2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
Educating Rita
ReplyDelete1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?
She changes from someone with no knowledge and into a educated woman.
But even though she is changing into a more educated woman, she has the same personality and still swears a lot
Education is important for her because she feels like she is finding herself
She changed her entire perception of literature.
2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.
He changes a lot after getting to know Rita, and becomes more free and relaxed.
He starts to become very fond of Rita, and is a little sad when she doesn’t confide in him when she changes her job without telling him. After his wife leaves him for another man, he becomes angrier and doesn’t realize his own talent.
At the end he realizes the change that Rita has had on him, and is grateful towards her.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
When he realizes that he has failed as a poet, he means with this that he has tried too hard to be something he isn’t, and have forgotten what he is good at.
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
There is a big difference between the educated and the non-educated. The non-educated is seen as stupid and spend their time at pups. While the educated people are more posh and talks about intellectual subjects.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
Its is in a theme on language and power, because this film shows how huge an influence language and written words can have on people. There is a certain power behind language, which also shows in this movie
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
If you compare ‘’educating Rita’’ with ‘’Pygmalion’’, you see the same types of people though from different aspects. In ‘’Pygmalion’’ the woman who speaks poorly English can be compared to Rita, though Rita can talk English, they both have a need of being more educated. Frank and the man can also be compared because they are both well-educated and speaks and writes very well. They also both educate the two women.
Mie Nikolajsen
Mia Mortensen
ReplyDelete1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?
Rita changes her hair, clothes and the way she speaks. She stops smoking. She changes her job. She becomes one of the students - popular - They come to her for advices.
She still comes with her fun comments even though she changed
She is very eager to learn and want to learn more and more
She wants to find herself. She wants to be serious. Going to the university makes her feel alive.
2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.
Frank likes Rita from the start and she makes him happier. This changes though. When she comes home from summer school he thinks she has changed too much and start to drink more. He likes the old Rita better than the new “Susan”.
He drinks to calm down.
He likes Rita and want to fulfill her wish about learning more.
He has many different feelings about the project - On one hand he wants her to learn more and change but on the other hand he doesn’t want her to change too much.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
Only lettered people understands his literature. He calls it worthless, talentless shit.
His classroom is more like a home than his actual home - he is there more than he is at home
Rita like his classroom, she feel comfortable there and she feel she can be herself
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
There is a big gap between the social classes.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
Rita changes her language from an uneducated to a lettered
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
Rita changes kind of like the way Eliza does. At some point they don’t feel like they belong anywhere in the society. They both want to be more educated and to move on with their life.
Tracy, Dennis & William:
ReplyDeleteEducating Rita
1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?
Rita has an innocent, open mind. She is hungry for education and she wants to change.
The most significant change affecting Rita, is the confidence she gains from Frank, which blossoms at the summer school.
She becomes Susan, who enjoys literary criticism, partying and meddling with interesting people. What never changes is her peculiar dialect.
2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.
To begin with he considers Rita his protégé, but quickly he grows very fond of her character. As her knowledge increases, her values begin to change in order to assimilate herself with the fine folks. ¨
It becomes plain that he adored her for being herself, and that he despises the pretentious important things of the upper class, which is why he becomes hurt once Rita changes into Susan.
Once he realizes how his efforts, however well meant they intended to be, only served to ruin Rita, he begins spiraling down the mortal coil, mainly through alcohol-abuse and obscene behavior, which serves to burden his academic carrier.
Finally he consoles with Rita, who on her own realized there was a golden middle way between pompous aristocracy and peasantslike working class, to great pleasure for Frank. This allows him to part abroad with a peaceful mind.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
Frank has been focused on writing literature because he feels like it is something he should be able to do, but maybe he doesn’t really want to, while his personal life is a mess and he is drinking.
Franks perception of his class doesn’t change much; he is drunk when teaching them in the beginning of the movie, and again near the end.
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
There seems to be a clear distinction between the working class, from which Rita climbs out of, where family relations and baby-makings are of great importance, and the lettered people who would simply die without Mahler and poetry.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
Rita dosen’t change the way she pronounces words, but the more educated she gets, her vocabulary increases.
When she talks with the low class dialect, she has no credibility as an academic. You don’t think that she belongs in a university. When she changes, she also change the way she speaks. Then she doesn’t feel that she can communicate with the people where she comes from. This shows the power of language.
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
Like Eliza, Rita has difficulties adjusting to the new world she has been introduced into. There is also a brief period in which she is caught in-between the two classes and becomes alienated with both of these, unable to return to her family and not quite compatible with the academics.
Sebastian
ReplyDeleteEducating Rita
1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?
Rita wants to be taken serious, which he tells Frank after she changes her mind about showing up at his party. She sees education as an opportunity to get out of her usual habits, and the “chains” that she feels keeps her bound in place. She wants to “Sing better songs” to prove that she has what it takes to be an educated person.
She also learns how to ignore what people think about her and starts asking questions to get more and more knowledge. Her knowledge grows so much that the other students at the school invite her in to discuss.
2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this project.
Frank starts off as a bit of a grumpy teacher. He also drinks quite a bit and shows up at lectures tipsy/drunk. When Rita shows up at his room and he starts lecturing her, he starts to enjoy her company, but then he realizes that he might have done something wrong by changing such a unique character.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Franks classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
Frank is tired of all the educated people around him, and that only they read literature. This is also why he keeps telling Rita “Don’t change”. Frank does not want Rita to change because that would be like creating an illusion of a person that is not her. He is actually envious of Rita since she had a personality before she came, but after she learned more and more she slowly threw her true personality away.
The classroom is a horrible place for Frank, because he’s sick of all the fake facades that he thinks that he is part of creating.
Rita on the other hand sees the classroom as an opportunity to do better.
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
The social classes are clearly illustrated through the dialects of the people. Rita and her boyfriend both speak with dialects that most people connect with lower class people. The higher class on the other hand speak with a “proper” English accent.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
“Language of Power” is not only the spoken language. Language is just as much the way you express yourself self with letters and words. Rita develops her language through her essays. Her first essays are not good enough for Frank, who keeps telling her she has to do better. Rita listens to this and keeps writing better and better essays.
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
Like Zadie Smith writes about in her essay, “Educating Rita” has the same theme. They are both trying to show how being educated and having knowledge is not always a good thing. Zadie Smith writes about how you might lose your personality if you try to change yourself. This is what happens to Rita.
1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?
ReplyDeleteRita is from the lower class in London (I think) and has never really got an education. But now she wants one, she wants to change her life and herself. She changes her outside totally, and she gets smarter (letterd) but I believe she stays the same on the inside. In the start Rita is not the best student, she has kind of a workingproblem. But as the year goes, she gets better, cause she realizes how important this is, and that she has to do it if she wants her exam. To her lettered people are the smart ones, those who become someone/something in life. Rita wants to develop to be someone, change who she is.
2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.
Frank goes from being Ritas teacher, to be Ritas friend. He stays an alcoholic. He really likes Ritas points of view, how a not lettered person sees things. In the start he does not know if he wants to do it, but then he becomes addicted to her. And when Rita starts to confront him, he gets mad! Stupid man..
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?
he means that those who are not lettered cannot understand what he writes.
I do not know…
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?
there is a wide distance. And the different classes has very different cultures.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?
Because it shows how Rita goes from this lower middleclass society, to the upper class. Just because she becomes lettered and knows how to use her language.
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay
I thinks it is very much like Pygmalion, just not as rough…
Educating Rita 1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated? Rita changes her literature intellect, she does not change on her point of view but expands her knowledge. Literature signify her personality and helps her to find herself. She wants to 'sing A new song'
ReplyDelete2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”. Frank becomes freer and open minded. He does not change from his bad habits but he learns from Rita (Susan) she teach him to be more open and not to Think That there’s only one explanation. He begins to love her, respect her and take her opinion serious.
3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change? He has tried too hard to become something that he isn’t, and have forgotten what he is good at.
4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes? Like in Denmark, we have lower, middle and upper classes. Frank is from the upper classes, while Rita (Susan) is from the middleclass. After Franks divorce, he quits writing literature, starts drinking and live like A person from the social middleclass.
5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power? Language is a powerful thing to have. With language you can go very far, you don’t need a particular smart thing to say, as long as the accent and the pronunciation is perfect.
6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay. Eliza in Pygmalion is A Harder example Than Rita, but They are both either in the lower class or middle class. And it is possible to change which happen in the end of both movies.
Maria, Rasmus and Annemette.
Allerman
ReplyDelete1.
She changes in the way, which she does not fit in anywhere. She is too free spirited to fit in with the higher class, but she becomes too educated to fit in with her normal "crew".
She doesn't lose her free spirit, and basically she is still the same person, just with a higher education.
She wants an education, because she wants more out of life, than a husband and a baby.
2.
Frank gets something to believe in, Rita, but he is still a drunk. It is very important for him to educate Rita, because she is his reason to go on, she gives him a reason to get up in the morning.
3.
4.
Lower class: They use a lot of slang, they use time in the pub, and they are bound to a lot of traditions, like getting pregnant almost as soon as you get married if not before.
Higher class: They speak proper English; they have social events with the finer things like good vine and finer food.
5.
It shows highly educated people speaking correctly, and then the people in the lower classes uses a lot of slang. Rita is the exception that proves the rule, she is from the lower class and her language is a result of that, but she gets a proper education, becomes smarter and does no longer really belong in the lower class.
6.
It is similar to Pygmalion in the way, which is about a professor teaching a young woman. But in Pygmalion he teachers her proper English, and in Teaching Rita the professor is giving her an education.
Amir
ReplyDeleteHer educating gives her a more balanced view of the world, and makes her able to choose what she wants to do. It opens up a much wider range of possibilities then she has never experienced, it has given her the ability to look back and reflect o her old life because she now knows that there are other alternatives. Some of the changes Rita makes is that she realize that she isn’t dependent of her boyfriend and his “old school” way of living and becomes independent.
Frank is a clever man, but he is also lonely, bitter and sad. He doesn’t find much joy in his live as a professor and seems like that the life can’t give him any new happiness. Rita changes Frank. When Rita enters Frank’s office, it like that all the things Frank had missed for the last 20-30 years has now entered his life. She is young, sparkling and different from the people he usually is surrounded by. He recognize some of the same spirit in her to get educated and get knowledge, like the spirit he had earlier when he entered the university believing that he, could live his life in the works of poets and literature.
The impression of the different social classes in the society is that in the lower class, the working class, is where the men expects the women to stay home and raise the children. There aren’t many opportunities in that social class and you can’t really be different from the other people of her class. The upper classes have more power, opportunities, and more choices. By educating they escape from the social class to achieve more in life and no to be trapped in the social class, overall the education is a way of change the lifestyle.
The film deals with England’s class system, the concept of freedom, accents, and identity, to change the lifestyle, the opportunities of educating and the nature of self-development. Also personal relationships.
Susanne
ReplyDelete1.
At the beginning of the film Rita is a “colored” person, you can tell it in the way she dresses and how she speaks this “lower class” English which I in fact find rather charming, however, that is beside the point. She is extremely eager in order to learn new things. And she is unbelievable chatty almost annoying which we can see in the way that her tutor reacts. She changes neither her dressing nor her language in fact it seems like she is joking at first but as we go further she is beginning to take things seriously. Suddenly she has opened the door to a whole new world of literature and she wants to learn more and more. She wants to become more than a hairdresser to get an education and of course learn to speak like lettered people do. Unfortunately a very important brick of the puzzle is missing. Rita does not have any kind of support from her surroundings especially her husband. The only thing he thinks about is to get sacked up with a bunch of kids. His opinion about education does not match his idea of life in fact he has a restrictive effect on Rita. As Rita becomes more and more educated her personality changes. Again we can tell it by the way she dresses and also her language has become more correct. She has become more serious and she is very concerned about Frank’s alcoholic tendencies. All of a sudden she seems a lot older than she really is as if live has become new dimensions which it has. Unfortunately the new Rita is only a shadow of the old Rita. She doesn’t belong anywhere she is caught in the in between. She is an educated young woman but she doesn’t give the impression that she is happy rather lonely and how will she use all these new skills?
2.
Frank is a very serious man at the beginning and very serious in the way that he teaches. But his acquaintance with Rita makes him loosing up a little and gives the feeling of youth back. Rita and Frank have a positive effect on each other. She is eager to learn and he is eager to teach. The Rita project is important to Frank because it gives him a kind of kick, to watch her grow. It is like Rita gives him a reason to live. Frank actually has a wife but they are kind of living separate lives, he is lonely at the university and the wife is fooling around with another man so in fact we cannot describe their marriage as a relationship anymore. Based on these facts it only becomes natural that Frank develop feelings towards Rita who is young and full of life. More important, she offers him attention even cares for him. Several times during the film she tells him to stop drinking. As Rita becomes more and more independent, he slowly returns to his old habit, the bottle. He doesn’t care about anything nor the consequences attached to his drinking problems. As Frank’s project reaches the end he becomes frustrated. He has given Rita the tools and the education to communicate with lettered people, end of story. Somehow Rita and Frank are attached, not only as teacher and student but they could in fact have been lovers. We can ask ourselves why it didn’t come to that. The answer is simple the man is twice her age. He is old enough to be her father, judging from his look.
3.
Frank has lost the ability to think straight, he is stuck at the university in his office. Day in and day out he is sitting in his chair feeling sorry for himself drowning his sorrows. He has lost the capability to get inspiration for his writing.
Rita discovered during summer class that the classroom and the tutor was not the enemy. Her eagerness to learn becomes quite clear, especially from the lecture scene where everybody except Rita, dare to ask a lot of questions.
When Rita returns, she brings Frank a present. Rita gives Frank a pen with an inscription so he can get inspiration to write poems again.
Susanne
ReplyDelete4.
The picture and difference between lettered people and ordinary people leaves no doubt. You can tell it in the way they define amusement and if you listen to their choice of music played in the film. For example, the dinner situation at the beginning of the film, the incidental music is a piece of classical music, the theme from Elvira Madigan. At the bar the music is from a different world, typical bar music which allows the audience/the guests to sing along. You do not practice that kind of entertainment when listening to classical music. Looking at The pictures from Rita’s neighbourhood and the pictures from Frank’s neighbourhood , you can really tell the difference between rich and poor/ordinary people from the looks of their houses, drinking habits and educations. In Rita’s case it’s a culmination of two worlds.
Celina
ReplyDelete1. - At first, Rita does not understand the concept of which she is supposed to write her assignments. As she sees it she writes it. After a while of studying with Frank she has to go to summer school, which begins to change her. Also her boyfriend leaves her and she moves in with Trish, and along all these events she starts changing. For one thing her accent becomes less significant, she changes her style of clothing and she quits her job as a hairdresser to become a waitress. Along with this she begins socializing with students, which she was afraid to do before, and she becomes much more confident within herself. Also she quits smoking and she begins to distance herself from Frank, who I believe she associated as being like herself before she started studying, and she begins to judge her. In the beginning of the movie she says something along the lines of “Most people stopped smoking now. They’re afraid of cancer. Those hypocrites”, but as I mentioned earlier she herself quits smoking in the end of the movie which indicates quite a big change of heart.
To Rita education signifies being smart thus she wants to be educated. Furthermore it seems that in the beginning she believes that if you are educated your life will somehow function better than if you are not, especially considering she continuously uses the phrase “I want to find myself first” when she talks about why she is studying literature.
In the very end of the movie she thanks Frank for teaching her because he has given her a choice to be who she wants to be since she has now learned to be critical in a more educated way than she had before.
Celina
ReplyDelete2. - At first Frank is only a teacher to afford his drinking which is obvious in his attendance in class as well as his attitude towards his students. This is especially shown when he meets Rita at first when he dismisses her. When she is persistent it is obvious he begins to find her interesting and he begins being much more interested in tutoring her as well as in his other classes, and he doesn’t drink as much as he used to. This is especially shown on the day that Rita returns from summer school as he shows up at school before his classes, surprising the administrator. This is partly because Frank is starting to have feelings for Rita, and also because he finds her interesting. He is at first reluctant to help Rita because he is afraid it will change her but at last he agrees, and I believe he at that point already had feelings for her since he was afraid of changing her. However, when she returns from summer school Frank gets hurt. At first he had saved Blake for her and then finds out that she had already studied Blake at summer school, and somehow this gives him the feeling that she has cheated on him and on their relationship. He believes she has changed, and when he starts feeling like she is distancing herself from him he starts doing the same, thus leading him to start drinking more than he did before he met her and stop being interested in his classes. However, at the end he gets a two year “vacation” in Australia, and he asks her to go. After a conversation with Rita, where he asks her to come with him and she refuses, it seems that Frank is on his way to become better once again as he seems to have accepted his new relationship with Rita.
Celina
ReplyDelete3.
- Frank has tried too hard to write poem that is, if you analyze it, is correct. He asks Rita what she would have thought of it before she were taught all the right terms and she says she would not have understood it because she would not have been able to see all the allusions and other literate important things. This, Frank believes, means that he has failed as poetry should not have to be analyzed to be good but should be good even if you are not an educated person.
To Frank his classroom represents all the things he has come to loath, being taught how to think and to analyze literature when it should not be, while to Rita it represents being educated, and thus being smart, which are all the things she wants to be.
4.
- My impression of the British society is that there is a huge gap between the working class and the educated class. By this I mean that the working class has accents depending on where they come from and that they are not schooled and therefor do not know how to be critical toward a text or play except saying it is bullshit. Meanwhile it seems that the educated class only knows how to be critical in the way they are taught in school, meaning they are all the same since no one has their own opinions but all share the “correct” opinion.
Celina
ReplyDelete5.
- This movie is a story about a girl learning how to use the language in another way than she was taught at home, and this makes this movie very relevant to this theme. It shows us that while you may have to give some things up in order to become educated, such as your boyfriend/husband and the society in which you grew up, you can still keep some parts of yourself and choose which persona you wish to be. For example Rita says that at her exam she could have chosen to write “I’d play it on the radio” but instead she chose to do the educational correct thing.
6.
- In this movie Rita has both her previous persona, being the girl from the working class, and the educated persona, thus contradicting Zadie Smith’s essay that you lose some of your old persona if you choose to learn a new tongue. However, Zadie Smith does say that in the beginning she had both and that she eventually lost her old tongue and we do not know if Rita would eventually lose her old tongue, too, if she continued to socialize with educated people.