Today’s the day I had two of the same class in a row to make up for the fact that the instructor was sick last week.

It was stupid, but not unpleasant. It gave the day a feeling of continuity. So even though we spent the whole day talking about feature films (even though 2/3 of us are in the TV stream), I am not really complaining.

We even got to watch a movie that our instructor produced. The movie is called Do Something With Your Life and it’s about a guy in his mid twenties reaching the “what am I doing with my life?” stage that is common these days.

It even has a name : the quarter life crisis. It happens when a young person wakes up from their post-college life of minimum wage jobs, weed, video games, and hooking up and suddenly realizes they have a life and a future and dreams and they are not doing anything to help any of them.

So it’s kind of a spiritual transition between hedonism and something more purposeful. It’s the first true blooming of the desire for context in one’s life. This is the same desire that makes people dig into their family trees or explore the culture they come from.

Or in my case, both.

It was a pretty decent flick. It’s more or less a romantic comedy but doesn’t follow the recipe precisely. It’s got some genuinely funny bits and it explores its themes quite while. The acting is quite good and it’s a solid script. The ending kind of sucks from the point of view of story structure, but at least it’s not cliche.

The really impressive part is that despite looking almost as good as a Hollywood movie, the whole thing was made for around $15,000.

I think the lack of budget actually helped it. Almost everything is shot on location in real people’s houses, yards, and workplaces, and it gives the whole thing a very “real” feel. Everything is easily recognizable and familiar. You’ve been to these houses, you’ve met these people, you’ve worked these crappy jobs.

It honestly makes me want to explore this kind of cinema verite approach myself. It reminded me of Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind, which stands in my (not so spotless) mind as the most real feeling movie I have ever seen.

It might seem a trifle indulgent for the instructor to show one of his own movies in class, but it was actually quite awesome because it meant that we got to watch a movie then ask questions of one of the main people behind it. That’s an invaluable resource for us entertainment biz wannabes.

But the instructor let something slip that really shocked me and struck me as just plain wrong. Apparently, he and two other instructors are planning on taking nearly a month off to go on vacation together, and my instructor plans to make up for the class time he will be missing by having four of the same class in the same week. 

That’s totally unacceptable. It shows a gobsmacking disrespect for the students and really strikes me as the sort of thing that can only happen when institutional decadence has gotten  to the point where people feel free to do whatever they can get away with.

Clearly, someone is not doing such a great job of instilling dedication and discipline in the staff. Everyone knows that, in strictly self-oriented terms, nothing bad will happen to them if they phone it in or pull stunts like this vacation clusterfuck. The place will still be there, the money will continue to roll in at a staggering rate, the students will be forced to accept whatever they are given, and everything will be sunshine and lollipops… for them.

Meanwhile, us students feel kind of left out of the equation and taken for granted. It makes me feel like VFS is coasting on its reputation as a top tier school and that the teachers tell themselves “Well, what the kids really want is the diploma and the career opportunities, and they will still get those, so who cares what they are actually taught?”.

I probably shouldn’t be talking about this. It could conceivably come back to bite me on the ass some day. But I had to say something about it on the record. I just can’t keep quiet about this. It’s just plain wrong.

One of the other people taking this trip is the head of the department I am in. I get the feeling he doesn’t take his job very seriously. And when the leader doesn’t take things seriously, neither will those he leads. The rot starts from the top.

I’m not saying I am getting a terrible education. It’s actually quite good. I learn a lot at school. I feel like my evolution as a writer is progressing at light speed compared to what I could accomplish on my own. And I am not saying my instructors are incompetent. They are doing a fine job.

It’s more about what message they are sending out when they treat things so lightly. It’s also a feeling I get that morale is pretty low in my department. It’s hard for people to find purpose in their work when they are led by someone who gives off the impression that he really doesn’t give a shit.

So my feeling is that the instructors feel alienated from the institution of VFS, and like they are on their own as far as VFS is concerned. People need leaders who make them feel like they are part of something greater than themselves, and who is willing to enforce the rules in order to make people feel like there is some kind of justice and structure to their lives. When that is not there, things fall apart.

Maybe I am totally wrong. This could just be my issues doing the talking. I certainly have strong feelings about being treated like an afterthought.

And hey, no matter what, I will graduate, get my degree, and hopefully a career in the biz.

And I guess that’s all that matters. Right?

I will talk to you nice people tomorrow.