"School of Rock" Heroic Analysis of ... Dewey Finn?
I know what you are thinking: There is no way in H-E-double guitar picks that Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a hero. But I'd like to make a case that a lazy, lying, no-good slouch is heroic in this movie, and that his journey throughout the film shaped him into a character capable of modeling ideal behavior in youths - as ideal as rock and roll. Though Finn is definitely not without his faults, especially when it comes to his behavior around children, if we let go of some of our walls of rationality, I think we can chisel out a hero.
Seriously, though, try to join me here on this thought experiment: Can a bad person be a hero by accident? I mean, come on. If we dissect this film with a realistic lens, Finn should be arrested and jailed. He lies to children, kidnaps them from school, lies to the school and their parents, causes them to lose 3 weeks from their very expensive curriculum, and places children in dangerous situations around shady people who do drugs out of the back of their vans. A hero he is not. However, he fits the archetype! Though his methods are irrational, and his intent from the jump had nothing to do with helping others, he ends the day a hero.
SEPARATION / DEPARTURE
Finn is forced out of his Ordinary World when his band kicks him out of the group. He is selfish, lazy, and doesn't do anything to help others or contribute to society. He lives off his friend, the true substitute teacher Ned Schneebly (Mike White), and has a Call to Adventure when he pretends to be Ned by taking one of his substitute teacher positions at a private elementary school. This presents him with the situation that will allow him to begin to help others, though he doesn't know at the time.
Finn thus Refuses the Call as he is still only concerned with being a rock-star. He does not care about the children, and does not even consider trying to educate them. He, at this point in the film, is still only thinking of himself and desperately clings to the notion that being a musician is his only option.
As time goes by, Finn learns that the children have musical talents, and decide that they will be his ticket to winning the Battle of the Bands. He wants to defeat his former band that abandoned him, but he also still wants to be a rock and roller. He has a Meeting of the Mentor when he meets the children, because the more time that he spends with the children, the more compassionate and selfless he becomes. Though he never truly loses that part of him that vigorously wants to and will do anything to rock, his selfishness takes a hit the more he works with them. The kids are able to connect with him, and Finn learns lessons he would not have otherwise understood.
In fact it is because of the children that Finn finally Accepts the Call and Crosses the First Threshold, which is the moment he brings music into the classroom. This moment represents the first instance he does something for someone else, though he still does not know it. To accept this rationale, you have to subscribe to the notion that art, to some or any degree, is beneficial to educating the youth. By introducing the students to recreational music, he allows them to not only explore a new potential passion, but he teaches them lessons that they need that they wouldn't get through regular means. He helps them find the confidence to be themselves, even when faced with adversity. He helps them discover determination to stand their ground and fight for what they believe is right. He teaches them that life is not always about grades and demerits, but about passion.
I'll leave it up to you to figure out what Finn's Supernatural Aid is. It's very easy to determine what allows him to connect with the world as a person, what allows him to connect with the children on a level that other teachers haven't been able to, and allows him to change the children, and himself, by the end of the film. Alright fine, I'll spill the information: It's music, duh! But not all music is presented equally in the film, clearly Rock and Roll has superpowers.
Finn begins his complex web of lies, *cough* I mean his Road of Trials. Hercules had to battle the cyclops, Luke had to become one with the force, but our friend Finn has to keep up his persona rouse so that he can earn a check, pay rent, not get evicted, while not being discovered by the school, the children, the children's parental units, his roommate's b***hy girlfriend, and prepare for and ultimately win the Battle of the Bands. I would argue he had much more weight on his shoulders than any traditional hero. Who CARES that Darth Vader is your father when the Battle of the Bands is on the LINE!
So Finn gets the job, fools everyone, gets the kids accepted in the Battle of the Bands, tricks Principal Mullins (Joan Cusack) into allowing his field-trip TO the Battle of the Bands, and WHAM! He gets caught. His Enemies take a step closer to winning. And just to make sure you believe me that he has enemies like a true hero would, let's go back to the beginning for just a moment.
Ned's girlfriend, Patty Di Marco (Sarah Silverman) has it out for him from the start. To her defense, he is kind of a good for nothing bum, but everyone is capable of change. His entire band kicks him to the curb like an accidentally dropped scoop of ice cream are all antagonists to his journey.
But Finn also has Allies. Ned Schneebly ends on a positive note and stands up to Patty in the end and supports Finn. All of the children come to his defense in the end as well, and though the collective forms a mentor for him, they can also be seen as the allies that Finn needs to be considered a true hero.
Now things get fun for Finn. He loses everything, and so is in his Belly of the Whale. He is at his lowest possible point and Approaches his Inmost Cave. He is jobless, friendless, soon-to-be apartment-less. I'd also imagine the cops would be showing up at his door any moment to, you know, charge him with something.
But then, the ending of the movie saves Finn from himself. The children provide Finn a Rescue from Without moment, as they are the ones to save him from himself. They cause him to understand what really matters. He even manages to steal an Atonement in there just before the conclusion, and he apologies to the chirren' for being who he is.
"I want to say I'm sorry that I used you guys. I'm sorry I lied. And it's not cool to lie to your band."
And the rest is history. The kids and Finn rock out the Battle of the Bands. They lose, but they win the crowd consensus, so they really ended up winning. Additionally, Finn is a winner because he was able to do all of these bad things and not only avoid a 5-10 year prison sentence, but manages to open up a literal school for Rock and Roll. So, very rapidly, Finn obtains his Ultimate Boon, which is rocking out at the Battle of the Bands, and he is able to Return with the Elixir, or Master Both Worlds, by becoming a music teacher. See, it all worked out in the end.
Finn lives a better life. Schneebly gets a better life. The kids gain a creative outlet. The parents don't sue the pants off the school. Everyone wins. #Winning
After all, it is a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll.
Finn thus Refuses the Call as he is still only concerned with being a rock-star. He does not care about the children, and does not even consider trying to educate them. He, at this point in the film, is still only thinking of himself and desperately clings to the notion that being a musician is his only option.
As time goes by, Finn learns that the children have musical talents, and decide that they will be his ticket to winning the Battle of the Bands. He wants to defeat his former band that abandoned him, but he also still wants to be a rock and roller. He has a Meeting of the Mentor when he meets the children, because the more time that he spends with the children, the more compassionate and selfless he becomes. Though he never truly loses that part of him that vigorously wants to and will do anything to rock, his selfishness takes a hit the more he works with them. The kids are able to connect with him, and Finn learns lessons he would not have otherwise understood.
In fact it is because of the children that Finn finally Accepts the Call and Crosses the First Threshold, which is the moment he brings music into the classroom. This moment represents the first instance he does something for someone else, though he still does not know it. To accept this rationale, you have to subscribe to the notion that art, to some or any degree, is beneficial to educating the youth. By introducing the students to recreational music, he allows them to not only explore a new potential passion, but he teaches them lessons that they need that they wouldn't get through regular means. He helps them find the confidence to be themselves, even when faced with adversity. He helps them discover determination to stand their ground and fight for what they believe is right. He teaches them that life is not always about grades and demerits, but about passion.
I'll leave it up to you to figure out what Finn's Supernatural Aid is. It's very easy to determine what allows him to connect with the world as a person, what allows him to connect with the children on a level that other teachers haven't been able to, and allows him to change the children, and himself, by the end of the film. Alright fine, I'll spill the information: It's music, duh! But not all music is presented equally in the film, clearly Rock and Roll has superpowers.
INITIATION
Finn begins his complex web of lies, *cough* I mean his Road of Trials. Hercules had to battle the cyclops, Luke had to become one with the force, but our friend Finn has to keep up his persona rouse so that he can earn a check, pay rent, not get evicted, while not being discovered by the school, the children, the children's parental units, his roommate's b***hy girlfriend, and prepare for and ultimately win the Battle of the Bands. I would argue he had much more weight on his shoulders than any traditional hero. Who CARES that Darth Vader is your father when the Battle of the Bands is on the LINE!
So Finn gets the job, fools everyone, gets the kids accepted in the Battle of the Bands, tricks Principal Mullins (Joan Cusack) into allowing his field-trip TO the Battle of the Bands, and WHAM! He gets caught. His Enemies take a step closer to winning. And just to make sure you believe me that he has enemies like a true hero would, let's go back to the beginning for just a moment.
Ned's girlfriend, Patty Di Marco (Sarah Silverman) has it out for him from the start. To her defense, he is kind of a good for nothing bum, but everyone is capable of change. His entire band kicks him to the curb like an accidentally dropped scoop of ice cream are all antagonists to his journey.
But Finn also has Allies. Ned Schneebly ends on a positive note and stands up to Patty in the end and supports Finn. All of the children come to his defense in the end as well, and though the collective forms a mentor for him, they can also be seen as the allies that Finn needs to be considered a true hero.
Now things get fun for Finn. He loses everything, and so is in his Belly of the Whale. He is at his lowest possible point and Approaches his Inmost Cave. He is jobless, friendless, soon-to-be apartment-less. I'd also imagine the cops would be showing up at his door any moment to, you know, charge him with something.
But then, the ending of the movie saves Finn from himself. The children provide Finn a Rescue from Without moment, as they are the ones to save him from himself. They cause him to understand what really matters. He even manages to steal an Atonement in there just before the conclusion, and he apologies to the chirren' for being who he is.
"I want to say I'm sorry that I used you guys. I'm sorry I lied. And it's not cool to lie to your band."
- Dewey Finn
Through this Atonement and Rescue, the Dewey Finn that pretends to be Ned Schneebly dies a metaphorical death, and Dewey Finn is reborn a metaphorical new life as himself, Dewey Finn. This is Finn's heroic Apotheosis, or Resurrection moment.
Finn lives a better life. Schneebly gets a better life. The kids gain a creative outlet. The parents don't sue the pants off the school. Everyone wins. #Winning
After all, it is a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll.
FINAL THOUGHTS
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