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Post by Gideon on Jul 17, 2006 10:22:00 GMT -5
I get the impression that the Science Club view her as a little overly strict, but from watching season one, I think when Durst is telling off members of the club for something or other, that most of the time, she's quite justified.
After all...in Who, Josie and Corinne went against school rules and sneaked out to see a movie. In Lost, they left school without her permission. In Magnet, Josie did cause quite a lot of destruction, even though she didn't intend to. And in Shrink, she was about to have a fight with Wendy.
As principals go, she's quite tough, but I don't think she's really that strict. Not a great deal, anyway. She just likes to enforce the rules. And as we've seen, she does occasionally let things slide if the offences are not too serious, and the person committing them is not known for getting in trouble.
The only two instances I can think of when Durst was being unfair was in Wormhole, when she warned them against snooping around (and even then, she did have some justification for being annoyed with them, as they'd broken into the office) and in Invisible, when she gave Lucas and Josie a detention for playing a game. Although they were breaking a rule, I don't think it warranted a detention, as it's clear that that scene took place during a break from lessons, during which, I don't think it would unreasonable to allow students to play electronical games, if they so wished. But those are the only times (out of the episodes I've seen) where I think she was unfair.
I suppose the science club views her as being against them mainly because:
A: It's probably natural for most teenagers to be a bit wary of an authoritative person, particularly if you tend to do a lot of rule-breaking.
B: At times, she gets in the way of their efforts to solve the mystery (sometimes inadvertently and sometimes intentionally.)
C: They seem to see her as an ally of Victor's (although I don't think she's really an ally; it's just that Victor's too powerful and she doesn't dare go against his wishes.)
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Post by lazerxangel on Jul 17, 2006 12:31:08 GMT -5
C: They seem to see her as an ally of Victor's (although I don't think she's really an ally; it's just that Victor's too powerful and she doesn't dare go against his wishes.) I think she's scared of Victor, really, and many times she'll practice by herself to try and get more information out of Victor or try to resign, or something. Everytime there's a scene where she's practicing her speech to Victor, my little sister always says, "Wow, she talks to herself a lot."
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Post by MirrorCard on Jul 20, 2006 20:10:00 GMT -5
The only two instances I can think of when Durst was being unfair was ... in Invisible, when she gave Lucas and Josie a detention for playing a game. Although they were breaking a rule, I don't think it warranted a detention, It was probably one of those 30-minute detentions that are more like time-outs. I think it is a combination of A and that she isn't the protagonist. Because she is usually placed on the antagonist's side, her actions, while probably all justified, come off as more "bad guy" than they would. And the disciplinarian usually always comes off as the bad guy no matter what. I always get yelled at for deleting posts, locking threads, etc <_< . HailStorm does just as much as I do but gets off easy.
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Post by Gideon on Jul 21, 2006 7:14:35 GMT -5
I always get yelled at for deleting posts, locking threads, etc <_< . I don't yell at you. It would be interesting to see BHH from the perspective of Durst (and maybe Victor) as the protagonists and the Science Club as the antagonists. If it was shown in that manner, if only for one episode, I think the Science Club (particularly Lucas and Josie) would probably come across as interfering brats who keep getting in the way of Victor's research and causing all sorts of problems. I don't think Victor comes across as all that evil in season one, either. Obviously, it turned out that he wasn't evil, but the audience is obviously supposed to believe he's an enemy, of sorts, of the Science Club, particularly in the later episodes. However, although he does do some questionable things - asking Vaughn to steal the journal, asking him to spy on the Science Club - he doesn't do anything majorly wrong. He was even on their side, somewhat, in Who. And although he was indirectly responsible for the school vanishing, he had no knowledge that that would happen, so he can't be said to have had an evil intention there.
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Post by adam on Jul 21, 2006 14:15:53 GMT -5
I think she just wants a reputation. She often is only strict to make the school look good. A good example is in Robot where an 'inspector' pays a visit. And she is mad when she is made to look a fool, that is when she is strictest.
I think that parallels with the Principal in Recess (Principle Prickly) who is always telling the kids of for showing him and the school up. I think it is a common Principle personality in the minds of American Writers. Are Principles like that for real, American friends?
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Post by lazerxangel on Jul 21, 2006 16:46:04 GMT -5
Most of them aren't. I had a wonderful principal in elementary school who was extremely nice, and in middle school, our principal was also really cool, until I got to 8th grade there, and our principal had retired. We got a new principal and she wasn't exactly the nicest, but she wasn't as strict or as bad as the stereotypical principal portrayed in most movies/tv shows.
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Post by Z Fan on Jul 24, 2006 20:22:22 GMT -5
One of the principals I had in elementary school was young, but he was by the book, so to say. It seemed to me that he played the rules to the extreme. Ex. We were not suppose to throw snowballs. His rule, we couldn't PICK UP snow, at all. I believe in his mind, if we didn't pick up snow, there would be no chance of it being thrown....anyway, some are a little strict because they want to make sure nothing happens, I think Durst gets that way every once in a while...
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Post by Gideon on Jul 25, 2006 6:17:18 GMT -5
some are a little strict because they want to make sure nothing happens, I think Durst gets that way every once in a while... And being principal of Blake Holsey High, where weird things happen that she has no control over, makes her job even tougher. No matter how much she tries, she'll never be able to thwart the power of the wormhole, so she has to settle for going along with Victor and covering everything up. She must have a strong attachment to BHH, though. It's clear that she'd love to have a nice, normal, school to run, but she never attempts to leave the school, or apply for a job anywhere else. So, in spite of all the problems, she really must like BHH a lot. She did say in Magnet that she's been there for 25 years, so she obviously feels something for the school, and I imagine it would be quite hard for her to leave after such a long time.
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Post by lazerxangel on Jul 25, 2006 19:50:13 GMT -5
She must have a strong attachment to BHH, though. It's clear that she'd love to have a nice, normal, school to run, but she never attempts to leave the school, or apply for a job anywhere else. So, in spite of all the problems, she really must like BHH a lot. She did say in Magnet that she's been there for 25 years, so she obviously feels something for the school, and I imagine it would be quite hard for her to leave after such a long time. Actually, I think in one of the episodes, she practices a speech in which I think she tries to resign, but then Victor comes and interrupts her and says, "Amanda, you are in way too deep to pull out now." Or something like that.
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Post by Z Fan on Jul 25, 2006 20:42:09 GMT -5
"You're in far too deep to get out now." Victor Pearson
I'm not sure if it was really a resignation speech or if Victor just called it that. It seemed to me, it was just a 'I'm not taking any more crap from you Mr. Pearson.' Then, of course, he walks in and all her confidence goes out the window.
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Post by lazerxangel on Jul 25, 2006 23:33:28 GMT -5
it was just a 'I'm not taking any more crap from you Mr. Pearson.' Then, of course, he walks in and all her confidence goes out the window. LOL! Victor frightens Durst, who frightens the Science Club & Z who are also frightened of Victor. What a beautiful little circle of fear in Blake Holesy.
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Post by Z Fan on Jul 26, 2006 10:41:55 GMT -5
Ha! We have a love triangle and a fear circle! We just need to find out what Victor's afraid of and connect it somehow...
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Post by lazerxangel on Jul 26, 2006 16:22:27 GMT -5
Well, if Victor knew about Avenir's plans, then he would be slightly afraid of Avenir, and Avenir has the tiniest bit of fear to Josie because she's his daughter and she has the power to ruin his plans! Oh dear, this is getting a bit confusing...
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Post by Gideon on Jul 26, 2006 18:57:04 GMT -5
Didn't Josie tell Lucas that he sometimes scares her?
And both Lucas and Marshall are a bit scared of Josie...now who are Vaughn and Corinne scared of?
This is really a television show about cowardice!
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Post by Z Fan on Jul 26, 2006 19:16:39 GMT -5
This is really a television show about cowardice! Ha! Too true, but it has a good sci fi subplot! Let's see: Everyone is afraid of Victor (with the possible exceptions of Avenir and Kelly Trent) Victor might be slightly afraid of Avenir and/or Josie for messing with his plan. Lucas and Marshall are a bit afraid of Josie. Josie is afraid of...? Maybe Avenir... Corrine is afraid of...not a person, more of not being perfect... Vaughn is probably sometimes slightly afraid of his father, which isn't good for their relationship... Z is afraid of Victor and possibly a bit of Durst because both could end his job at Blake Holsey. Durst is afraid of Victor mainly, and sometimes of the science club because they're learning about the school and such...So she frightens them to try to get them to back off...? Is that everyone? Oh, I agree with lazerxangel, Avenir must be slightly afraid of Josie because she could ruin his plans. *stands back and looks at work* That is one odd looking circle...
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