I knew The Scarlet Letter was way cool, but...

"...I believe so, if I was the Gossip Girl in Sweet Valley of the Traveling Pants." ~Olive Penderghast

         The other night I watched "Easy A" for like the 5th, perhaps 7th time...I can't get enough of it, I watched it in the theatre twice. Nice looking boys (that Penn Badgley...), clever dialogue, complex allusions and soooo, soo, sooooo many literary references.

          But, seriously, this movie is making a book I teach, not only relevant, but friggin' cool. For this I am forever grateful.

To get this movie at a deeper level...

Books with which you should be familiar
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Sweet Valley books
The Gossip Girl books
The Scarlet Letter
The Bible
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Judy Blume books, especially Are You There God It's Me Margaret, and It's Not the End of the World
Alfred Kinsey
The Outsiders
The Bell Jar

Movie references
Say Anything
16 Candles
The Bucket List
Can't Buy Me Love
Carlito's Way
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Grease
The Scarlet Letter (the old version, and the whorish Demi Moore 'adaptation')
The Breakfast Club

Themes and Symbols that are still relevant...
Hypocrisy
Sense of Self
Feminine Virtue and The Nature of Women
Alienation
Pride
Individual vs. Society
Adultery and Marriage
Angel, Artist and all those other As

And, the soundtrack is brilliant
Change of Seasons  Sweet Thing
Pocket Full of Sunshine  Natasha Bedingfield
Cupid Shoot Me  Remi Nicole
Don't Cha  Pussycat Dolls
The Wolf  Minature Tigers
Trouble is a Friend  Lenka
Symphonies  Dan Black
Perfect Picture  Carlos Bertonatti
Go On  Rooney
15 minutes  The Yeah You's
Bad Before Good   Day One
When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade  The Boy Least Likely To
If You Were Here  The Cary Brothers
Good Life  One Republic
Big Jet Plane  Angus and Julia Stone
Transatlanticism  Deathcab for Cutie
Don't You (Forget About Me)  Simple Minds

Sidenote: This music blog has done a much better job of getting you a list than I could ever dream of doing.



And, who wouldn't want to read this book?! Look at its cool new-fangled cover!

Other movies that have made teaching easier for someone somewhere...
Clueless Emma
Cruel Intentions Dangerous Liasons
Romeo and Juliet (1996) Romeo and Juliet
She's All That Pygmalion
She's the Man 12th Night
Ten Things I Hate About You  The Taming of the Shrew
Troy The Iliad

O  Othello

I'm looking forward to that new Beastly movie...who doesn't like a "Beauty and the Beast" remake!

Happy 29th Birthday Christopher Lee Hasty