sagawizard ([info]sagawizard) wrote,
@ 2008-09-17 08:29:00
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A new record
Wow. I taught a lesson on Catcher in the Rye today that, over the course of 58 minutes, included Simon & Garfunkel's "I am a rock" and episode#2 of Doctor Horrible.

You cannot say I am not trying with these kids!

- SW

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[info]tonysalieri
2008-09-17 03:13 pm UTC (link)
Okay, I guess on the first, but I want to hear exactly what you did with Dr. Horrible! :)

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[info]sagawizard
2008-09-24 01:03 am UTC (link)
Okay, I guess on the first, but I want to hear exactly what you did with Dr. Horrible! :)

The parallels are nigh-infinite!

Each protagonist (Horrible and Holden) is someone whom society considers a misfit, and who in turn hates society. Yet both are strangely sympathetic in a pitiable sort of way, because 1) we get things from their point of view, 2) we see they're nice guys at heart, just disturbed and angry and 3) ironically, the architects of their own troubles, if only they could see it.

Both young men claim to be iconoclasts, yet both desperately seek the approval of others.

Both are also more sympathetic by dint of the fact that the characters society finds "admirable" in each story (Captain Hammer, Stradlater the jock) are phonies, and only the protagonist can see it. Nevertheless, the phonies get the girl, in both cases (Hammer gets Penny, Stradlater gets Jane). In each case, the protagonist is SMARTER and more INCISIVE than most people, yet agonizingly it doesn't help them, because most people seem to WANT to be fooled by the phoniness. Some of Dr. Horrible's lines to that effect are almost word for word Holden's lines. But this is so common a theme that I doubt JW had Catcher specifically in mind.

The endings, of course, differ, although Holden *almost* commits suicide, and Dr. Horrible in effect has killed the good in himself. But that parallel's kind of thin.

Point is, there was enough there for the kids, I hope, to see that Catcher's themes are universal, and furthermore we used Dr. Horrible as the basis for our practice essay before we write the real one on Catcher.

I don't think I will ever be the "cool" teacher, nor do I want to be, but dammit, I gotta infuse this stuff with some of "me" or the magic just doesn't work. Very Mage-like in that way - teaching is not about rotes, it's about willworking...

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[info]tonysalieri
2008-09-24 01:30 am UTC (link)
Wow! That's pretty damn cool though .I hope the little bastards appreciated the effort ;-)

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