The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Muriel Spark.
A Book Club first!
A book and a film both reviewed and compared and contrasted.
A most enjoyable evening.
As is to be expected of a film, the film was far less subtle and far more aggressive.
Most people found themselves to be far more shocked by the film which made the underage sex and pupil/teacher relationship very explicit.
Some too reflected in the way that society’s reaction to such relationships had changed.
The book, with its far more subtle approach made it seem more “acceptable.”
Some found that it worked far better to use Mary McGregor as the Spanish Civil War casualty than Joyce Emily.
There were conflicting ideas as to the style of writing and whether the book was easy to read or not.
Although written in the third person, it seemed obvious that Sandy was the narrator and the book was seen through her eyes.
The book is tongue in cheek and the humour in the book, particularly the use of repetition, was much admired.
The portrait clones of Miss Jean Brodie caused great amusement.
The book is very cleverly written moving skilfully between the past, the present and the future.
The character of Miss Jean Brodie is very complex.
For some, her lack of professional distance and very maverick teaching and effective moulding of her crème de la crème were not very credible.
It is a psychological study of a mind.
Was she malicious in her intent, or was she just misguided?
School was her life.
She did not believe that she could be betrayed by one of her group, but her betrayer, Sandy, felt that she had not betrayed her, because there was no loyalty due.
Despite Miss McGregor’s repeated attempts to find evidence of sexual impropriety to dismiss her, she was dismissed on the grounds of supporting fascism.
JC
Webmaster's notes:
We did look at some of the Hogfather DVD back in 2011, but we didn't watch all of the film,
we didn't compare and contrast the film and the book, nor did we have popcorn and ice cream.
The Prime of MIss Jean Brodie was rated 3.5 stars, but the night as a whole was a 5.
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