Watch the film in class and reflect upon the following issues:TEXT
- Willy Russell once said in an interview that in theater "text is absolute king, is is the Bible", whereas in film that is not the case. Do you agree with this statement? How would you apply this idea to the screen adaptation of Educating Rita?
Language is important in the film but it is another language, you can focus in images, everything in the movie is said, the whole text is there but whereas in the play you read about certain situations that occur outside the room Frank and Rita are always in when they meet, in the movie you get to see those scenes as they happen. There are films that are more theatrical and look more like a play, like 'Le Dîner de cons' or '8 Femmes', but as a viewer you could not tell that 'Educating Rita' is a film adaptation of a play, without knowing that in fact it is.
Language is relevant, especially in the case of Rita as a characterization device, the way she speaks is also a source of humour but as the film goes on and she gets more educated, there is a conflict between the language they use, between Rita and her husband and between her and Frank when she starts imitating Trish in the way she talks because he preferred Rita when she did not speak like this. Language is part of the dramatic conflict of the film.
- Can you identify any particular use of language that may link it to the original playscript? (e.g.: Liverpool dialect, etc.)?
Rita talks in the same way as in the play, she spells the words in a different way and pronounces them as it is written in the play (y', an', ...), her Liverpool accent is there too (working-class accent), so the use of language is very specific to the text.
THEMES
- It has been suggested that in his play Russell explores not only the preoccupation with escape from working-class roots, but also the question of where such escape leads. Can you find any example in the film version that supports this suggestion?
There's the conflict between learning and loosing who you are, this is evident when she starts a friendship with Trish and imitates the way she speaks to sound more educated. Frank notices this and tells her to stop, that he preferred her when she first came to his tutorials but she takes this as an attack because she does not think she is loosing her personality. There's a transition when she works in the restaurant and even though it is a working-class job she speaks with academic jargon. But at the end of the film, in the airport scene, Rita explains to Frank that she now knew she had a choice, she was free to choose what she wanted to do next or where to go and that is somehting she didn't have before and that would be the explanation in the movie of where does that escape from her working-class takes her to.
- What other relevant themes do you identify in the film?
Apart from working-class and the "question of choice" that you achieve through education, there are other themes like personal expectations, what does Rita want to achieve and the reactions of the people around her when she does, the difficulties that a woman from the working-class has that are difficult to overcome, personal fulfillment, literature...
CHARACTERS / SETTINGS
- According to the author, "on film two characters in a room for two hours is totally boring and would be crippling for the viewer". How is this problem solved in Educating Rita?
In the film you get to see what it's told in the play, instead of Rita telling Frank about an argument she had with her husband, you get to watch the scene in the movie, which gives us a visual image of what has happened and also introduces more characters as we can see now how Denny looks, their house, her relatives or Frank's wife for instance, I think this makes you see more things that you cannot do with just reading the play and also gives you another point of view of how things have happened.
- What image do you have, by the end of the viewing experience, of Frank, Denny and Rita as characters? Of their interaction with one another?
You get a richer image of these characters as you get to see them in different situations, not only in their tutorials. I felt more empathy for Frank when I watched the film, it makes you see his real problem with alcohol and how that affects his personal and professional life. In the film I had the feeling that he was more flirtateous with Rita than in the play, but it was a very innocent flirting. When it comes to Denny you feel sympathy for him, he only wanted Rita to remain the way she used to be when they got married and even though he does not consider what is better for Rita you sort of understand him. And at the end you feel happy for Rita and she finally reaches a balanced point between her and her knowledge and she is happy with it, she is
HUMOR
- In his edition of Shirley Valentine, Roy Blatchford affirmed that in Russell's writing we can find "an unnerving and subtle mix of enjoyable comedy and serious social message". Do you find this mixture in educating Rita? (give examples)
- What techniques of comic writing do you see in the film (e.g.: jokes, puns, etc.?)
There is a lot of humour at the beginning when you hear Rita speak and how she is dressed, the way she thinks and what she says but as the movie goes on you realise that maybe you should have not been laughing at her which is what I think Russell wanted to achieve with his play, and is connected with that subtle mix that Roy Blatchford mentions, I think it was a way of criticizing people who laughs or does not take seriously others just because of their background. There is also a lot of irony in Frank, which is also another source of humour. At first, the film is funny and you enjoy watching it but towards the middle it gets a more serious tone and problems reach a different level, now matters are being treated more seriously which makes you think more about it.
INTERTEXT
- Do you see any relevant parallel between Educating Rita in its screen version and the musical version of Shaw's Pygmalion (i.e. My Fair Lady)? Consider Eliza and Rita as protagonists (compare if possible).
You see in both stories, the progress and the learning process from the beginning. Both Eliza and Rita are taught something but Eliza cannot choose at the end of this process and Rita can. Both are trying to rise in social status, in society but they are not learning the same things, Eliza learns how to speak properly but it is a very superficial objective contrary to Rita. Even though there is a moment in the film where Rita says, "I've got a room full of books. I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what papers and books to read. I can do without you know", she has only learnt manners and can be connected with Eliza in that way. Both reach a moment of independence and rebel at their teachers, as you can see with the quote I posted of 'Educating Rita'. The super objective of the person that teaches Eliza is to show his success with her but when it comes to Rita's story, it's not Frank's objective but hers, Rita decides that she wants to learn and she chooses what to do with her knowledge at the end.
MUSIC
- Russell gives a lot of importance to music in his plays and films. In Educating Rita (film), David Hensal wrote the main theme and Russell thought that "it was a beautiful composition, a lovely theme, which worked beautifully". In what sense would you say it works/doesn't work for you as an spectator? Is music one of the main elements of the film in your opinion?
Music creates certain expectations, a theme that is played over and over during some scenes makes you guess what is going to happen in a way, it highlights some moments, like it happens with the scene where Denny burns Rita's books and how much emphasis Trish has with music, even though the most relevant scene with music for me was the pub scene. There are a lot of references to music in the movie but I wouldn't say music catches the attention of the viewer, at least it did not for me, I usually pay attention to what sounds and themes in a film but this has not been a film where I really noticed about music, only in the scenes I had mentioned.
I think it was very interesting to see the film after having read 'Educating Rita', as I said, it is not the usual film adaptation of a play but it was worth watching how the director created scenes for what was just explained in the play and how that made us see another side of those characters, there were changes in the story in the film, the ending airport scene was not featured in the play, but it did not harm the original story it did enrich it. It was also fascinating to see the performances of both lead actors, Julie Walters, and especially of Michael Caine who I have always personally have admired, which is something you can get from just reading the play.
Well done. You have answered clearly and with examples.
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