The Class Ethnography In the movie The Class, Professor Francois Marin uses many phrases that his students didn’t understand. For example, he was trying to explain the word “succulent” to his class by using it in a sentence. He started to say that cheeseburgers were succulent, and a student replied saying cheeseburgers stink, and began questioning why he even chose cheeseburgers. Professor Marin responded by correcting his statement, cheeseburgers were not succulent, and that even though he chose cheeseburgers, that ‘should have made the penny drop’. The students of the classroom were muddled with that phrase. They didn’t understand what it meant and Francois had to explain it to them. This scene displays the differences in cultures, and how it affects the use of words and phrases people use in their every day lives. According to Edward Burnett Tylor, culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Primitive Culture 1). While observing the characters in the movie, I could tell Professor Marin and the students in the classroom all come from different backgrounds and cultures. The different backgrounds that emit from each person aided to the constant arguments and outbreaks that occurred throughout the film. Some of the students didn’t really understand why they had to learn certain things. They took their education for granted, and weren’t very open to learning new things. For instance, Francois was teaching imperfect imperative to the class and the students again, started questioning Francois’ teaching. They didn’t comprehend why they had to learn imperfect imperative when their elders went on with life just fine without using imperfect imperative. Professor Marin’s culture views education as important and values it very much. However, the students like Khoumba and Esmeralda didn’t quite grasp the concept of learning the proper French language. On another hand, Wei seems to be a known as a very intelligent student. In Steve Striffler’s “Chicken” he mentions, “how important life outside the factory is for immigrants (Striffler p126).” This explains the fact that Wei is such a hard working student. His parents who are immigrants push him to be a great student and to persevere in what he does, because ‘life outside the factory,’ his education, is significant. Having come from different backgrounds has an effect on what people value, and what’s important and what’s not. This sort of cultural differences reminds me of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The quote, “The medical establishment will always believe that life of the patient takes precedence over anything else, while the Hmong will always turn to their cultural concept that the soul was important (Fadiman)” exhibits the culture differences between Western Medicine and the Hmong, and how it lead to hardships in Lia’s life. The cultural differences in the classroom aided to hardships in a smooth and productive learning environment. In this film, there is definitely a form of hierarchy between the people in the film. There are many ways to recognize who’s higher up in ranking as opposed to who’s at the bottom. It is pretty obvious that Professor Francois Marin is in a higher ranking than his students. First of all, he has authority over them. They must obey him, and if they don’t he can give them a bad report or send them to the principal’s office. You can also tell by his clothes. His attire consists of button down shirts and dress pants whereas his students wear more provocative clothing. The way they talk to each other also exploits that Professor Marin is of a higher ranking. He speaks with correct grammar and French, and speaks in a more professional and respectful tone than his students. As Wei, one of his students said, “young people now have no shame; they yell, hit, bother others, no shame,” this
