A hip-looking young man at the thrift store yesterday asked me if we had a copy of The Canterbury Tales.
Usually we have a copy or two, but we didn't that day.
"I'm looking because of a Netflix show I just watched," he said.
"Oh, The Chair," I said. "I just watched it too!"
"That professor made me want to read it," he said.
"That was the best scene," I said.
Holland Taylor plays Joan Hambling, professor of medieval lit, who (with the help of the IT guy behind her, below) hunts down a student from her Chaucer class who's been posting nasty comments on Rate My Professors, and confronts him:
The Chair takes on the current culture wars with surprising and welcome compassion for and insight into all parties involved---including the old white profs teaching Dead White Guys, like Taylor's character.
And it's funny, in a mild way:
"The world is burning, and we're worrying about our endowment," says the chair, Ji-Yoon Kim (played by Sandra Oh), in defense of student outrage––meanwhile her English department is bowing to a big donor's pressure that actor David Duchovny present the key lecture of the year.
OMG, David Duchovny! I know him as Mulder in the X-Files. He really does write books: We got one in the store recently, and it sold right away.
I was surprised the man himself was willing to appear on The Chair and let the script poke fun at him--good for him!
And, good for The Chair for taking on material that's so touchy it seems untouchable--mostly around race and diversity; they don't even get into gender identity--maybe if there's a season 2?
I recommend The Chair for reflection on the political climate. It's very of-the-moment.
Better yet: Reservation Dogs--on Hulu--I got a free month trial so I could watch it, but it's even worth paying for. It follows a group of Indigenous teenagers on a reservation in Oklahoma as they walk around and stuff. [Newsweek article]
(Also, lots of visual references to other movies, like The Deer Hunter.)
In the sixth of eight episodes, Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) goes deer hunting with her father Leon (Jon Proudstar).
Her father tries to talk her out her idea of moving to California.
When she asks him what there is to do where they live, he says,
"You know, just walk around and look at things.”
Which is what this show does. It's so good, and funny, and not making any political points in particular, except by virtue of existing.
6 comments:
Excellent recommendations. I like the "walk around and look at things" - is there anything else.
Both of these shows sound good. I don't know what Hulu is but I will watch The Chair. I studied Chaucer at school and although I liked some of the stories I found it difficult. I think I might like it more now. Andy did it at school too and he does this ridiculous accent if he quotes any of it. My argument is that they did not speak in silly voices just because the language is strange! Chaucer is a character in a novel I read by Anya Seton last year. He was not in it a lot but he was very likeable.
"Just walk around and look at things" is about my level of entertainment these days. Until the tv goes on after dinner, then I sit and look at things.
I remember David Duchovny as Fox Mulder, he had great hair, probably, hopefully, he still does.
That Chaucer scene *almost* makes me want to get Netflix (again) to watch. When I tried to find the scene at YouTube, I found another scene with Holland Cotter, in which her character files a complaint about her office being moved to an athletic building. And I thought, Wait a sec, that’s the kind of stuff I wanted to leave behind when I retired.
I was never moved to an athletic building, but I didn't know several adjuncts who were moved to the boonies, and they did not appreciate it. And even after numerous retirements and departures to other campuses, adjuncts stayed two to an office, not permitted their own offices, even though the hallways teamed with empty offices. The indignities of academic life are many.
[Deleted comment was me, w/wrong account.]
Oops — I *did* know.
And I realize now that my comment might suggest that I was an adjunct. I wasn’t — I retired as a full professor (or, as I liked to say, a total professor).
Sheesh — Holland Taylor. Holland Cotter is an art critic.
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