Emperor's Club Reflections

I was feeling unwell so wasn't able to see the movie in class, but lucky for me, it was available on Netflix to watch fully before writing this.

1. Stupidity, as a choice, can be temporary. But the cause for changing is uncommon. It requires insight with which a lot of people would rather not involve themselves.


2. I believe the challenge Mr. Hundert faced with Sedgewick Bell was impressive because the experience tested Mr. Hundert's convictions and hopes. He hoped that Sedgewick could be matured and educated, and perhaps cure his problems. Hundert believed that a person's story is written well before they die, that stupidity is incurable, and still places upon himself the responsibility to accomplish what he seems to have believed impossible.


3. Sedgewick is charismatic. His testing of authority and sensibilities of the other students is unprecedented for the students--who all appear to be motivated and inquisitive enough in general that understanding and even trying to step into Sedgewick's worldview is irresistible. Their own immaturity, in some cases, is allowed to stretch.


4. When Hundert is calculating final grades, he faces his destructive optimism in Sedgewick. His interest in seeing Sedgewick experience glory in his accomplishments overcomes what he must believe, as an educator, to be factual representation of students' work. He chooses to alter the final grades to allow Sedgewick to participate in the contest, and is later faced with guilt over the matter.


5. Aware that Sedgewick is cheating, Hundert decides to ask a question not on his pre-selected questions. This is unfair, as the questions are pre-selected according to levels of difficulty and considered as such. Sedgewick, although cheating, is also failed by something akin to cheating. When Hundert confronts Sedgewick, Hundert learns that Sedgewick had not actually changed--that he mislead even Hundert about who he was becoming. I believe it underscores the idea Hundert has that people do not, as far as character goes, change.


6. Hundert hopes to find Blythe, the student who most wanted to take part in the contest and was rightfully due the chance. After explaining to Blythe what happened and apologizing, he asks Blythe to see each other again--perhaps as a signal for forgiveness. The next morning, when he expects to see him and the others, the place is abandoned. He returns to his room to see all of them waiting, and is thanked by his students for helping them grow and become improved versions of themselves.


7. The conflict of the moral over the expedient is a constant struggle. There are times when immoral actions would appear more convenient--especially in the short term. For Sedgewick, he will choose the expediency and appearance before virtue and principle. Hundert, though he has moral failings, strives still for virtue and principle. In the film, both Sedgewick and Hundert have similarities--both had absent fathers whose accomplishments meant more than raising their children. The experience has effected them profoundly and discussing it recurs in the film. However, they radically diverge in their moral decisions. While they may have had somewhat similar backgrounds, it didn't determine their character. What motivated and drives one of the men to accomplish moral character, and motivates another to avoid it entirely, for a lifetime, despite a similar set of experiences, must run deeper than repeatedly choosing convenience or principle when the two are in conflict. People might seem to change in numerous ways with time and effort, but the core beliefs guiding one's actions are not easily changed.


8. After being thanked and shown the difference he's made in the lives of several good students, who didn't require the accomplishment of the impossible, he realizes he can still make his own contribution. When he arrives at his classroom, Blythe's son is enrolled and personally led to Hundert's classroom--one of his former students believes in Hundert's contribution.


9. Hundert involves his class by posing questions and by helping the students compare their lives with those who built the traditions for society that the western world engages in.


10. In studying the classics, the students learn how to connect with the world. As adolescents and as adults, they learn that connecting their efforts with what is valuable and applicable to existence for all will have most meaning. By living as a virtuous person who can create value, they will not lead an isolated existence of hopelessly bending rules (or, trying to bend life itself) to what they would rather it be.