Class Reunions in Film and Literature
In film and literature, especially comedy, crime novels, thrillers and psychological suspense novels, class reunions have been a frequent device used to show the eruption of emotions such as shame, hatred or guilt within individual characters who, suddenly faced again with their own youth, become aware of the fact that they have been unable to cope with their past. In many cases, those who used to be bullied, humiliated or in any other way mistreated by their teachers and/or classmates believe that now their chance has come to take revenge on their former torturers. Often in fiction, participants nostalgically reminisce about their old school days, fondly remember their school pranks. Alumni are quite often concerned about how their lives have turned out when compared with the lives of their former classmates, and will sometimes feel pressured enough to go to great lengths to concoct stories about their fruitful careers, personal accomplishments and relationships with others.
Another staple of this kind of fiction is former classmates taking up with their old flame again, either because they have changed to their advantage and developed into an admirable adult or precisely for the opposite reason—because they have not changed at all in a fleeting world.
Examples of films, revolving around class reunions, include::
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Examples of fiction, revolving around class reunions, include:
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Examples of TV shows loosely based on class reunions, include:
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Read more about this topic: Class Reunion
Famous quotes containing the words class, reunions, film and/or literature:
“I read, with a kind of hopeless envy, histories and legends of people of our craft who “do not write for money.” It must be a pleasant experience to be able to cultivate so delicate a class of motives for the privilege of doing one’s best to express one’s thoughts to people who care for them. Personally, I have yet to breathe the ether of such a transcendent sphere. I am proud to say that I have always been a working woman, and always had to be ...”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“Some of the smartest women in the country said that they’re too embarrassed to attend their reunions at Harvard Business School if they have dropped out of the work force, left the fast track by choosing part-time work, or decided to follow anything other than the standard male career path.”
—Deborah J. Swiss (20th century)
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“Poetry, it is often said and loudly so, is life’s true mirror. But a monkey looking into a work of literature looks in vain for Socrates.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)