Ep5 Positive Cinematic Spotlight of the Week: Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 - a podcast by Academy for Success

Welcome back, Wolf Pack! It's time to start the 2020-2021 school year. It's good to see coworkers in person again, and meet new friends.
Last year, I did the Positive Rock Lyric of the Week because last year, the district's theme was that we are rock stars. This year's theme, Lights, Camera, Action led to a reimagining of my positive emails. This year we will be looking at Positive Cinematic Spotlights. The positivity may come from the movie plot itself, the making of the movie, or the stories of the actors involved. If there are any movies, directors, or actors you would like in the spotlight, send me an email and I will see what I can do. However, there are some controversial elements of Hollywood productions and people which I will not be touching with a pole equal to twice a social distance.

So, this year we are starting off with 1994's Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction is a film with no shortage of questionable characters whom we should not admire or emulate. Sure, Jules has a little redemption arc, and Butch ends up seeing past his contentious relationship with Marsellus Wallace to come to his aid, but by and large, Pulp Fiction is filled with characters of poor moral fortitude making questionable decisions.

The positive inspiration, however, comes from Pulp Fiction writer and director, Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino dropped out of high school at the age of 15. Growing up, Tarantino worked in a movie rental establishment. He had great passion for movies and had watched most of the movies in his place of employment and had been writing movies since middle school. He noticed three common tropes in some of his favorite films: the boxer who's supposed to throw a fight, but doesn't, the gangster who's supposed to entertain the mob boss's wife, and the hitmen sent to kill someone.

Tarantino was starting to get work in Hollywood, getting critical acclaim for his independent film Reservoir Dogs. The script he wrote for Pulp Fiction was described as "the diary of a madman" by his typist. She also described Tarantino as having "atrocious handwriting", and described him as "functionally illiterate." She says, "I was averaging about 9,000 grammatical errors per page." Despite Tarantino's weaknesses, Pulp Fiction won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 1995 Academy Awards.

So, as we start out in the new world of virtual teaching, remember, it doesn't have to be pretty and refined, or meet the levels of experts in the field to be effective. Perfection does not guarantee success. After all, plenty of screenplays get written every year from college graduated writers who don't have their scripts made into movies, much less get described, as Roger Ebert labelled it, "the most influential film of the 1990s."

And as a post-script...when talking with students about their goals and dreams, remember dropout Tarantino. He was able to turn a passion into an award winning career despite his weaknesses. Someone's potential is not always limited to their performance in a classroom.
Thank you for being the best and for all that you do.

Extra Movie Trivia Moment: Pulp Fiction was struggling to get funding, until it was shown to Harvey Keitel. Keitel loved it and met with Tarantino. He asked the scriptwriter, “How’d you come to write this script? Did you live in a tough-guy neighborhood growing up?” Tarantino responded that he did not. He also explained no one in his family was connected to tough guys. Keitel then asked, “Well, How ...did you come to write this?’ And he said, ‘I watch movies.” Don’t underestimate second hand experiences. They can be rewarding and beneficial.
Thank you for being the best and for all that you do.
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