Klarinet Archive - Posting 000102.txt from 1996/02

From: John Blegen <blegen@-----.US>
Subj: Re: Mr. Holland: Insidious Propaganda
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 14:24:37 -0500

A few thoughts on Lorne Buick's attack:

Lorne asks whether he may have overstated his case against "Mr. Holland's
Opus," and I think he has. I am very sympathetic to his position -- as I
watched the end of the movie, I found myself wondering why Mr. Holland had
a problem if his former student had become Governor. On reflection, I
felt that there was a grain of truth in that "all politics are local," and
the former student who counted was the oaf on the school board. Unlike
Lorne, I don't feel that the film is "insidious propaganda" because of the
ending, and I don't feel that its message was that the demise of arts
programs is inevitable. I felt that the producers of the film stumbled
when they went for a feel-good ending without resolving the future of the
arts program at the high school, but I also felt that the overwhelming
message of the film was the value of the arts in education, the importance
of music to all of us, and the debt that all of us owe to our teachers.
Another part of the message is that arts programs are vulnerable. As I
turned the ending over in my head (really giving it more attention than it
deserves), it occurred to me that it was not unrealistic -- it's easier to
organize an outpouring of sentiment for an individual than to organize a
poltical movement to save an arts program. "We have done our best to save
the program," say the members of the School Board, and Holland replies,
"Well, your best is not good enough!" echoing the words his principal
addressed to him years before. Seems to me the door's open for a sequel
that shows how you organize to put the arts back in school.

Lorne's view is, I think, a bit unfair. Holland DOES fight for his
program. He loses, but he doesn't go quietly. We know enough about his
personality by the end of the film that his depression just before the
sappy ending could easily be the calm before another storm of activity.
Lorne is also unfair to Mr. Football:

> Does Mr Football ever speak out against arts cuts? Offer to take a
> reduction in his budget?

No, we don't see Mr. F. doing that, but earlier in the movie, he's the
one who comes up with a way to save the school show. Mr. F. is on the
whole a very sympathetic figure, but the film simply echoes reality when
it gives us a community that cares more about sports than music.

As for the ending, suppose the clarinetist Governor had alighted ex
machina, restored the funding for the program and THEN taken her chair in
the woodwind section to play Mr. H.'s piece. What message would that have
sent? "Wait for help from on high"? Maybe the ending is not so bad. For
me the film said these things: the arts are essential to our lives,
teaching the arts is a valuable profession, to contribute to the happiness
and enrichment of those around us is important, and, finally, the arts
will not be a part of the educational process if we don't fight.

OK, it's just a movie. But I believe it's the first time EVER that a
music educator has been the hero of a feature film, and that alone is pretty
remarkable.

John
*********************************************************************
John Blegen / Glenview Public Library / blegen@-----.us
1930 Glenview Rd. / Glenview, IL 60025 / (847) 729-7500, FAX 729-7682