(no subject)
Can I post this here cos I don't belong to any other History Boys comms.
I've seen the film countless times and I've now seen the play 3 times, and I'm still confused about when Rudge explains that Christ Church college told him he'd got in at the interview.
I've checked the film script and will put here what it says:
Mrs Lintott: I'm sorry
Rudge: What for? I got in
ML: How come?
R: How come they told me or how come they took a thick sod like me? I had family connections
ML: Somebody in your family went to Christ Church?
R: In a manner of speaking. My dad. Before he got married he was a college servant there. This old parson who was just sitting there for most of the interview suddenly said was I related to Bill Rudge who'd been a scout of Staircase 7 in the 1950s. So I said he was my dad, and they said I was just the kind of candidate they were looking for. Mind you, I did all the other stuff like Stalin was a sweetie and Wilfred Owen was a wuss. They said I was plainly someone who thought for himself and just what the college rugger team needed.
Now, to my mind there are two scenarios:
a) Rudge's dad really was a scout in the 50s, and that's why he chose Christ Church which, as Headmaster says earlier in the play, is a notoriously difficult college (it's tiny, and he's supposedly "thick" - probably less able than other candidates, anyway) to get into - but he wants to go because it's in the family/important to his dad
b) Rudge has learnt Irwin's lesson about lying really quite well, and so when the parson offers him this 'in' he grabs at it and lies, says this fellow was his dad. If you look at what he says, he says "I said he was my dad" - just a turn of phrase or actually admitting "I lied and said he was my dad"?
What do you think? Does it matter?
(I saw HB on Saturday at the Crucible in Sheffield with Matthew Kelly playing Hector - he was surprisingly good! Dakin and Scripps were HELLA SLASHY and Dakin shagged Fiona over the headmaster's desk!)
I've seen the film countless times and I've now seen the play 3 times, and I'm still confused about when Rudge explains that Christ Church college told him he'd got in at the interview.
I've checked the film script and will put here what it says:
Mrs Lintott: I'm sorry
Rudge: What for? I got in
ML: How come?
R: How come they told me or how come they took a thick sod like me? I had family connections
ML: Somebody in your family went to Christ Church?
R: In a manner of speaking. My dad. Before he got married he was a college servant there. This old parson who was just sitting there for most of the interview suddenly said was I related to Bill Rudge who'd been a scout of Staircase 7 in the 1950s. So I said he was my dad, and they said I was just the kind of candidate they were looking for. Mind you, I did all the other stuff like Stalin was a sweetie and Wilfred Owen was a wuss. They said I was plainly someone who thought for himself and just what the college rugger team needed.
Now, to my mind there are two scenarios:
a) Rudge's dad really was a scout in the 50s, and that's why he chose Christ Church which, as Headmaster says earlier in the play, is a notoriously difficult college (it's tiny, and he's supposedly "thick" - probably less able than other candidates, anyway) to get into - but he wants to go because it's in the family/important to his dad
b) Rudge has learnt Irwin's lesson about lying really quite well, and so when the parson offers him this 'in' he grabs at it and lies, says this fellow was his dad. If you look at what he says, he says "I said he was my dad" - just a turn of phrase or actually admitting "I lied and said he was my dad"?
What do you think? Does it matter?
(I saw HB on Saturday at the Crucible in Sheffield with Matthew Kelly playing Hector - he was surprisingly good! Dakin and Scripps were HELLA SLASHY and Dakin shagged Fiona over the headmaster's desk!)