Who do you side with?

I think Jean Brodie was right to make the girls challenge all the preconceived ideas that they had. But I think perhaps she was a bit deluded or naive. Sandy could see through her. It's tricky. I guess I side with Jean, because I really can't condone Sandy's actions, "putting a stop" to Jean.

I believe the point is that you need not take sides. In the commentary, director Neame sums it up. His characters are not black and white, they are gray, just like real people.

I don't think one can easily side with either of them. Ms. Brodie is supportive of fascism, and she encourages a cult of personality among her girls. On the other hand, the main reason Sandy rats her out (in the book at least) is that she feels under-appreciated by Ms. Brodie and because of her jealousy over Teddy. Neither of these are particularly admirable.

I thought this movie was just great. I was expecting a "To Sir with Love" type of film- boy was I surprised.

Jean Brodie is very wrong to use the girls the way she does. Through them, she lives her unfulfilled dreams and doesn't seem to care about the consequences of that in their lives. He pushes the art teacher to have sex with that one underaged blonde girl, and sends one girl to a war in which she dies. She is also wrong to preach her wacky politics in class.

That said, I also do not condone the actions of Sandy. Sandy has realized how destructive Miss Brodie can be- but there were other ways to deal with it than destroying her life and having her removed from the school.

Like the director said, shades of gray, which you don't often see in mainstream movies these days. I loved it.

I sided with Jean but this was principally from being against Sandy who from the film's beginning seems to be unrealistically precocious and against her teacher. My impression was that Sandy is in competition with Jean as if she were her peer.

From the way this movie, not the novel, portrayed Sandy, I don't think she would have become a nun afterward. She thinks she has "won" by having an affair with the man Jean lusts after, causing the students to distrust their teacher and finally getting her fired.

To me, the movie contradicts itself in having Sandy's eyes tearing-up in her final scene. Sandy is well on her way to becoming as narcissistic as Jean and would have next caused havoc for Teddy in his marriage and employment. This "movie Sandy" is hardly the type that would desire the shelter of a nunnery like she does in the novel. I think the director saw this and that is why he edited those scenes from the film.

I just finished watching this movie and I agree with most of those who say that there are, indeed, shades of gray here. As a teacher I at first found her methods interesting, then I tended to wonder at all. One of the first things I noticed was that she teaches about art, but this is a distraction from what she should be teaching, history. It is later assumed that they do learn some history.

I do think Brodie is a very complex person. She presents a very confident and strong side to her students, for good or bad, but also illustrates the realities of life in her own life as well. She is the prime example of a teacher that could be admired and emulated, and then as a student we ever wonder why we followed this person at all. Usually, its several years after and not during the same term as in the movie. While I do not excuse her politics, I see the admiration for them. Indeed, in the 1930s, it looked like western democracy could not solve the problems of the Great Depression in the US and in Western Europe. It was not entirely clear at the time that this was all smoke and mirrors. Some of the most famous leaders in the world, King Edward VIII to name one, were taken in by the facists. They offered results. All the more reason we must beware of the simple solutions. Hence, it is no real surprise that Brodie comes out as a supporter for Franco and Mussolini. She teaches at an upper class school for aristocrats who were supporters of the same. Its only years later that clear lines are drawn. Again, not a defense but an explanation.

I do think that the "dangerous" aspects are really overrated. I do think that she was very impressionable and has a great presence, so much so that refused to resign when given the chance and the head mistress is shocked. And when it comes down to it, this is a picture of a different time. In today's world, so what!! I knew in 1979, that my 5th grade teacher was having an affair with another teacher. She did not flaunt it however. And the fact that some child wrote it down in some musings shows that the head mistress would use anything to get rid of her.

In the end, I think we see Sandy for what she is, not an adult yet, but becoming one. She sees Brodie as sending off Mary to her death. I say ok, she might have encouraged her or made an impression, but it was Mary who made the decision to go off and fight in Spain. At some point, personal responsibility had to come into the picture. What is wrong with teaching children to have a cause to stand for? Even it's not my cause? I do think that Sandy ruined a career of a teacher because of the petty fact that the art teacher would not have an affair with her and painted her like Brodie. Brodie herself called off the affair, because she knew it was wrong for her. I think that that shows human and moral mistakes. She knew it was wrong and worked to make sure that she would not get involved again. At the same time, Sandy is naive in some of her thinking, as well as Brodie. Sandy is naive in that she thinks she is getting back at Brodie for a failed love affair. I think the death of Mary was only an excuse. Brodie may also be naive in that she doesn't understand that her impressionability and ideas makes these young girls think in certain ways. I do think that Brodie needed to be reigned in a bit, but I do not think she deserved to be dismissed for her naivete. As other have said, its a gray area, and, after all, is life. Life is not black and white. The decisions we make are not always that easy.

I thought that they were both being petty, and that the stakes weren't worth the confrontation (although it must have seemed differently to them, at the time.)

One-upmanship over a love rival is just simpering at any age, and whatever Miss Brodie's politics, she can hardly be blamed for Mary McGregor's decision to get involved in war - teachers are there to inspire, but even as a teenager, if you're not intelligent enough to separate a bad decision from a good one, then the consequences should still rest on your head... Call it stupidity thinning the herd!

How I feel is cynical, but I still think it's true... All of the characters were architects of their own destiny - something every good mentor should instil a sense of, in their students - and so the things that happened on both sides were just.






I've been in love! Just 'cos I've never been to Zimbabwe to buy someone a cake!

What I'd like to know is, what sane person would think it's appropriate to set up an under aged girl with a teacher, who is married with children to boot??? Top that with the death of Mary and her crazy political indoctrination, there should be no other option than to get her out of the school!! Doesn't even matter how you dissect Sandy's motives, she was a victim and ultimately right to report these matters to the authorities. This reminds me of how cool parents who let teenagers drink and do drugs in their home may seem until someone gets hurt or killed. They will certainly be held accountable in a court of law too.