A Comparative Analysis of the History Boys and 3 Idiots - Research Paper Example

?The History Boys and 3 Idiots: A Comparative Study Introduction The movies, The History Boys and 3 Idiots fall under the same genre of comedy drama.The two stories have somewhat similar settings and feature high school and university going students respectively experiencing their lives at a crucial stage that will determine their future professional career and success. The History Boys, written by Alan Bennet was adapted in a movie with the same title which as released in 2006 and directed by Nicholas Hytner (Internet Movie Database, 2006). The book is about eight disorderly but bright boys who are considered to be so by their head master. In an aim to get these eight students into high ranking universities including Oxford and Harvard, three teachers Hector and Mrs. Lintott tutor these students. The story focuses on their experiences inside the class as they interact with their instructors and hope to get a high grade. While 3 Idiots focuses more on the search for one of the three central characters (Rancho, Raju, and Farhan) years after their graduation from university, the movie takes the audience back to their university days where the characters had their best memories. The movie released in 2009 was directed by Rajkumar Hirani and involves comedy with a tinge of romance (Internet Movie Database, 2009). It focuses on three intelligent friends who have shared various memories together. After graduation Rancho, one of the friends, loses contact with his two friends who undergo a short journey to go look for him. However, in this search, his friends discover some well-kept unrevealed things which they never knew about their obscure but amiable friend. So, both movies focus on the student lives of the characters under high school and university settings who have high aims. The stories use humor constructively in order to create a lasting impact on the audience and entertain the audiences very well. They constantly communicate the fun and disorderly aspect of being a student using a comical perspective. But although The History Boys and 3 Idiots concentrate on somewhat similar lines, the differences in theme, plot, internal conflict, and external conflict, is what differentiates them and sets them apart from each other. Themes In an interview, the playwright Bennett said that the book The History Boys speaks a lot about the educational institutions and its system and this aspect is particularly prominent in the film however this was not intended to present the story from an educational perspective (“National Theatre Education”, n.d.). The film addresses the central theme of hope and failure as the bright students go about preparing for the highly aspired universities. The instructors appointed to tutor the eight students so as to enable them to enter Cambridge and Oxford however present an irony as they are living a life of failed aspirations. Also, another central theme of the story is the subject, history. In several scenes, the audiences are reminded of considering historical events and their choice in deciding how to study the past events in history (“The History Boys”, 2007). Another important theme in the story is regarding growing up and losing innocence. As the students continue to take classes, they realize they have to go beyond child-like memorizations of facts but understand the world and learn using a different strategy. The issue of sexual identity has also been addresses as the students face sexual abuse by Hector and have an identity conflict within themselves (“The History Boys”, 2007; Sole, n.d.). The psychoanalytical theory applies in the context as the concept is said to contain elements of damaging “sexual politics” which is an “intellectual embarrassment” as applied to cinematic creations (Quigley, 2011). Here, the development of sexual identity among the students is affected within the cultural aspect of psychoanalysis (Flitterman-Lewis, 2012) An important theme of the story was the significance of history as a discipline and according to the Freudian and Psychoanalytical concepts of fetishism which distracts an individual from purposeful engagement with “historical ‘texts’” (Quigley, 2011). While the story of 3 Idiots has a similar setting however its theme focuses more on positivity and optimism which is frequently reminded by the dialogue “All is well”. In the journey to find their friend, Rancho the two friends, Raju and Farhan come to know that he was not the person he was posing to be; son of a rich local man. The story begins with the two friends going for their search for Rancho then the story goes back to the time when all three were together in university. The three friends were very intelligent but due to their unpopular views, they were often regarded as oddities. The movie considers some critical aspects of education and the pressure it puts on the students at times and how the stereotypical notions inhibit free and creative thinking among students. It happens that Rancho becomes a very successful scientist who still keeps a low profile living in a mountainous region in the north. Several aspects of psychoanalysis are present which takes the audience as artificial constructs. During university years, the characters are characterized by troublesome young boys who are always under trouble with their instructors, especially the dean of their university. Thus, these characters represent a sense of guilt due to an overdeveloped superego (Indick, 2004), which is overcome by changing the perception of the dean towards the end of the movie. Internal Conflict Perhaps the most obvious internal struggle in The History Boys is the hope to get into one of the high ranking universities such as Oxford and Cambridge which all the eight students go through as they are provided with extra tutoring to brush their knowledge. In 3 Idiots, the character of rancho presents an internal conflict in the sense that he is not what he is posing to be: the son of a rich local man. As Raju and Farhan later find out, Rancho was just a poor boy who grew up in his supposed father’s house. Unlike his real son, his ingenious personality and skills he is disguised as the real son and sent to university under the name of the rich man’s son. During the full stay at university, Rancho never tells his friends about this truth and remains disguised as someone he was not. The suspense remains till the end after Rancho is found living in a beautiful and distant valley up in the north. In The History Boys an identity conflict is experienced as the students are lightly sexually abused by their instructor, Hector. The characterization and the context plays an important role in both stories in helping resolve conflicts as the characters are faced with internal identity conflicts within themselves as provided by the culture. External Conflict The external conflict in The History Boys results from the fact that all the eight students are considered to be very clever by their head master who has appointed tutors to help them open their ways to high ranking universities. However, the boys are troublesome and disorderly despite their intelligence and often some do not regard history as important and want to dismiss historical events as cruel. In 3 Idiots the external conflict is represented as a theme which focuses on the intelligent young friends who have very radical ideas pertaining to science and education. Rancho, Raju, and Farhan are called “idiots” by their dean and other instructors which demonstrate the disagreement between them and the professors. Both stories make an attempt to illustrate the educational system which society regards as wonderful and how this is lacking in some way. Also, it seeks to answer a few questions regarding education and how the various disciplines have impacted the lives of students. In particular, the stories deal with issues of intelligence, acceptance in the society, and success. Conclusion The stories deal with society’s most wide ranging themes and issues pertaining to youth, education, acceptance, and conflicts. The elements often pertain to psychoanalytic notions of the human viewer as a social construct who is shaped by culture. The characters of the story characterized different levels of superego which enables them to defeat the ‘antihero’ so as to prove themselves. References Flitterman-Lewis, S. (2012). Psychoanalysis, Film, and Television. University of Oregon. [online] Retrieved from: http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~cbybee/j388/psych.html [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. Hirani, R. (Director). (2009). 3 Idiots [Motion Picture]. India: Vinod Chopra Productions. Hytner, N. (2006). The History Boys [Motion Picture]. United Kingdom: Fox Searchlight Pictures. IMDb: Internet Movie Database (2006). The History Boys. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464049/ [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. IMDb: Internet Movie Database (2009). 3 Idiots. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/ [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. Indick, W. (2004). Movies and the Mind. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. National Theatre Education (2007). The Royal National Theatre Board [PDF] Retrieved from: http://d1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/history_boys.pdf [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. Quigley, P. (2011). Undoing the Image: Film Theory and Psychoanalysis. Film-Philosophy, 15 (1), 13-32. Sole, S. (n.d.). The History Boys. Cinema, Culture and Society [online]. Retrieved from: http://ccs.filmculture.net/component/content/article/31-film-reviews/83-the-history-boys-by-sylvia-sol [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. The History Boys (2007). The Rep [PDF] Retrieved from: http://repassets.s3.amazonaws.com/studyguides/the_history_boys_sg.pdf [Accessed: 28 Nov 2013]. Read More