When I first started teaching, I was only a couple years out of college myself. I've never been a pop culture maven, but I certainly felt as though my students and I belonged to the same generation. One of the maxims of teaching in a university setting is: students stay the same, but you just keep getting older. Or the converse: you stay the same, but your students keep getting younger. Regardless, the gap between you and your students is constantly widening.
I was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago when I was teaching the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The students enjoyed the amusing tale of a newborn trickster god, and I ended the analysis of the text by asking how the Homeric Hymn points forward to Hermes' exploits as an adult figure. I was secretly excited about presenting this image of the Hermes in Disney's Hercules, a film that several students have mentioned that they liked.
This Hermes is voiced, of course, by Paul Shaffer, known best to me as David Letterman's sidekick for the past thirty years. But when I asked the students, "How does this depiction of Hermes correspond to (or not correspond to) the Hermes we meet in the Homeric Hymn?" I was met with silence. Finally, one student raised his hand and said, "Well...maybe because he's wearing purple glasses, you can tell he's an optimist...?" When I responded, "Guys, it's Paul Shaffer!" More silence. "You know, the David Letterman show?" "We only watch Conan!"
Okay, fine, I'm old.
This Hermes is voiced, of course, by Paul Shaffer, known best to me as David Letterman's sidekick for the past thirty years. But when I asked the students, "How does this depiction of Hermes correspond to (or not correspond to) the Hermes we meet in the Homeric Hymn?" I was met with silence. Finally, one student raised his hand and said, "Well...maybe because he's wearing purple glasses, you can tell he's an optimist...?" When I responded, "Guys, it's Paul Shaffer!" More silence. "You know, the David Letterman show?" "We only watch Conan!"
Okay, fine, I'm old.
Haha I didn't know who Paul Schaffer was either!
ReplyDeleteMy kids hadn't heard of Julia Roberts... (one ventured a guess: "Oh, I know. She was that woman who has an umbrella and sings." "Mary Poppins?" "Yeah, her!")
oh dear, i never watched Letterman... or Conan. hehe. But I know what you mean about the cultural references! this is only going to get more and more hilarious as we get ahem older...
ReplyDeleteYikes. I may have told you the story about how several years ago, I got really excited to tell a group of 7th grade girls that the voice for one of the main characters in Adventures in Odyssey was JTT! When I got blank looks after saying JTT, I said, "y'know, Jonathan Taylor Thomas?" Then desperately, "y'know from Home Improvement?... Who is cool to you all now?" I got back answers that meant nothing to me. Sigh. It's happening. :)
ReplyDeletewait, JTT provided the voice for a character from Adventures in Odyssey??? WHICH ONE??
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