There are many reasons why you may feel that studying for a degree is not the best idea right now. Perhaps, your financial situation is not the best or you are not quite sure what you would like to do in the future.
Regardless, you surely know that it is much easier to get ahead in the modern world with a degree than without one. Indeed, a degree is not synonymous with success, but it is a bridge that can help you get there.
Of course, often what we need to get out of our comfort zone is a little motivation and what better way to get motivated than a movie! If you are tired of buying an argumentative essay and other academic papers, we’ve compiled 5 movie tapes that, besides being very well made, will motivate you to continue (or start) your studies.
The Paper Chase (1973)
This interesting movie tells the story of James T. Hart (Timothy Bottoms), a first-year law student at Harvard, who quickly discovers that student life is not very easy.
Hart has a good fortune (or misfortune) of running into a very demanding professor in his Contracts class. Charls W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman), is a professor who believes strongly in the Socratic method of teaching. That is, instead of reciting a series of concepts expecting students to learn them and be able to repeat them, he asks his students direct questions and they must answer.
The film shows quite clearly how, despite the fact that every student has the same tools at their disposal, the attitude and predisposition of the students are what really leads them to success. Add to that the fact that our protagonist decides to fall in love with this teacher’s daughter, and you have all the necessary ingredients to enjoy a very entertaining movie.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Great actresses like Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, give life to this film set in the early 50s and explore the challenges faced by women who wanted to break the status quo and dedicate themselves to study and work.
The plot revolves around Professor Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who wants her students, some of the brightest women in the country, to achieve great goals commensurate with their immense potential. However, she soon realizes that the college institution does not share her idea and that an engagement ring is considered better than any education.
The professor influences her students to think for themselves and not get stuck in what society demands of them. She invites them to at least consider all the opportunities that a college education can bring them.
The Great Debaters (2007)
This film, starring Denzel Washington, is set in 1935 and tells the story of the Wiley University debate team, which was made up entirely of African Americans and, in addition, by a woman of color, who suffered double discrimination because of her gender and skin color.
This team began to win every debate in which it participated, discussing very controversial issues of the time, such as racial discrimination and civil disobedience. Their victories resonated so much that they were eventually invited to debate against Harvard, the undisputed champions of the time, triggering an unprecedented social event.
The film explores the injustices suffered by black people during the Great Depression era in the United States, where racist (Jim Crow) laws and lynchings were a persistent fear for people of color, as well as the importance of education in overcoming systems where ignorance reigns.
The Student (2009)
Mexican cinema also has a few gems that can motivate you to study. The best of them all is The Student, a film that tells the story of Chano, a 70-year-old man who decides it’s time to fulfill his dream of graduating from college.
As a good comedy, the film humorously depicts the various conflicts that arise from the huge generation gap between Chano and the rest of the students at the university. However, far from being a problem, it shows the value of taking care of certain traditions and valuing what our parents and grandparents did, applying, of course, the different nuances provided by a more technological and interconnected world.
A very good film that shows the value of both the knowledge gained through study and that which arises from personal experience.
Nil Battey Sannata – The New Classmate (2016)
This film coming from Hindi cinema, tells the touching story of Chanda (Swara Bhaskar) and Apu (Ria Shukla), mother and daughter respectively.
Apu is a student with little motivation who manages, despite everything, to graduate from high school. Like her classmates, she has a lot of trouble understanding complicated subjects like math and science, so she is not very interested in continuing her studies.
Her mother, however, is convinced that her daughter can achieve great things if she sets her mind to it. Since the family did not have enough money to pay for Apu’s education, Chanda goes to Doctor Diwan (Ratna Pathak), for whom she used to work as a maid, and asks for help, to which he advises her to enroll in one of Apu’s classes to learn mathematics and thus teach the subject to her daughter.
This event triggers a series of events that will push the relationship between the two to the limit and demonstrate the importance of education and effort.
Final words
Each of these films explores education differently. Some are dramas and others are comedies, but at the end of the day, their purpose is to show you that it is worth the effort to study. If there was one you enjoyed more than the others, let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear what you think!