I went to see "Higher Learning" last Thursday, and it turned out to be a decision I'm still regretting. John Singleton's movie charts the various racial, sexual and social tensions on a large college campus, but it proves disastrous; the kind of unmitigated failure that makes "Little Buddha" look like a masterpiece. Bad movies, though, usually don't make me very angry; I tend to brush them aside, and within a day or two, they're completely forgotten. Watching "Higher Learning," though, left me rather disturbed, and for that, I have the Dartmouth audience to thank.
The screening was crowded, and the first thing that shocked me was that the majority of the audience seemed to think the film was actually good. I have to wonder -- have the people who saw and liked "Higher Learning" seen more than ten movies, because if they have, I think they might be able to recognize things like strong characters, original plot developments, intelligent dialogue and good acting -- four qualities of which that "Higher Learning" is utterly bereft.
As far as characters are concerned, one can count the cliches: There's a brilliant, but cynical African-American student who has been at the school for six years; the only women on campus interested in women's issues turns out to be a lesbian; the white men in the film all look like Calvin Klein underwear models, but they come in two types -- mean frat boy rapist and suave liberal dude who can accept bisexuality; there is a young black student who is at school because of an athletic scholarship and has to prove himself.
But that's just the beginning of the movie's problems. The movie plays like some greatest hits version of college crises -- date rape, tacky frat parties, lesbianism, peace rallies, financial aid troubles, roommate problems galore -- but Singleton barely touches on any of the issues, glossing over everyone and everything in flashy MTV style. Essentially, "Higher Learning" seems about as accurate a portrayal of college as say, "Beverly Hills 90210." (Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that Singleton spent most of his undergraduate career in film school.)
And yet, the Dartmouth audience responded to this movie enthusiastically, and the next day, I heard at least a dozen people speaking in virtue of the film. I don't think I'm that out of touch with popular taste; instead, the response to this film seems pretty obvious. People have confused consciousness raising with good filmmaking. They seem to think that if it is about an important subject, then it is a good film.
I don't deny that the issues which "Higher Learning" raises are not worth discussing, but Singleton doesn't even come close to doing justice to any of them. I can look to a half dozen better films -- Spike Lee's sublime "Do The Right Thing" or even Singleton's own "Boyz N The Hood" which deal with issues of race, gender and social relations in a way that isn't merely thought provoking, but original, exciting and inventive too. Singleton might be wise to look at those films as well.
What bothered me most about "Higher Learning," though, was not the audience's response to the entire film, but its response to one specific scene: the moment in the film when the neo-Nazi sniper turns the gun on himself and commits suicide. The Dartmouth audience -- not all, but most it seemed -- cheered. I'm still somewhat staggered by that reaction. The point of the suicide is as obvious as most of the other points in the film: Remy, the neo Nazi, was as much a victim of society's racism as anyone else. His values not yet shaped, he was drawn in and virtually brainwashed by the campus skinheads. The character should be read as another casualty of our slightly insane culture -- not as the bad guy in some cowboys and Indians western.
There are a million ways to counter my arguments about the film, but there's simply no way to justify cheering at that moment in the film. In fact, to clap at that character's suicide is about the most anti-intellectual response I can imagine because it essentially says that one is electing not to think about the issues which John Singleton is addressing -- the same issues, I'm sure, which those who cheered would point to as what makes the film so good.
As to why people were clapping, I can think of a few reasons. It probably has a lot to do with the generally glib way our generation treats violence, but I'm not sure the "why" matters. It's the simple action of clapping that says it all -- that at Dartmouth many people choose not to think very much. The mob mentality will do quite nicely, thank you.
At that end of "Higher Learning," John Singleton flashes the word "unlearn" on the screen -- a statement that tells the audience to free itself from the racism, hatred, homophobia, sexism and classism that is ingrained in all of us. To that little gem of wisdom, I say, "Too little, too late."
In fact, I encourage John Singleton to heed his own advice, and perhaps unlearn the horrible Hollywood conventions which he is so in love with. As for the Dartmouth audience, it might be a bad idea to encourage anyone to unlearn when most people who were at that movie weren't thinking very hard to begin with.
