Day Twenty-Three: Chalk

I watched Chalk a while ago, but I decided to revisit it. It's one of the few mockumentaries I've seen besides the Christopher Guest movies, but it has more in common with The Office than with those movies. The Office is hands-down my favorite TV show--I've watched every episode at least twice--and it shares with Chalk the funny characters who take themselves way too seriously, in situations that feel very real because they're so boring and awkward. This movie, though a few parts go off into silly fantasy that doesn't fully work, looks and feels so authentic.

That's what I loved about this movie the first time I saw it. There are laugh-out-loud lines and moments, but what makes this movie work is the fact that it actually gets it, gets what high school is really like. Teen movies, even the best ones, never get it. Their high schools are populated by good-looking twentysomething actors, stratified into cliques and focused on events like prom. Obviously there are different social groups in high school, and events like prom are the source of much discussion and emotion. But what those other movies are too busy focusing on silly romances or overly serious dramas to see is the day-to-day drudgery that really is high school. And that's what Chalk captures so perfectly, from the very beginning: kids goofing off in class, cracking up at nothing, cell phones going off, hysterical assistant principals breaking up hallway fights, dead-eyed kids staring at teachers or sliding into class a few seconds late. From my time as a teacher's assistant for a few different teachers, copying and stapling endless worksheets and packets, I can vouch that the messing around with the copier and wondering about codes to punch into it are true to life.

I made my sister watch Chalk shortly after I did, and she agreed that it's the closest representation of our high school, Auburn, we've ever seen. This movie has no popular blonde kids; everyone's just sort of awkward and greasy. Most teen movies show "nerds" with thick glasses, precocious wardrobes, and a ridiculous knowledge of science and mechanics; this one accurately depicts them as mumbly, scraggly-haired, and probably obsessed with medieval weapons. Things could happen at the school in Chalk like someone setting fire to the bathroom soap dispensers (which happened last year at Auburn) or drive-by shootings in the school parking lot (the most recent of which occurred this morning). Chalk does focus on the teachers, so it doesn't have a chance to saddle the students with inauthenticity, but it's definitely as true to life, or at least to Auburn, as I've ever seen, and that's refreshing.