the socratic dialogue
...the school. Tracy Flick was this chirpy irritating girl played by Reese Witherspoon who was completely out of place in her school. Tracy in the movie didn’t have the qualities that made her a legitimate candidate for the school presidency. She had no connection with the other students, and she didn’t seem to be dealing with the same issues as everyone else, trying to find her place in the world. She just didn’t fit in, and didn’t know how to handle dealing with her peers “Hey! Hey you! Give that back! One only please…hey! You didn’t sign your name!” ( ________, 199_) She became quite an unbelievable teenager. Tracy wasn’t anything like them and she was always just laughed at. She didn’t seem to be a very likely candidate for the election in the movie, but then again, neither did her competition Paul Warren. Tracy’s electoral competition, the football hero, Paul Warren, is the typical jock, yet he is intelligent and has an incredible amount of compassion “he was smart, but unlike his sister Tammy, he didn’t wear his IQ on his sleeve” (Perotta, 7). Paul was every parents dream; the model teenager, he did everything. He was an all star sports figure, popular throughout his school, and 3rd in his class in his SAT scores. Paul’s family just split up and he developed a really close, honest relationship with his father, he became open to learning new things and really grew as a person a lot. “ This new phase of our relationship happened the day I helped him move…he smelled the way he had last time I’d hugged him, way back in second or third grade.” (Perotta, 64, 66). He had just recently developed from his father, a strong set of morals and ethics to that inspired him to make some changes to his life; to set higher goals and ambitions. And although he had never though of running for a position on his school student government, when he was asked to, it became a major part of his life. He would have been a good school president, with integrity and charisma. In the movie, Paul Warren became a big macho football player who had an injury and had to sit out for the season. He was made into the classic dumb jock; it made him seem like the wrong candidate, like he wouldn’t be smart enough to help the school. Through the whole movie, he walks around looking utterly clueless all the time; his kindness and compassion were turned into ignorance. His girlfriend Lisa, and his popularity ran the whole campaign; he didn’t seem to really care about it at all. He loved his sister very much, with a cute, ignorant puppy love “Tammy, no matter what happens tomorrow, I want you to know that I love you because I am your brother, and I’ll always be here” (________________, 199_) His character in the movie was much to simple, the only relationship that he had that had any depth was his relationship with his sister Tammy. Tammy was a sophomore, a very lonely girl who had lost her best friend and lover all at once. But more than that, Tammy lost her love to her own brother. Tammy had always been there for her mom, all throughout her parents divorce, and Paul, her older brother, had stayed quite distant. She felt like she had no support at home, like her brother didn’t like her, or want to know her. Tammy didn’t realize that Paul really respected her for helping his mom, and he wanted to protect her from hurting herself. She didn’t really understand her own body, and she didn’t have anyone to talk to, everyone that she had depended on and given everything to had left her. She needed to take a stand to put her life on some kind of a track; she needed to make a change for herself “I want to have to do this, its not about beating Paul, its about making something happen in my life”. (Perotta, 53) The people around her, at school and at home didn’t understand that. They couldn’t grasp why she would put herself up for such a definite loss “Tammy, why are you doing this? You know this is Paul’s turn, you’ll have next year to campaign, you’re only a sophomore.” (Perotta, 52). When Tammy decided she wanted to transfer to a catholic all girls school, she stopped caring about the life she led at her own school. Tammy was scared and alone, but she was proud that she could admit that she was. She didn’t have to worry about the people at her high school, or what they thought, because she was going to get out. On the day of the election speeches, Tammy got up on stage, and stood with quietly, waiting for the crowd to settl...