“Weapons” and the importance of classroom rapport
*The following essay contains spoilers, read at your own discretion.*
As teachers decorate their classrooms, set up seating charts, and pick their designated crying corner, a loud groan echoes through the hallways – it's back-to-school time. This year, the start of classes comes just as Zach Cregger’s horror film “Weapons” unlocked a new nightmare for teachers and made $42.5 million in the box office.
“Weapons” follows 17 students from the same class leaving their respective houses in the middle of the night and disappearing. They all belong to Ms. Justine Gandy’s class. Meanwhile, only one student returns to class. The entire town demands answers from her and makes her the scapegoat.
The story is told through six different perspectives: Gandy (Julia Garner), the father of one of the missing children Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a recovering alcoholic cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), a drug addict James (Austin Abrams), the principal of the school Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), and the remaining student Alex (Cary Christopher).
Through mystery, suspense and laugh-out-loud moments, Cregger’s film highlights the importance of a teacher building rapport with their students.
The last section of the film tells the story through the perspective of the remaining student from Ms. Gandy’s class, Alex. His aunt Gladys casts a spell on the children who she needs to stay alive because of an undisclosed sickness. His parents are under the same witchery.
As Alex grabs objects from each of his classmates for his aunt, Ms. Gandy follows him and asks him if everything is okay. She reassures him that he can talk to her about anything. But, the child does not say a word about his aunt Gladys because she warned him against it. If he did speak about her, she would kill his parents.
Students spend about 1,200 hours a year with their teachers, according to a private educator coaching company Stay Ahead of the Game. For the last 11 years, I worked in various roles in a classroom – from teacher’s aide to full-time teacher. My first step was always to learn everyone’s name and set up a learning environment healthy enough to discuss any matter.
Rapport creates a learning environment for the students that will improve the learning in the class, according to the University of Pittsburgh.
If Alex had that kind of rapport with his teacher, the movie would have ended right away.
He would have told Ms. Gandy.
Children Protective Services would have taken care of the rest.
Instead, Alex stayed silent and Aunt Gladys kept haunting his parents. Under her spell, they faced the film’s real horror: a life of eating nothing but soup.
I know they are white and they couldn’t care less for flavor, but a lifetime of it sounds worse than any iteration of hell from any religion.
As teachers return to the classroom, I hope they make it a point to smile at each student, remember their names as soon as they can, and care about their feelings, because it can be the difference between a lifetime of no flavor and great food.
I worked for an administrator who told me I was getting paid to be a teacher, not building rapport. What a bitch. I hope he lives the rest of his days eating Campbell’s soup.