to wonder how many people are getting hideous flashbacks to GCSE English lessons?

[HookedOnHooking]

Watching An Inspector Calls social history blah blah...

I can smell that moldy old temporary classroom.
I feel actually nauseous.

X posts, badgergirl. You say it much better than me.

It was a good post.

Am I allowed to petulantly say 'but it's booooring!'?

Since we are having flashbacks to English lessons at school?

As long as you mean the play and not my post, I won't put you in detention!

It is very relevant now, especially when you are teaching a class who talk themselves about benefit 'scroungers' and often start off wholeheartedly agreeing with Mr Birling's decision to sack Eva. It is fantastic when some of those pupils get a little more thoughtful by the end of the play. Not so great when they start insisting the Inspector was Eva's pimp who has killed her and it is all an elaborate cover-up .

And Gerald loses whatever integrity he looks like having when he bounds in thrilled that the inspector was a fake...

The kids in the classroom love it especially the less able as it's short with a very straightforward storyline and they like the building tension of each scene. (Priestley does ham it up a bit with the end of each scene).

It's relevant in the sense that there is still a real inequality between rich and poor in this country and the judgement places upon those deemed inferior. The kids really get into talking about social injustice and the harsh reality of being 'not rich'. (I work in a very deprived area of London)

I studied An Inspector Calls for GCSE English five years ago. Loved it, it is one of my all time favourite plays. OH played the inspector in a performance a few years ago; the final speech was one of the most difficult to learn, but he said he's never enjoyed a part so much.

That's true. I'd forgotten how relieved Gerald was.

I did mean the play!

I've never understood why Mr B was in such a desperate hurry to cover up the theft - wouldn't be just have said he'd spent it?

Gerald is horrible!

He cheats on Sheila, ditches daisy or whatever she is called at that point (most inconsiderate of Priestley, that is - some kids just Don't Get that she changed her name!) goes back to Sheila and then expects a medal for being upset daisy died.

Honestly!

Was Eva working as a prostitute? It seemed that was implied to me but I might just have misread it.

I'm not sure what else she was doing at the Palace bar. That's how I see it.

I think so Black, the inspector says that after being dismissed by Milwards she tried 'a different kind of life' and the suggestion is that when she met Gerald, she was soliciting.

I agree Gerald often does seem to get given an easy ride but in the context of the play I think that is because his actions did not really harm Eva - certainly, she was no worse off by the time he exited her life than when he entered it which isn't true of the others. It's interesting considering the play from a feminist perspective.

Well the cheating on Sheila was how young men behaved then. He does make sure she has a bit of money at the end of the relationship and doesn't ever try to con her that they have any future. You could say he helped her out at a bad time I suppose though obviously he does use her.
I still don't think his role is as bad as that of Mr and Mrs Birling.

And they are responsible for damaging Eric as well.

But was that an excuse? Genuine question - I mean, Mrs birling behaved as many upper class women did then but she isn't given any allowances.

Yes, badger I agree that he doesn't actively damage her as the others did. Sheila was petulant and acted out of jealousy, Eric was irresponsible but Mr and Mrs Birling were vindictive.

I also loVe an inspector calls.

She consistently refuses to show any remorse or accept any responsibility. And she wants the young man shown up - until it's her son.

You can't help feeling that some scheduling genius at the BBC timed this perfectly though. Inspector's final speech was strikingly reminiscent of Corbyn's speeches. Either that or Corbyn looked at his copy of the radio times and stole the best lines.....?

Gerald's role contrasts with Eric's in the play, black.

It's fair to say both use her for sexual gratification and society is far enough removed from 1948 to say that's unacceptable.

However, Gerald treats her with kindness and respect and is affectionate and gentle towards her. Eric clearly is not. Eric reaches this understanding himself by the end of the play and so we don't entirely lose sympathy with him - we see he is a product of his upbringing - but Gerald shows firstly that someone being lower class isn't a reason, much less an excuse, to treat the, as sub-human and secondly, it shows Eva as a person, as one who in a different context would be capable of giving and receiving love and so it increases audience sympathy with her when she dies.

I don't feel we are intended to sympathise with Gerald as such - as a dramatic technique, it's there so we sympathise with Eva and not Gerald.

I picture the Inspector as Corbyn

Burns I must admit my first thought was that the scheduling was deliberate.

I really enjoyed it at school and tonight. I think Eric comes out of it looking ok because he recognises the harm his actions caused and (certainly in the production tonight) wouldn't let it be minimised.

He is also immediately critical of his father's decision to starve the girls back to work and sack Eva.

No doubt the BBC will now be getting more flak for broadcasting socialist propaganda. John Whittingdale will be plotting his revenge as we speak.

It's certainly relevant. More so than Romeo & Juliet or similar - much as I love Shakespeare.

When looked at in its most raw form, it's essentially about treating people as sub-human which we certainly still do in this country, sadly, and I know it was said in jest but I do feel it's a shame such an important message can be dismissed as "boring."