Although Netflix's "TheChair" is only six episodes, it has quickly gained popularity in the world's intellectual circles, and some universities and research institutions have even held online seminars to discuss and respond to the worldwide liberal arts crisis facing higher education. The embarrassment and helplessness of the intellectual class revealed by this web drama reflect a certain universal spiritual turmoil of the times.
The protagonist of "English Department Chair" is Kim Ji-yun, a Korean-American female scholar played by movie star Wu Shan-cho, who has the honor of becoming the first female English department chair in the history of a fictional "Little Ivy League" university (a member school with a long history, top academic prestige, elite background and strong financial strength) in her forties. After a brief moment of euphoria, she was greeted not by flowers and applause, but by chicken feathers: complex relationships, cuts to research funding, interest-starved young students, politically correct campus movements, and entrenched sexism... The play raises a poignant question, can traditional higher education really no longer be universally recognized by the younger generation? Kim Ji-yun's difficult situation reflects the symptoms of higher elite education, and although her exploration does not lead to a clear solution, it is enough to give the viewer a serious wake-up call.
Although the show also has warm and sweet clips, it is no longer an "American myth" about the self-realization of ethnic minority women, but presents the audience with a real world full of struggle and incompleteness.
The dilemma of elite liberal arts education
Kim Ji-yoon's first crisis after taking office was the reduction of funds, because students were increasingly reluctant to choose the English department, and the school's funding for the English department was also reduced year after year. To this end, the school repeatedly pressured Kim Ji-yun to persuade the elderly and well-paid professors in the department to retire, and even moved the office of Joan, a young female teacher, to the basement. Ji Yoon had to find a way to get the old professor Elliot and the department's most popular black female teacher, Yaz, to teach the class, hoping to drive the popularity of the class, but the result was to make the department's interpersonal relationships more complicated.
"The Head of the English Department" obviously shows the current liberal arts dilemma with infinite regret, but the play does not glorify this group of intellectuals, but also shows their shortcomings. When we see the old pedantic mind and calculation of reading poetry books, many plots of Qian Zhongshu's novel "Siege of the City" have also emerged, and it seems that no matter what era or country, the intrigue between intellectuals may not be simpler than ordinary workplaces.
According to U.S. media reports, in the past five decades, because colleges and universities have cut back on spending, there have been fewer and fewer tenure-track faculty members in American universities, and colleges and universities are no longer a refuge for the intellectual elite, a mechanism that is particularly cruel to minorities, women, sexual minorities, and scholars from blue-collar backgrounds. Scholars can no longer struggle in one school as they once did, and have to travel to different cities to survive. Just like Yates in the play, who is always suppressed by old professors, many young teachers may not be able to get promotion opportunities even if they achieve impressive results.
In order to cope with the decline of the liberal arts, colleges and universities have pinned their expectations on "star" teachers, such as Yates in the play, who is valued by Zhiyun because of his fresh and interesting classroom style and large number of fans on social media. But school leaders wanted to bring in a true star— a white rock star with a good educational background— who, although eventually persuaded by Ji Yun, also led to Yates's departure, reflecting the kitsch of the current college selection mechanism.
Political Correctness and "Blocking Culture"
Bill, the wife of the former head of the English department, has died, and he has been immersed in grief, and a series of situations have emerged. For irony, he made a Nazi salute gesture in class, which was photographed by students and uploaded to social media, causing an uproar, and students launched a campaign on campus to demand Bill's expulsion, which in fact "blocked" his academic path.
Bill did not heed the school's advice and issued a letter of apology written by a public relations crisis expert, arguing that through direct contact with students and a public lecture to explain things clearly, the result became darker and darker, and eventually he was banned from entering the campus.
Although Bill's encounter is fictional, it is indeed a common phenomenon in European and American cultural circles in recent years, and while movements such as feminism and "black power" have profoundly changed society, some excessive censorship seems to be interfering with freedom of speech. Ian Buruma, the former editor-in-chief of the New York Review of Books, left for permission to publish an article about the author of the sexual assault scandal.
Apparently, the public's "trial" of Bill was a complete misunderstanding, but under the protests of the students and the guidance of the media, he had to resign instead of accepting a settlement to defend his dignity. Bill was a typical American liberal intellectual who was popular with his students for his radical image and speech. Even so, he did not dare to show too much intimacy with female students, and he was also very cautious about his ambiguity with Ji Yun, which represented the constraints on intellectuals by the code of conduct established in the new era. These constraints, along with the potential for excessive censorship, act on the lives of intellectuals who need to adapt themselves and who are prepared to fight irrationally.
The dilemma of women's self-actualization
Nor should we lose sight of the English Head's expression of the situation of women. Ji Yoon is a single woman in her forties and the adoptive mother of a girl of Mexican descent. Ji Yoon grew up in a typical Korean immigrant family, an environment in which it is difficult for her to overcome the gender shackles imposed on her. As department chair, she balances the intricacies of the workplace with her responsibilities as a daughter and mother.
Ji Yoon's father thinks his daughter shouldn't work so hard and misses the chance to get married, and Ji Yoon can't accept that his worth is just as a vassal of her boyfriend. This reflects the difference in values between the two generations of East Asian immigrants, and also proves the importance of Ji Yun's becoming the head of the English department.
Zhiyun's success is not only recognized on a personal level, but also means that the repressed women in the academy have the opportunity to get a name. The female characters such as Yates and Joan in the play together with Zhiyun constitute several aspects of the intellectual elite women, and Joan's life in college is also a life of being suppressed and dwarfed by male scholars, and her several struggles under the encouragement of Zhiyun represent the awakening of the older generation of women. Therefore, after Ji Yoon resigned as head of the department for Bill, she recommended Joan as her successor. This ending is certainly a compromise, but it is a step forward in the sense of building a women's community. The Head of the English Department points out that the success of individual women is important, but it is only when women are united can they form a force that cannot be ignored.
As a web drama, the final landing point of "English Department Head" is warm, and all contradictions have been temporarily resolved in a warm vein. This may seem likely to be a shortcoming to some, but on the other hand, it is this warmth that allows sharp questions not to degenerate into simple binary opposites, but to unfold in a posture generally acceptable to the public and to be explored in detail. People in different positions face the new problems raised by the times and need to deal with them in their own way.
Small Q