Given that I'm gay, from Yorkshire, and did Oxbridge you'd have thought this film would have blown me away. Sadly it didn't.
For a start, there were too many inaccuracies and things that just made no sense 1 It was set in Yorkshire in 1983. Why did no-one except Posner have a Yorkshire accent?? 2 Why were they applying for Oxbridge after their A-level results. Normally the system is that you apply through UCAS at least one year before you get your final A-Level results. I undertook Oxbridge lessons whilst still at school in the subjects I was going to be sitting Oxbridge exams in. They started off doing History but then branched off into French, Art, politics...I just didn't get why. 3. Why had they not considered Oxbridge (or even university in general!) , until results day? 4. What was so wrong with Durham, Manchester or Leeds? It depends on the course you want to do. I went to Durham because the course matched what I wanted to do in Languages (which wasn't offered at Oxbridge), so why did the school want to send everyone to Oxford without even considering other unis (or even Cambridge!) 5. What would the lads have done for a whole year after presumably getting into Oxford in late autumn...wait around for a whole year til courses started again in September? 6. Why does Irwin live in Horsforth (nw of Leeds) when the school is in Sheffield?? 7 If they only have a month to cram, why do they waste a whole day on a pointless field trip to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire? 8. If it is so important for the boys to make Oxford, why does the Headmaster entrust their teaching to a probationary supply teacher. Oxbridge lessons are usually with heads of departments who have taught you previously and know your strengths/ weaknesses 9. Media Studies as an A-Level in 1983?? 10. The opening scene of a boy cycling to meet his friend at church looks at home in the 1950s but not the 190s. Overall, the film seems to transplant the 1950s into the 80s. 11. Again, if the headmaster thinks time is of the essence, why bother with PE? You don't even have to do that post 16, so would seem strange for him to suddenly insist on it when they're 18. 12. The discussion about the Holocaust and post-war Britain seemed out-of-place. At school (in late 80s Yorkshire) we were only allowed to study up to the second world war, as beyond was deemed too modern, and teachers were not allowed to teach beyond in case they gave it their own political slant. Sorry if this seems picky! It just felt overall that Bennett wanted to give his impression of how he wanted his class at school to be. Themes that he could have really developed - what is history, does the education system develop thinkers or people who can just recall facts, is the education system biased to southern grammar schools, weren't explored. There is also no way that an 80s grammar school in Yorkshire would have been so gay. Perhaps in Bennett's mind, but not in reality. Does Bennett really think that Hector groping all and sundry on his bike would have been laughed off by everyone except the lollypop lady? Why would Dakin have offered Irwin a bj (on a Sunday afternoon)? When teenage lads put on a leather jacket, and say they want sex, it generally means here and now, not Sunday next, and almost never with their male teacher! These fantasies of Bennett played out in film I think have given Yorkshire a bad name abroad, and it is unfortunate that American viewers have come away with the impression that our schools are full of paedophile teachers. The gay theme would have been far more realistic and appealing if it had been played out between Posner and Dakin.
Overall, a potentially interesting story has been spoilt.
For a start, there were too many inaccuracies and things that just made no sense 1 It was set in Yorkshire in 1983. Why did no-one except Posner have a Yorkshire accent?? 2 Why were they applying for Oxbridge after their A-level results. Normally the system is that you apply through UCAS at least one year before you get your final A-Level results. I undertook Oxbridge lessons whilst still at school in the subjects I was going to be sitting Oxbridge exams in. They started off doing History but then branched off into French, Art, politics...I just didn't get why. 3. Why had they not considered Oxbridge (or even university in general!) , until results day? 4. What was so wrong with Durham, Manchester or Leeds? It depends on the course you want to do. I went to Durham because the course matched what I wanted to do in Languages (which wasn't offered at Oxbridge), so why did the school want to send everyone to Oxford without even considering other unis (or even Cambridge!) 5. What would the lads have done for a whole year after presumably getting into Oxford in late autumn...wait around for a whole year til courses started again in September? 6. Why does Irwin live in Horsforth (nw of Leeds) when the school is in Sheffield?? 7 If they only have a month to cram, why do they waste a whole day on a pointless field trip to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire? 8. If it is so important for the boys to make Oxford, why does the Headmaster entrust their teaching to a probationary supply teacher. Oxbridge lessons are usually with heads of departments who have taught you previously and know your strengths/ weaknesses 9. Media Studies as an A-Level in 1983?? 10. The opening scene of a boy cycling to meet his friend at church looks at home in the 1950s but not the 190s. Overall, the film seems to transplant the 1950s into the 80s. 11. Again, if the headmaster thinks time is of the essence, why bother with PE? You don't even have to do that post 16, so would seem strange for him to suddenly insist on it when they're 18. 12. The discussion about the Holocaust and post-war Britain seemed out-of-place. At school (in late 80s Yorkshire) we were only allowed to study up to the second world war, as beyond was deemed too modern, and teachers were not allowed to teach beyond in case they gave it their own political slant. Sorry if this seems picky! It just felt overall that Bennett wanted to give his impression of how he wanted his class at school to be. Themes that he could have really developed - what is history, does the education system develop thinkers or people who can just recall facts, is the education system biased to southern grammar schools, weren't explored. There is also no way that an 80s grammar school in Yorkshire would have been so gay. Perhaps in Bennett's mind, but not in reality. Does Bennett really think that Hector groping all and sundry on his bike would have been laughed off by everyone except the lollypop lady? Why would Dakin have offered Irwin a bj (on a Sunday afternoon)? When teenage lads put on a leather jacket, and say they want sex, it generally means here and now, not Sunday next, and almost never with their male teacher! These fantasies of Bennett played out in film I think have given Yorkshire a bad name abroad, and it is unfortunate that American viewers have come away with the impression that our schools are full of paedophile teachers. The gay theme would have been far more realistic and appealing if it had been played out between Posner and Dakin.
Overall, a potentially interesting story has been spoilt.