Actor W. C. Fields observed that "Some contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch ... If a thing is worth having, it's worth cheating for." On the surface, "The Paper Store" is about cheating in the plagiarism of term papers. But at its heart, the film seeks to offer a broader slice of life of academe today.
Miss Annalee Monegan has a brilliant mind that she puts to use in writing papers for university students and charging a hefty fee. Mr. Sigurd Rossdale is also a gifted intellect who pays for Miss Monegan's services to get through required courses so that he can focus on his Masters thesis. The couple starts an unorthodox relationship that is stormy and lacks an emotional connection.
Mr. Marty Kane is the instructor who discovers the cheating when Miss Monegan turns in Mr. Rossdale after she feels betrayed by him. As a consequence, Miss Monegan is not punished for committing fraud, but promoted to teaching assistant while the instructor Mr. Kane pulls together his tenure dossier and only requires that Mr. Rossdale rewrite his papers.
The filmmakers failed to capture even the basics about tenure at a university. An adjunct like Mr. Kane would not be considered for tenure unless he spent five or six years on a tenure-track. And the tenure committee would not care about whether he was grading undergraduates too high or a graduate student too low. Such a committee could care less about teaching and would only be evaluating Mr. Kane's research dossier and publication record.
The strength of "The Paper Store" was in the well-crafted dialogue, especially the repartee between Miss Monegan and Mr. Rossdale. The interchanges were lively and served as a parody of the arcane theoretical jargon of a liberal arts course in film art. Some of the commentary about the films of David Cronenberg was so far-fetched that the heart of the discussion addressed abstract matters that Cronenberg would likely have never considered in his ghoulish yet imaginative films.
The three principal actors were outstanding in capturing the fluff of today's academic discourse. And the film was successful in raising the question about the true value of an education today. If their years spent in the academy were to have an intrinsic meaning to students' personal lives, it was not apparent in any of the students depicted in this film. As portrayed in the film's closing scenes, the only goal would appear to be a worthless diploma.
Miss Annalee Monegan has a brilliant mind that she puts to use in writing papers for university students and charging a hefty fee. Mr. Sigurd Rossdale is also a gifted intellect who pays for Miss Monegan's services to get through required courses so that he can focus on his Masters thesis. The couple starts an unorthodox relationship that is stormy and lacks an emotional connection.
Mr. Marty Kane is the instructor who discovers the cheating when Miss Monegan turns in Mr. Rossdale after she feels betrayed by him. As a consequence, Miss Monegan is not punished for committing fraud, but promoted to teaching assistant while the instructor Mr. Kane pulls together his tenure dossier and only requires that Mr. Rossdale rewrite his papers.
The filmmakers failed to capture even the basics about tenure at a university. An adjunct like Mr. Kane would not be considered for tenure unless he spent five or six years on a tenure-track. And the tenure committee would not care about whether he was grading undergraduates too high or a graduate student too low. Such a committee could care less about teaching and would only be evaluating Mr. Kane's research dossier and publication record.
The strength of "The Paper Store" was in the well-crafted dialogue, especially the repartee between Miss Monegan and Mr. Rossdale. The interchanges were lively and served as a parody of the arcane theoretical jargon of a liberal arts course in film art. Some of the commentary about the films of David Cronenberg was so far-fetched that the heart of the discussion addressed abstract matters that Cronenberg would likely have never considered in his ghoulish yet imaginative films.
The three principal actors were outstanding in capturing the fluff of today's academic discourse. And the film was successful in raising the question about the true value of an education today. If their years spent in the academy were to have an intrinsic meaning to students' personal lives, it was not apparent in any of the students depicted in this film. As portrayed in the film's closing scenes, the only goal would appear to be a worthless diploma.
