Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Story lines of new movies often resemble those of older ones. Before there was Old School, there was PCU, and before there was Van Wilder there was Animal House. A lot of Shakespeare’s works can actually be traced to older sources too.
Borrowing plot elements is nothing new. What matters is if you can tell the story well, whether the story is stolen or not. Devan noticed that a new movie bears a striking resemblance to a movie she’s seen before. She prefers the original.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Devan: I’m so mad about that Charlie Bartlett movie that’s coming out.
Mason: Why? Was it no good? Waste of your admission fee?
Devan: Oh, I haven’t seen it, but I saw the preview and I’m not happy about it.
Mason: How can you…I mean, previews are always terrible. How can you be ticked off about the preview?
Devan: Because it looks like it’s a complete rip off of Rushmore.
Mason: Well, actually the review I read kinda said it was a total rip off of Rushmore in all honesty, so…
Devan: I mean, it’s the rich kid who goes to private school. He gets kicked out of private school. He goes to public school and becomes the hero of his public school. Right? Just like Rushmore.
Mason: Yeah, I guess I didn’t really think about it. But doesn’t he counsel them and he becomes like the school kid psychiatrist?
Devan: Yeah, but I think his character is supposed to be so similar to Jason Schwartzman’s character, but he’s not lovable like Jason Schwartzman, that actor. I just don’t like him. I can tell.
Mason: It’s been a long time since Rushmore. I wouldn’t mind if there was another thing kind of touching in that world.
Devan: Yeah, well, maybe I’ll give it a chance. But I still don’t know if I like it!
Mason: It’s got such a pop culture-y message, right? Doesn’t the rich kid…His parents send to a psychiatrist to try and get his problems all solved with drugs and he ends up pawning the drugs off to other kids. Sounded kinda quirky and funny to me.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Adjectives" from this lesson
Quizzes
Lesson MP3
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Discussion
Mason can’t understand why Devan is upset about the new movie Charlie Bartlett. She hasn’t even seen it! How much can you tell about a movie from a preview anyway?
Apparently a lot. Devan points out that Charlie Bartlett has a really similar premise to Rushmore. Only she doesn’t think the actor who plays Charlie Bartlett is nearly as charming as the star of Rushmore.
Mason doesn’t mind that the two movies are similar. Rushmore came out ten years ago, so it’s been long enough that another, similar movie would be OK. Plus he likes one of the scenes in Charlie Bartlett where Charlie sells his prescription drugs to his friends.
What’s the last truly original movie you saw? What’s the last one you saw with a stolen plot line that you thought was done well?
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