the writer and creator for Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas had a football scholarship to Texas Christian University.  Upon leaving there he would get a job teaching High School Journalism.  Following that Thomas went to writing Young Adult novels which include Rats Saw God and Slave Day.  Eventually he would set his sights on bigger things, moving into the entertainment industry.

He never seemed to leave his love for creating and being involved with things for young adults.  He would become a writer on Dawson's Creek, dealing with high school and college drama and relationship issues.  He would get his big break when he created and wrote the show for Veronica Mars.  This series was about fast talking intelligent High School Students and the craziness that they could get into.  Unfortunately the series was cancelled in 2007 due to poor ratings.

Genre- Movies, Television, Drama

Curriculum Ties - Compare Veronica Mars as detective to past detectives like Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe and Sherlock Holmes.

Booktalking Ideas - N/A

Reading Level/Interest Age -Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - There is a heavy emphasis on relationship issues and sex that is involved in the series.  Furthermore there is a date rape drug given to the lead character and someone does have sex with her while she is on the drug.

Overcoming Challenge - Discuss the fact that despite the fact that there is a rape, it is a negative thing in the show.  Have information available on the date rape drug.  Discuss how it would allow them to discuss with their teens about the drug, and the consequences, and how easily it can be given at a party.

Why Included - I was hooked by this series when it came out in 2004 after one episode.  It did involve high school teenagers, specifically this one season.  Furthermore it had the grandson of Francis Capra, one of my favorite Hollywood directors of all time.

Clueless

Title - Clueless
Author- Jane Austen (Emma)/Amy Heckerling -Director
Publication Date : July 19, 1995

Plot - Amy Heckerling's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's Book Emma tells the story of Cher(Alicia Silverstone), a High School student in Beverly Hills who decides to take a social interest in a girl, Tai(Brittany Murphy), who would not normally be considered in her Social Circle.  Through her machinations she ends up convincing the girl that she is really interested in Elton( Jeremy Sisto). This does not work itself out as she eventually finds that Elton's interests are more in Cher herself.  All of which brings us back to the person of Cher, who comes to realize that sometimes the life that you should be most involved with is your own, as when you step away from getting involves in the lives of others, things do tend to work themselves out, for them, and for yourself.

Critical Review - Amy Heckerling does a creditable job of adapting the work of Emma to the big screen and giving it a teenage sensibility.  Although maybe Heckerling did not have to stretch that far to confer upon high school students that kind of Characters that Austen had envisioned with Emma.  You have the social outcasts, as well as the people misconstruing intentions, and gossip abounding in a small little community.  This would seem to fit perfectly into the high school atmosphere.  The pace is light hearted and fun.. and Cher finds her own Mr. Knightly in the end, or as Cher would put it, her own Baldwin.

Reader's (Watcher's) Annotation - Sometimes the life that you try to save, will ultimately be your own.  Cher, in attempting to fix everyone else' life finds that her own is in a fix, and she just might lose the person she loves, to the person she tried to help.  Can she fix things in time?

Information about the Author - Jane Austen lived the vast majority of her life on the fringes of the English gentry, giving her the perfect place with which both to view and critique the manners and mannerisms of the English social set.  These societies seemed to have their own set of rules that they thought were OK to follow.  What sets Austen apart is her biting social commentary and a keen understanding of human nature and the foibles that one may get into when trying to do the right thing for the wrong reasons, or vise versa.  Much of her novelizations are commentaries about class structure, and the importance of love and family.

Amy Heckerling has been a box office darling and one of the few successful female directors in the business.  Like Austen herself, she has had to face a industry dominated by men, but through her wit and charm and an understanding of human nature has been able to make herself a success in her chosen profession.  She has directed such hits as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Look Who's Talking, and Clueless, two of which have spawned TV series as result.

Genre - Movies, Comedy

Curriculum Ties - Discuss film adaptations of English literature - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Do a combined study of Emma for a book talk and have a showing of Clueless at the Library.  One might also do a double feature with a film adaptation of Emma to compare it to.

Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - I suppose aside from my love of Jane Austen and including another teen movie adaptation, there might be a side of me who is subtly paying homage to some of the former teen actors who have recently passed away i.e. Brittany Murphy.

Ten Things I hate About You

Title - Ten Things I Hate About You
Author - Shakespeare(Taming of the Shrew)/Gil Junger
Production Date  - March 31, 1999

Plot - A retelling of the classic Shakespeare Play "The Taming of the Shrew," 10 Things I Hate About You, tries to tell the story to a younger, more modern teenage Audience.  Heath Ledger plays Patrick Verona, the Petruccio character of the play, coming into Padua high school, upsetting the social scene as he plays the rebel who will try to woo and win the fair, but shrewish, Katarina's heart.  Of course it is not as simple as all of that, as there are schemes and plots hiding underneath the surface, as with the regular play.  There is also another sister to be wooed, and her apparent interest in another person from the beginning.  Manipulations, double crosses, and hi jinx abound as the more modern look at teenage promiscuity and alcohol abuse is viewed.  The one large lack from the stage play seems to be the ending where Katherine in the play confounds her audience by telling others why it is great and essential not to be a shrewish bride.  It was an interesting point in Shakespeare's play that would have been difficult to adapt to modern sensitivities.  Finally, as Padua High, all is well that ends well.  Padua (Heath Ledger) gets Katarina(Julia Stiles), and Bianca(Larisa Oleynik)  is somewhat chastened and learns that sometimes the brightest love and best love may not always come in the shiniest package.

Critical Review - Despite some of the trivializing of the Shakespearean Play, with comedic turns where Petruccio breaks out into song on a football field to win Katarinas affections, and the seemingly limited content where in the play Petruccio spends time trying to break the spirit of his bride, 10 Things I Hate About You does a creditable job of trying to update the Shakespearean play for the modern teen.  While any adaptation of a play is subject to the interpretation of the director, 10 Things does a creditable job of trying to update the themes for the audience.  As there is a little more sympathy to the plight of the girls than their might have been in Shakespeare's day, the girls are having to develop their own thoughts and feelings about the world, and not having the men dictate it to them.   One might even argue that Padua is the one who is actually broken by the end of the movie, going from outsider bad boy, to tenderhearted soul.

Readers Annotation - Padua High is up for a revamping, as the classic Shakespearean Tale of Taming of the Shrew gets a high school face lift.  While not a brand new pair of breasts, Junger takes his audience on a ride of relationships, and a true understanding of love.  For when you love something, you have to be able to let it go.

--Author Information--
Shakespeare was a 16th century playwright, of which much is said and much is debated.  What is not debated is that the person known as Shakespeare was credited with some of the most complex and amazing literature ever written in the English language, with complex and basic themes.  He understood the heights and depths of human character and emotion, and his literature put that on full display.

Gil Junger is ironically known for his directorial debut, 10 Things I Hate About You.  He works for Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary of the Disney Corporation.

Genre - Comedy, Films

Curriculum Ideas - Adaptations of Shakespeare in Film - Literature
What Makes a Comedy(Does it always end in Marriage)? - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Adaptations - How does one go about adapting something to the stage or screen?  What does one cut out?  What does one include?

Reading(Watching) Level - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - There is some teen partying and drug use.

Overcoming Challenge - The movie is a reflection of today's teen culture.  People who do those things such as abuse alcohol or sex, are punished or shown in a bad light

Why Included - This is one of my favorite modern Shakespeare adaptations, and perfect as it is directed at a teen audience.  Also, I  miss Heath Ledger as an actor.