Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Scarface: School Edition

I'm all for promoting the arts with children. One of the best classes I took while getting my Master's in Elementary Education focused on infusing arts in all aspects of the classroom. I know I used various rap songs in my teaching, but I would always change lyrics or use "clean" versions.

The video below is of a school play version of "Scarface" -- yes, you read that correctly -- the movie starring Al Pacino that deals with coke, killing, coke, coke, and just a little more coke for good measure. I haven't found out where the video is from yet, but I do know that I think I can safely say this is NOT a good use of arts in education. What is this school doing next year? Requiem for a Dream: the Musical??




Now, the awful side of me did laugh at 2 parts:

1) The pile of popcorn representing cocaine.
2) The dutiful drama teacher ushering on the student at the end so he wouldn't miss his cue. (I'm definitely burning in hell because I watched this part 3 times laughing harder each time at sincerity of the teacher.)

2 comments:

  1. I saw this on FB as posted by Kevin Meaney, the comedian. He says he directed it at a theater camp and is very proud of the students. Not sure if that is accurate or not. Personally, I think it's over the line, but agree that the popcorn was a nice touch.

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  2. That hysterical (or horrifying) version of "Scarface" making the rounds -- with grade school kids playing all the parts and spewing the f-word..."fudge" -- yeah, it's not an actual school play. Instead, it's the work of director Marc Klasfeld and Rockhard Films -- who did the videos for Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" and Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment."
    Just found this comment on the YouTube channel that posted the video:

    "It was produced in L.A. within the last few weeks and the audience members were a mix of cast family members, colleagues and friends.

    As for L'il Tony and his co-stars, they were selected through a casting agent known for finding child actor look-alikes for adult stars.The fake scar was a nice touch. "

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