Professor Elam

Monday Sept 29 2014

The Paper Chase is a movie about first year Harvard law students enduring th relentless socratic method of Professor Kingsfield the expert in contract law. 

When we were showing movies on Sat night this was my selection. John Houseman portrayed Kingsfield and won a Best Supporting Oscar though he ws really the star. 

You can stream it on Amazon for 3.99. Some of the students have watched it with their pre teens and teenage children, just to make the point. Our portagonist is named Hart. And the movie tracks Hart's journey from also ran to the student who engages the professor. 

Yes the movie is dated, one feature is the study group writing a course outline. Today outlines are commercially available for most any course. 

But the jist of the story was then and is now the same. The students form a study group. One student is unsure of himself. Another is arrogant. Most in the class begin fallying by the wayside. And as Hart remarks, it is only October, and already the class has divided into three parts. 

I will attempt to locate that on the DVD and show it in class. 

This semester is a bit different in that quite a few students are ringing alarm bells over what they find they do not know. This is actually a good thing; too many students do not know what they do not know. 

Repetition and understanding the basics of accounting is the core principal here. 

It would be interesting to do a re make of The Paper Chase. While the film features females in the law class, oddly none were in the study group. And there are no minorities. 

I suggest a  re-make along more modern lines. We would cast male and female and certainlyhave a mix of ethnicities. And let's make the discipline accounting, as there are now so many lawyers law schols are limiting enrollment. 

Jostling work and school and attempting to have a real life with sites still set on the goal; the Paper Chase to attain a certification. Let's assume all have graduated and are now in a review class for the CPA exam. Now the pressure is on as everyone has a job which requires a CPA designation. 

Hmm, a good project for the 40th anniversary of the film. IF we had residential students on campus I would even consider doing this ourselves. And frankly I doubt I can get Ron Howard on the phone to interest him. 

At any rate I suggest you stream the movie with your family as an explanationof what you are really doing.  Paper Chase was so popular it became a tv series for two or three years.