This site is set up for complaints, so it only seems fair that I present some of my own. But because it's my site, I'd like to set my complaints apart from the rest. So, I'm putting them here and calling them rants. They won't be regular or frequent, but hopefully some will be informative.

In the place I live (a state of an unknown southern land that reminded someone of places in a country in the United Kingdom), the examination process is state-wide, and English is compulsory. However, in an effort to make it more "relevant", they have replaced some of the old Chaucer and suchlike with TV shows, movies and web sites.

Students are then required to look at these "texts", as they are called, and consider them in terms of themes such as "Changing Self/Perspective/Worlds", and "Telling the Truth". Focus is also on the style of how the "text" is presented, such as cinematography and symbolism. This is what ruined me.

So what happened? To start with, I had to look for "additional texts" of my own to supplement the ones in the syllabus, so I had to read books and watch films with an eye for the appropriate themes. The teaching of how to view the cinematography and symbolism also meant that if a film had the slightest aspect of either, I would immediately pick up on it even if it wasn't intended by the creators of the film ("That sign in the background makes a reference to how the character will change in the course of the film, having to Give Way to everyone else!")

The worst was yet to come - even after having done all the exams, I found that the constant analysis didn't stop. I now interpret a slight change in lighting levels, or the particular way in which characters are facing when a scene changes, as symbolising the inner feelings of the main character. Every time I catch myself doing it, I feel like hitting my head against a wall.

In fact, there are only three types of films (or even TV shows now) that I can watch with anything resembling enjoyment any more - absolutely mindless ones, where I can not worry about thinking about anything, let alone analysing a character's handwriting; ones which are actually meant to be analysed to that sort of detail, because they contain so many levels of meaning, from people bashing each other up to pseudo-religious themes; and ones which don't take themselves seriously, so any symbolism is likely to be completely and utterly wrong.