MovieChat Forums > Lean on Me (1989) Discussion > Clark was kinda a villain in the first h...

Clark was kinda a villain in the first half

posted 9 years ago by robert-macc
10 replies | jump to latest

He did certain things that the real Clark, I'm sure, would not have ever done:
-humiliating a kid like that for something petty like stealing someone's piece of meat. And then mocking how he dresses. I know he was a former drug dealer (Sams) but still...
-humiliating a teacher just because he was picking up something someone dropped by accident (Mr Darnell) and insulting him like that in front of everyone
-bragging about how he's the head "nigg@ in charge". How is that any different from any of the thugs who claim to be "the man" in the streets.
The second half changes Clark into more how the real Clark was -- respectful of others.
-another thing in the first half -- grabbing Sams by his shirt like he's dirt

No offense but the Clark in the first half of the movie is kinda a bastard, despite all the good things he did (like expelling the troublemakers and getting rid of worthless teachers).

[–] eddysl12 9 years ago

Clark did tell Sams that he would be watching him like a hawk. If he let Sams steal that meat in plain sight, he would be undermining his own authority as well as doing Sams no favor.

The pointing out how Sams was sloppily dressed was to point out that if you don't have respect for yourself, you are not going to get it from anyone else. Your respect for yourself and thus what you think of yourself has to come first.

Clark was trying to instill a sense of order and strict discipline into a school that didn't have any of it. You also can't expect of your students what you don't expect of your teachers.

Clark was the HNIC, he was the legitimate authority of that school and not illegitimate authority like a gang leader. Which type of authority was going to prevail was the question.

The school was a violent, filthy place filled with criminals and criminal assaults and to overcome that it needed an extremely harsh and strict authority to put into place a virtual revolution. After order had been re-established, then a re-evaluation and perhaps a certain relaxation of very strict rules could be allowed to occur.

Yes, when dealing with a very mean, rotten situation sometimes you have to be the ass#ole, a combination of good guy and bad guy that the situation requires. To be a good boss requires this combination.

Sometimes it's good to be the ass#ole, a real bastard when a situation requires it. If it is not in you to be that, then you should not be in a position of authority.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago

"Head *beep* in charge" -- how is a teacher say *beep* any different from thugs saying it. It's kinda unclassy and unprofessional don't you think.
It would have been different if he said "el jefe" in charge then I understand he's the boss and he means business. Street slang he could have used without having to resort to that. Even "I run this place." That's why I connect it to the thug. Even Clark never said *beep* This movie kinda made Clark fairly thugnificent (without all the thug related stuff)

[–] eddysl12 9 years ago

Well none of us is absolutely perfect. Clark in the movie did not use the N-word, he used the phrase " HNIC ". I suppose your criticism is that the N-word is included in the phrase.

Since I am white I have no idea how many times a black may actually hear that word used against themselves nowadays. I would suspect fairly infrequently, but certainly a white can think it at times and perhaps give off a look that says it.

There is an episode of Star Trek TOS where Jim Kirk is split into two different people- one is meek and nothing but total goodness, the other is violent, self-centered, and gives off a vibe of evil. Some excerpts from the book " Ship of the Line " which addresses this subject: " ( Picard speaking to the meek Kirk ) We always imagine that if we could take away the aggression and base needs, the dark gut reactions of human beings, we would have a superior man. You don't look very superior right now, Captain Kirk. "

" Is that bit of evil in us really the thing that makes us strong? The tough side, getting angry, the survival instinct ... is that what makes us move faster, think harder ... some call it an edge. " Eye of the tiger ." But every brute has that. "

The point of that episode was to demonstrate that we need the good and saintly part of ourselves as well as the brutish, thuggish part of our selves as well, in order to function as people, or more precisely, as leaders.

You don't want to be warm and soft ALL THE TIME when dealing with people nor do you want to be cold and hard ALL THE TIME with dealing with people.

A good leader has to be a combination of saint and sinner, of soft and hard, of gentleman and thug, of refined and vulgar, and neither be afraid of or ashamed of either of these parts, when they are required.

That is a tall order, which is why most people do not make good leaders.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago

He doesn't say the word, but that's what means. I don't have a problem with *beep* so much (not because I like the one), but I understand he used it in the context to show what others were thinking of the kids. It's the "nigg@" (which HNIC meant).
He was kinda was cruel to Mr Darnell.
In all fairness, he had to be like that to Sams to show he wasn't being unfair to kids who were never troublemakers.
Still he went over the top at times. So much that Napier had to straighten his ass straight. Napier was cool. In the movie universe I'd rather have Napier than Clark as a school principal.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago

Is Clark tough love? Yes. But that's not what Morgan's Clark was doing from time to time. Treating someone like trash (Mr Darnell) and even Sams.

[–] eddysl12 9 years ago

Well, according to the movie, Clark didn't want the job. He seemed to be happy where he was at that elementary school. It took some severe badgering from Dr. Napier for him to accept it.

Clark was an ex-Army drill instructor. I don't know if you have ever been around one, a person who was a drill instructor of some kind in the military. They are, and had to be very top-down, very vertical organizational, in their way of thinking.

General Groves in the movie, " Fat Man and Little Boy " had a very vertical organizational way of thinking. To him the way to create an atomic bomb was to order the scientists under his command to produce one and to keep a very tight leash on them.

Oppenheimer was right that they needed to engage in what is called horizontal organizational thinking, free give-and-take, free association in which they could bounce ideas off of each other. When you are trying to create something, to do something which has never been done before, you need a horizontal, not a vertical structure.

As Clark told Napier during their showdown, Napier knew him, knew how he operated. If Napier wanted somebody else, he should have gotten somebody else.

Mr O'Malley was symptomatic of the way of thinking that had prevailed at Eastside. He told Clark during that meeting that he and the other vice-principal had noted a few areas that needed improving. That attitude was that everything was fine, the school was pretty much everything it should be.

As Clark put it, if they thought they could run the school, then why was he there?

Now Clark was a little too zealous in his approach, he softened his tone a bit as time went on.

The educational establishment had lost control of that school, they brought in Joe Clark in an attempt to straighten out the mess that they themselves had created. They then harshly criticized Joe Clark and his methods but were unwilling or unable to take on that job themselves.

What did Joe Clark get for all his effort? He got a heart problem and had to resign.

The moral of the real story is that Joe Clark probably should have stayed at that elementary school he also helped turn around, he seemed happy there and he probably could have avoided heart problems as well.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago

Was he? For real
Oh and I mean to say "ni99a" is a stupid term. "Ni99er" (I don't say this with the intention of excusing its usage mind you) at least has a correlated reasoning for usage of the term. "Ni99a" is just stupid street dabble, and someone like Clark would not have used it.

Otherwise, I guess I see it from your view though.

[–] eddysl12 9 years ago

Ideally, instead of just one man there would have been a committee, even if it was just composed of Napier and Clark to decide what changes needed to be made.

Two or more heads are usually better than one when addressing an issue, Clark shouldn't have been all out there by himself.

He really needed more support and input from Dr. Napier, I think you are saying this transition could have been handled a whole lot smoother than Clark just doing it seemingly all by himself and on that I would agree.

As Dr Napier pointed out, contrary to popular opinion, he, Dr Napier was the HNIC.

The word " *Ni##a* " has morphed into becoming slang not just for someone who is black but also for someone who is white.

On the Star Trek TNG forum someone had this complaint about Ricker, " Ni##a just sits there and yells out whatever order Picard just gave. " In the movie " Training Day " Detective Harris refers to white Jake Hoyt as, " my Ni##a ".

You know, a very top-down, strict, controlled, vertical way of thinking is essential for the military. You are talking about guns, bullets, bombs, weapons of mass destruction, etc. There has to be strict command and control of these things.

That way of thinking quite frankly isn't conducive to complex civilian problems which probably require and demand outside-of-the-box ways of thinking.

Even in the military I believe they use the phrase, " Good order and discipline ", not just " discipline ". Discipline without taking into account it's effects on say the morale of a group such as the teachers at Eastside can have a negative and disruptive effect, the opposite of what was intended.

This was where Clark went a bit off course, he focused at first on only discipline and not on its effect on the good order of the school, primarily his working relationship with regard to the teachers at Eastside.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago

Yeah, hence the reason I think it's kinda stupid. Why I said at least "ni99er" is said by smart people (but racist, and I'm not excusing their usage of it at all) whereas "ni99a" is used by morons. I think it's a stupid word personally.

I hear what you're saying about Clark. And I didn't know he was a drill sargent until you told me.

[–] robert-macc 9 years ago