About 10 minutes into the first episode of the new FX show English Teachera childhood memory came rushing back…
I am 8 years old, and we watch ER like a family. Something happens on the screen—a gurney comes running as people in white lab coats cry—and in the midst of all the drama, I hear my father, who has spent half of his medical career in the emergency room, sigh loudly, “No, you can’t. do me that!” Although the father knew that this was all entertainment, he was overcome by a fear so close to his real experience that it was difficult for him for a moment to suspend his disbelief.
This is a different feeling that I had for about 10 minutes driving the driver English Teacher.
The series stars Brian Jordan Alvarez as Evan Marquez, a high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. Evan is dealing with the same daily grind that many of us do: trying to get kids to talk about “unreliable narrators” in a world full of fake news and different worldviews while dealing with hot topics and young people as they find their place in the world. the world. Oh, and someone needs to plan to come home.
While at first glance, the premise of the show is easy to compare to ABC Abbott Elementarya show that many teachers love, English Teacher it knows it’s on a different network (FX shows tend to go overboard with profanity and sexual imagery) and views the teaching profession through a very different lens.
The opening scene of the pilot focuses on the kiss Evan shares with his then-boyfriend and former teacher Malcolm. A parent complains about the kissing—described at one point as “tickling”—and Evan declares the apparent homophobia at play.
Then, after the kiss, we find out that it was more than just cooking. It actually involved Malcolm grabbing Evan’s behind … in front of a room full of students. It is an act, when done in front of children, that I argue is incredibly inappropriate, regardless of gender or shape.
And that’s when, as a father, I wanted to yell at the screen, “Oh, Evan, you can’t do it. that!”
I sat in this moment, trying to figure out why I struggled. It is a myth after all. Then, I realized that I had come to the show with unparalleled expectations. Since most of my adult life was as a real-life English teacher, I, perhaps unfairly, wanted the “English teacher” on TV to be one we could root for. I wanted a character that showed the best side of our struggles.
English Teacherhowever, he understands that a good teacher’s display may not be pleasant. Instead, it uses the premise to explore candid questions about navigating adulthood through the throes of adolescence. In doing so, the show repeatedly goes to unexpected places. English Teacher it navigates love conflicts, existential fears about the value of our work, LGBTQ+ issues, and even a moment of slapstick (Evan’s open-mouthed ball as he runs through camp made me laugh out loud) in an unexpected and, often, very funny way. The program, in its first three episodes, is less concerned with how teachers shape young minds and more about how to bring together people with this diversity of experiences, values, and ages in ways that are engaging, often strange, occasionally intense, and sometimes revealing. .
The program raises an interesting question: What, if any, responsibility does the piece have for the subjects it portrays?
Several teachers I spoke to found the show very funny, although there are those who feel that, in reaching for the punchline, the show is a representation of their daily struggles that misunderstands the deeper concept of care, sorrow, and joy. found in our work. In a world where teachers feel helpless, of course English TeacherDoes a flawed headteacher make it more difficult to focus teachers as a whole?
However, English Teacher it also brings up an important point about how we portray teachers in the media in general: They are usually decent, honest, endlessly generous, or they are problems who abuse their power. English Teacher looks at what it means to show the wide range of the teacher’s personality, as the main character rejects both extremes; instead, Evan is a young man grappling with all the volatile and complex situations adults face, like being attracted to a co-worker or forming occasionally uneasy friendships with people you’ve seen more than your family. He just has to deal with those problems while also trying to find children to take care of Love in the Time of Cholera—no matter how it starts—and help the football players prepare for the Powderpuff Game.
If you’re watching this show hoping to have a hero who’s a teacher you can stand behind for a bit, that’s not Evan. Evan believes he has deep principles, but he is not an infallible teacher. As a teacher, you are making the wrong choice (please check the background of your friends before inviting them to your school). However, he clearly cares deeply about his readers, from his textbook to his sincere desire to support them. Evan isn’t always honorable, and he’s never perfect, but I still fight for him, and I do English Teacher like that.