MovieChat Forums > Oleanna (1994) Discussion > Great movie but some points need address...

Great movie but some points need addressing

posted 11 years ago by vkartikv
3 replies | jump to latest

As a professor myself, I can sympathise with much of what is happening with both characters in the movie, even though a lot of Carol's actions are over-the-top. I have never encountered a student like her but there have been some who have misconstrued things I have said in class to give a poor evaluation or hold a grudge. Things you say in class in an offhand manner can come back to bite you, believe me! In my experience:

1. Students who have a problem with a professor rarely talk to the actual professor about it - they complain to the dept. head or another professor.

2. Students who have already filed a complaint rarely go back and interact with the professor they have complained against.

3. A professor who has been accused of the things Macy is being accused of will rarely, if ever, invite the student making the accusation to his office in the absence of a superior or colleague.

4. Interacting with the students by sharing non-scholarly experiences with them actually makes them feel more engaged. Students have told me they like professors who take time to talk to them about things other than academics and make them feel more comfortable and also show their human side. So I don't think Macy was misusing his power when he talks about his house and difficulties.

5. I don't know of any student who would ask the professor personal questions about his phone conversations or follow them around when they go off to another room to have a private phone conversation - it leads me to believe she was out right from the beginning to lay a trap for him.

I invite intelligent, non-abusive comments and thoughts about these points.

[–] jon-gwynne 11 years ago

1. You're probably right but I think the implication here was that the student is out to get the professor - maybe not from the very beginning but certain when she started talking about her "group".

2. Unless they have a larger agenda... see above.

3. Yes. That's the biggest part of the problem I had with the story. Once she had filed the complaint, it was very unwise of the Professor to be alone in a room with her. The only thing I can think of is that she had told him that she would consider dropping her charges against him if he agreed to meet her in private. Still, if I was in his situation I would never have agreed to do something like that.

4. I agree. I think Mamet's point in the play/movie was to make it clear that it is possible for two people to have entirely different reactions to the same set of circumstances and have both of them be right.

5. I believe you're right that she was intending to trap him - maybe not from the very beginning but later on.

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Fox "News": We lie, you panic!

[–] The_TJT 9 years ago

5. You're probably right. She also lists some "crimes" from the professor during the whole semester. It also appeared to me that in their first conversation her level of English and understanding of him was much worse than later on... in other words she was pretending to be something she wasn't and aimed to make notes to entrap her professor.

As a side note I think professor could have made a case about false accusations/motives in court etc with that list of books the student wanted off the curriculum. After all that demand proved that the complaints/accusations were likely not about prof's misbehaviour but about something entirely different - and thus also probably false or invented. I sort of felt at that point that now prof "had" her. Or maybe Mamet shot in his own foot there.
...Sort of similar thing with her coming to see him after filing rape (or battery) charges; unlikely to happen if the charges were real... that could be used as a cause for reasonable doubt.

[–] The_TJT 9 years ago

Thinking this further it seems implausible that she was able to "entrap" him... as if she would have known beforehand that the professor will start lecturing to her about his philosophy etc.

That is sort of similar lack of credibility of the plot which Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner" has, which I watched yesterday. The Spanish Prisoner is filled with loopholes... yet it, too, is rather compelling film.

I'm tempted to change my rating from 8 to 7 because of logical inconsistency...