Rushmore - Is Max A Typical Teenager?

In class, we were asked to watch the montage scene of Rushmore. We were asked the question " Is Max a typical teenager?"

First of all, we watched it all the way through without stopping the video and i picked up that somebody said he is the worse student at Rushmore.

My answer to the question is no, i do not think that Max Fischer is an average teenager because he tries all of the out of school activities and the stereotype of teenagers is that they are lazy - Max is far from lazy. Also, another stereotype of teenagers is that they are scruffy, Max is almost always dressed formally and he is very smart. He has founded some of the groups and is in charge of a lot of the others, which, again goes against the lazy teenager stereotype.

When we went into analysing the scene of Max, i noticed first of all that there were bees on the front of the book that he opens to start the montage scene. This may suggest that he "flies" from activity to activity. He may be "Busy as a bee" or "The bees knees".

Max is the founder of the Yankee Review Publisher. In the video, Max is leading the others in the group and Max is placed in the middle of the group. Max is dressed very formally in his suit and boe tie, whilst the others are just wearing unbuttoned shirts. All of the other characters are wearing baseball boots, whereas Max is wearing proper shoes.

Max is the French Club President. Max is shown wearing a red hat, all the rest of the group are wearing blue which shows his importance within the group. He is also the only person wearing a flag. Also, Max, again is in his full suit, and everybody else is less formal than him. Max is sat at the front centre of the shot.

Max is the Model United Nations - Russia. Max is again placed in the centre of the shot, wearing his full suit. He is a very important country of the United Nations. Also, i thought about the American crudge with Russia, Americans do not like Russians, so this may be a signifier of the whole film. If you look carefully at Max's body language, he is very interested and he seems to love his role, whereas the others are slouched and it looks as though they do not want to be there.

Max is the Stamp & Coin Club Vice-President. This is not very typical of teenagers and so goes against another stereotype. We don't see any other people in the shot. There is a large collection of stamps. Max may be a geek?

Max is the captain of the Debate Team. Everyone in the shot is showed to be wearing bow-ties and Max is still in his uniform - he is an outsider. Max obviously likes his uniform which is very odd for a teenager. Max may be poor or not very well-off. Also, Max is at the side of this shot, so he may be of little importance.

Max is the Lacrosse team manager. Max is still wearing full uniform, despite the fact he is sat on the bench. Max is not a typical jock shape and is nothing like the rest of the jocks. He isn't playing and he isn't properly part of the action. Max is sat there arranging equipment and the rest of the team have just dropped their equipment on the floor and they are ignoring him. This reflects what they think of him.

Max is the Calligraphy Club President. Max is showed as the only person on the shot, so it looks like there would be very little members if any others besides him.

He is the Astronomy Society Founder. Max is showed to be facing the camera whilst the others are taking part in actually looking at the stars, Max does not appear to be doing anything, this may be due to his lack of knowledge about stars.

He is the Fencing Team Captain. In this shot he is showed participating but still wearing his trousers with the rest of his fencing suit. He doesn't have the proper equipment, which, again, shows that he may have a low income or be poorer than the rest of the students. He stands out.

Max is the Track & Field J.V. Decathlon. On the shot he is showed to be on his own and when the camera zooms out, you presume that there will be lots of people behind him, but he is the only person running, so it does not show his ability. He may not be very good.

He is the 2nd Chorale Choirmaster. Max is still in his uniform in this shot and Max is only the 2nd choirmaster, not the first, so he may not be very good at it.

He is the Bombardment Society Founder. Everyone around him is casually dressed, whereas Max is still in his uniform. He is a very clear leader and takes his role very seriously. He is showed in the middle of the shot, so obviously of high importance.

Max is in the Kung Fu Club at yellow belt level. On the shot, looking at the belts, Max is the worst out of the lot and the people who make up the rest of the club are younger than him.

Max is the Trap & Skeet Club Founder. This is another unsualy actvity for an average teenager. Max is again in his uniform and he is with his friend. They may be the only people in the club.

He is the President of Rushmore Beekeepers. Max is still in his uniform and there are only two people on shot, so at a guess, that will be the only two people in the whole club.

Max is the Founder Of Yankee Racers. Max is sat out of the action in this shot and Max's kart doesn't appear to be as good as the others. Max again seems to be an outsider and is again in his uniform and there are not many other people racing, this may be because he is the founder?

Max has named a club "Max Fischer Players" and he is the Director. It is quite vaine to call a club after yourself, Max is in the middle of the group, which represents his importance and everyone is wearing black clothes, which may reflect what the club is like: dull and boring.

He is in the Piper Cub Club and he has logged 4.5 hours, which is not very long at all. So he may not be very good. Max is in his uniform again.

In a lot of the shots showed, Max is either not taking part or is not very good at what he does. This, i think may be a signifier for the whole play. Max is obviously not an average teenager due to his involvement in a lot of outside clubs and he is obviously a very enthusiastic participater. However, the shots show him almost always in his uniform, i think this is done purposefully and this may be a money issue, or just purely to show that he is not an average teenager.

Max is represented as quite geeky but is in no way, shape or form an average teenager.