School Ties
Explain two of the main ideas/themes revealed in the film you have studied and show how these have been conveyed
“…and the meek shall inherit the earth.”
“I wonder how meek they’ll be when they do, sir.”
In this conversation between David Greene, an isolated Jew and Dr Bartram, headmaster of an exclusive Christian school we can see the conflict between the two religious traditions. Christianity teaches that one should ‘turn the other cheek’. The Jewish student points out that when the meek do inherit the earth they will be corrupted with power. School Ties by Robert Mandel deals with the theme of alienation or social and cultural isolation and how it could eventually lead to prejudice of all sorts, especially racial or cultural. Robert Mandel establishes these two key themes through shot selection and composition, dialogue, setting and sound.
Clever choice of shots is vital to conveying the themes. For instance during the chapel scene where the students are singing the a Christian hymn, the camera tilts, shows a long shot and tracks along all the students singing in unity and all looking alike. However the camera stops once David enters the frame and centres him to focus on his facial expressions of bemusement and blankness. This contrasts David with all the other students and staff as the ‘odd one out’ and we can empathise David’s feeling of isolation being the lone Jew among a sea of devout Christians. An interesting composition is made during the first classroom scene. David is shown sitting in the back corner of the room wearing a colour scheme darker than all the other students. This symbolises that David is still yet to fit in and is still ‘locked away’ from everyone else. A reaction shot of David is used every time someone makes an anti-Semitic comment. Such as the ‘smoky Joe’s café’ scene where after McGivern’s comment, “I jewed them down to thirty [bucks],” and McGoo’s comment, “and he’s not even Jewish,” we see two reaction shots of David’s
“…and the meek shall inherit the earth.”
“I wonder how meek they’ll be when they do, sir.”
In this conversation between David Greene, an isolated Jew and Dr Bartram, headmaster of an exclusive Christian school we can see the conflict between the two religious traditions. Christianity teaches that one should ‘turn the other cheek’. The Jewish student points out that when the meek do inherit the earth they will be corrupted with power. School Ties by Robert Mandel deals with the theme of alienation or social and cultural isolation and how it could eventually lead to prejudice of all sorts, especially racial or cultural. Robert Mandel establishes these two key themes through shot selection and composition, dialogue, setting and sound.
Clever choice of shots is vital to conveying the themes. For instance during the chapel scene where the students are singing the a Christian hymn, the camera tilts, shows a long shot and tracks along all the students singing in unity and all looking alike. However the camera stops once David enters the frame and centres him to focus on his facial expressions of bemusement and blankness. This contrasts David with all the other students and staff as the ‘odd one out’ and we can empathise David’s feeling of isolation being the lone Jew among a sea of devout Christians. An interesting composition is made during the first classroom scene. David is shown sitting in the back corner of the room wearing a colour scheme darker than all the other students. This symbolises that David is still yet to fit in and is still ‘locked away’ from everyone else. A reaction shot of David is used every time someone makes an anti-Semitic comment. Such as the ‘smoky Joe’s café’ scene where after McGivern’s comment, “I jewed them down to thirty [bucks],” and McGoo’s comment, “and he’s not even Jewish,” we see two reaction shots of David’s