On J List of Movie Reviews
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Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
11/12, 9/20
11/12:
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. is a realistic picture that rings true in every aspect of life.
It's Poetic Justice meets
Straight Out of Brooklyn. Ultimately, Leslie Harris makes a
statement: "A film Hollywood dared not do." How true. And sadly, it remains the only one of her directorial
career.
The reason why critics had been harsh is Ariyan Johnson. I can see why they hated her character, but that's
the whole point. What she did is Oscar-worthy and a dead-on portrayal of many black (the race doesn't matter
although) female teenagers who reside in the projects and the like, attending Title I schools. Chantel keeps
saying she's smart, gets all A's, and takes calculus to justify her intelligence. Well, let me tell you a
story to demonstrate how real it is.
I used to be a mathematics teacher at a high school that served inner city students (as a matter of fact, you
can change the setting of New York City's five boroughs to Camden, Trenton, Newark, Atlantic City, etc.; it's
all the same to me) where I taught all classes from algebra to AP Calculus. My experiences with precalculus and
calculus students were interesting.
Not a single student knew anything beyond 2nd grade math, and none of them could recall a simple algebra technique.
So, it was a tough time for me to get through the year, trying to build a scaffold without getting a lot of hassle
from students, their parents, and the administrators. The complaints were always in the form of "dat be fake,"
"da test dis racist," "wha da fuck dis?," etc. I had a lot of students who were barely failing telling me, "I
alwa got all A. Da ain't right." Well, there were a lot of times I wished I could tell them they knew nothing
about math.
Truth be told, every student in the school I worked at was allowed to pass and then take upper level courses,
regardless of how much they knew. It's how some of them got into the AP classes
for English, history, calculus, biology, etc., and they always scored '1' on the national exams.
Why? It's because they knew nothing. They showed zero academic discipline and had no idea of what the standards
were. At the end of four years, at least two students got full scholarship to a major four-year university simply
because they were "outgoing," "social," and "mature," regardless of their academic performance. Race and low
socioeconomic background were big factors in their selection.
I knew one who was exactly like Chantel who ended up taking AP calculus under me, eventually scoring '1' on the
exam. She got into a huge trouble for beating a black girl nearly to death but graduated anyway and got a full
ride to a top 25 university [psst...she never got a degree there]. That's the reality of Title I schools. It's
virtually impossible to teach academics to these students who acted like they knew it all, did not adhere to
academic standards, and thought (actually deceived by the school into thinking) they were succeeding in life.
It's no fun to work with these kids. Watching Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. forced me to relive the
memories of handling these kids with horrible attitudes. Until Chantel loses it, she'll never amount to anything
more than a minimum wage job. Why I think the film is a masterpiece is it's absolutely true.
By the way, there's an intriguing moment when Chantel's baby was dumped in a trash bag. This actually foretold,
which I knew for years, an incident in 1997 of a high school girl named Melissa Drexler from Lacey Township, New
Jersey, who gave birth in the bathroom during her senior prom and discarded her newborn baby in the trash can
before returning to the dance floor. She was eventually found guilty of aggravated manslaughter but served
only paltry three years in prison.
All in all, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the inner
city youth and, more importantly, how they think.
9/20:
My eyes rolled a lot while listening to Chantel Mitchell about how she had it all figured out, and all I could
say was "yeah, um...okay."
No matter how I feel about the girl, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. is an impressive movie that points
out what's wrong with these know-it-all teens. The movie was made in 1992, and today, it's relevant and prevalent
as ever. Sometimes, I search on the internet to see what happened to some of these people I knew who had
similar mindset as hers, and I chuckle because the picture ain't pretty.
Chantel Mitchell is a dime a dozen. I view her as a budding angry black female, and it's not a good thing.
The vice principal hit the nail on the head when describing Chantel's problem: lack of class. She needs to learn
how to act ladylike; otherwise, nobody is going to take Chantel seriously, regardless of her age. A
bullshit artist, she making it in any math class, most especially calculus, won't happen. In case if you
don't know what "I.R.T." is, it stands for Interborough Rapid Transit.
All in all, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. isn't everybody's cup of tea, but there's a lot of truth in it.