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Tyler Durden (Fight Club)
The Student: The namesless white collar zombie known as The Narrator.
Key Lessons: That the image of manhood constructed by contemporary culture is false and alienating, and violent reconnection with our physicality is the best way to fight back.
Wisest Words: “We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.”
The Stranger (The Big Lebowski)
The Student: His Dudeness – the slacker extraordinaire, cultured drinker and cool-handed bowler known as Jeffrey Lebowski.
Key Lessons: The Stranger is chilled to the point of meaninglessness. But, in keeping with the film’s understated themes of shit-happens acceptance, his mantra is one of calm and stoic survival.
Wisest Words: “Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you.”
Henri Ducard (Batman Begins)
The Student: A young, angry and confused billionaire orphan by the name of Bruce Wayne.
Key Lessons: Ducard teaches Bruce to face his innermost fears, and to turn them into the intimidating persona he creates. In pushing Bruce to brutality to punish evil, he also teaches Bruce where his moral limits lie.
Wisest Words: “Your training is nothing. The will is everything. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?”
Spock Prime (Star Trek)
The Student: The young, reboot-timeline James T. Kirk.
Key Lessons: That, after an entire alternative timeline of experience, he’s learned that the logical course isn’t always the right one. And that his younger self gets real mad when you say junk about his mum.
Wisest Words: [To Spock, on why he forced he and Kirk together] “I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together, of a friendship that will define you both in ways you cannot yet realise.”
Humphrey Bogart (Play It Again, Sam)
The Student: Woody Allen’s neurotic film critic and hopeless romantic, Allan.
Key Lessons: That what women really want is a striding man’s man who acts instead of thinks, and who definitely doesn’t have a therapist.
Wisest Words: “I never saw a dame yet that didn't understand a good slap in the mouth or a slug from a .45.”
John Keating (Dead Poets Society)
The Student: An entire class of privileged pre-Ivy Leagers at the Welton Academy prep school.
Key Lessons: To seize the day – that life is short, that the world they live in is constricting and conservative, and that we must make the most of the time we have.
Wisest Words: “They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils.”
Gandalf (The Lord Of The Rings)
The Student: The entire fellowship of the ring, but most particularly the hobbit and ring-bearer Frodo, and his friends Sam, Merry and Pippin.
Key Lessons: That courage and resilience can be a match for any evil, and that if you have the choice, dressing like a samurai wizard is way cooler than looking like a tramp wrapped in a grey blanket.
Wisest Words: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
The Student: The little farmboy with the big dreams, Luke Skywalker.
Key Lessons: Obi-Wan is the first to tell Luke about The Force, and to tease Luke with hints at the ongoing war with the Empire and how they affected his father. Obi-Wan is the archetypal space wizard, and one of the coolest mentors ever.
Wisest Words: “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
Patches OHoulihan (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story)
The Student: Vince Vaughn’s flumpy gym owner Peter LaFleur and his mismatched dodgeball team of pirates, geeks and nobodies.
Key Lessons: The five d’s of dodgeball! Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.
Wisest Words: “Will someone catch a goddamn ball? It's like watching a bunch of retards trying to fuck a doorknob out there!”
Mr Miyagi (The Karate Kid)
The Student: Geeky new boy in town and loner Daniel Larusso.
Key Lessons: Miyagi’s mixture of inscrutable advice and humour makes him the greatest mentor of all time. His outlook: with hard work and focus, even weedy kids with no mates and stop getting beaten up, so long as they make friends with their neighbourhood kung fu wizard.
Wisest Words: “In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants. Daniel-san, karate here [taps head]. Karate here [taps chest]. Karate never here [touches belt]. Understand?”
