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Subject:  Re: [long] Spud books, movies etc (1 pic) |
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Author:  Lucas |
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Date Posted: 18:47:39 03/27/26 Fri In reply to: Graeme 's message, "Finished reading Spud - discussion on school punishment (long post - some spoilers)" on 15:40:52 03/27/26 Fri > The books are: Spud (2005); The > Madness Continues (2007); Learning to Fly (2009); > Exit, Pursued by a Bear (2012); The Reunion (2024). I've read all of these except the last one. One thing I noticed is that the character Spud is actually still only 13, in both the book and the movie, when he gets sent to the boarding school. The actor Troye Sivan was 14 but manages to look a little younger. Amazon's plot summary of Exit, Pursued by a Bear is interestingly coincidental for me: ".... Now a prefect and on the cusp of adulthood, he thinks this may be his best year yet. But soon his life is as chaotic as ever...." In that penultimate book, Spud is 18 and gets to order the younger boys around and punish them, but there's plenty of weird comedy as at least one of the younger boys really likes being ordered around.... > I own the first 3 books in the series. I brought each > one second hand for $1. These books can often be obtained at really cheap prices like this I guess because their initial popularity has faded since both the books and the movies are now more than ten years old. In the UK Amazon are offering second hand copies for about £3.50 including delivery. Or new ones for £8 with potential free delivery. Well worth it. > 'Milton, you're late. Report to the staff toilets > after lunch' (Spud's full name is John Milton. Johnny to his girlfriend, Spud to the other boys, but "Milton" to his teachers.) > Pike was lashed six strokes by Sparerib after Luthuli > caught him smoking in the drying room. We applauded > every stroke and laughed like maniacs when he flew out > of the office rubbing his behind. I think Pike is one of the boys who is a year older than Spud (aged 14 turning 15 rather than 13 turning 14) so is involved in bullying Spud's year group right from the start. That's why Spud and his friends are so delighted when Pike gets six of the best. Sparerib is the housemaster, this is him at the start of the second movie, the stick is for whacking bottoms not for pointing at things:  Luthuli is one of the very few black students in the school and is also a prefect (aged about 18). In the trailer for the 2010 movie on IMDB he can be seen leading the entire school in some sort of war chant or school song (rather like a haka - which is strange cos they're in South Africa not New Zealand). Racial tension is almost completely absent from the books and the movies, which is odd considering the circumstances. But, it may just be true to John van de Ruit real life experiences in that era - *almost everyone at the school is white*. (Which, in a majority black country, is ofc weird, but no-one was thinking that at the time.) Spud's immediate peer group are the seven other boys his age sharing the same dormitory - making up the "Crazy Eight" as they call themselves. Of the eight, only one is black. And I think the overall proportion of non-white students in the first movie is even lower. There is a scene, I think in the first book. Where the boys (of several age groups) are watching the TV news as Nelson Mandela (black anti-apartheid campaigner and later President) is released from prison. One of the boys says something negative about Mandela and Luthuli gives him a stern telling-off. As far as I can remember, Luthuli's character is portrayed 100% positively in the books (including him being kind to Spud). This is unlike many of the other characters, who are variously bullies, sadists, freaks, creeps, cowards, alcoholics and weirdos. I think Spud's family employ a black housekeeper despite the family supposedly being lower middle class. I was reminded of the mostly-white school in the movie, with a few black students, when I saw the corpun.com video of a real life "house caning day" filmed about 20 to 25 years after the era the Spud books and movies were set in. This was in a similar elite boarding school in a similar African country. With the country now under democratic majority rule instead of white minority rule. It was interesting that the boys getting caned now seemed to be roughly 50% of European origin and 50% African origin. And of course no distinction made between the two. I think the teacher caning them was white tho. The only distinction was that, amusingly and without any explanation, younger boys got an extra cane whack for the exact same offences! (Or in other words, being older meant getting a "discount" of one cane whack.) > Earthworm gave me finger-tongs with the blackboard > dusters for continually neglecting my duties. My > middle finger feels like it is broken. I think Earthworm is one of the prefects so is allowed to order Spud around and also punish him. I think prefects weren't supposed to cane the younger boys, so this "finger tongs" nonsense is instead of that. > Rambo (who had chosen to go first) stayed behind. The > door closed. After about ten seconds the beating > began. It sounded truly horrific. Each stroke seemed > more savage than the last. Rambo emerged from the > office, walking casually, but couldn't hide the pain > in his face. Mad Dog followed and sauntered out, > smiling. Rambo and Mad Dog, as their nicknames suggest, are either jocks or tough guys or a bit of both. So a lot bigger and tougher than Spud, Gecko and Vern even though they're 13 or 14 at this point too. > A crowd of boys, many from other houses, > gathered to watch the show. Next Boggo sped out, > rubbing his a*se. Much to the delight of the growing > crowd This huge crowd, laughing and applauding, happens in the movie too. But in the movie Boggo (or maybe Rambo or Mad Dog) instead of cooling their behind on the brickwork, runs across to the fountain in the centre of the quad and pulls his pants down and dips his bottom in the water. I can't remember if they said this was accurate to what happened when John van der Ruit was actually at the school. Or if they said there never was a fountain there and they had to add it for the movie just cos it seemed funnier. > By this stage, I was all set to run away, or wet myself. > Then Gecko flew out of > the office, screaming, and vomited in the gutter. > I staggered into the office and could hear the noise > of the crowd outside. .... > I could see the Mermaid. We were back in my swimming > pool...WHACK! Her beautiful bright eyes, water > droplets cascading down her face... these interleaved scenes (caning versus swimming pool) are also included in the movie - unfortunately it rather interrupts the caning scene! > Then I was running. My backside was on fire. [abridged] .... "As I left the office I remember catching a glimpse of Vern's horrified face. He was last. The crowd hooted and laughed. I kept running and running and running and then I was laughing and shouting. People I didn't know were thumping me on the back congratulating me" In the movie I think the aftermath of the caning is not quite as positive for Spud, but I can't remember if that's reflected in a different passage in the book or not. > Julian lined us up in the showers to examine our > backsides. He and Bert took turns going from one bum > to another making observations and now and again > prodding someone's butt cheek with the back end of > Bert's toothbrush. Gecko's entire backside is blue and > Julian awarded him first prize. There was a flash of > light and before we knew it, Julian had taken a > photograph of our naked behinds. This bizarre scene couldn't be entirely replicated in the movie (obviously) but I think there's a brief representation of it, including the photo being taken. Julian is another of the prefects so the idea of him and his friends having the power to force a bunch of 13 and 14 year olds to line up naked in the showers to carry out a detailed inspection of the cane marks on their bottoms, is really weird. Even tho it's sort of good-natured. I hadn't remembered that Gecko is described as having really serious bruises from the caning ("entire backside is blue"). How often school canings produce proper bruises, not just marks, is something I was going to write a longer post about. In the movie, Gecko is played by actor Jamie Royal, who is an even paler shade of white than Troye Sivan. In the movie his hair is completely white so he may either be an albino or be playing one. So it's easy to imagine the character ending up with the most impressive bruises out of all the eight boys caned in the one incident. In Galloping Foxley by Roald Dahl (again based on his own experiences), the other 13 year olds in Perkins' dormitory pressure him into showing them the marks on his bare bottom after a vicious caning from a prefect. The prefect who gave the caning then walks in while this is happening and unfairly accuses Perkins of "showing off" and threatens to cane him again. > If enough people are interested I can do a Part II > with the rest of the book. yes please! In the UK at least, IMDB's page about the first movie plays a 2 minute trailer that includes some of the scenes of bullying, implied nudity, angry teachers, chaos and silliness, altho I don't think any spanking. WARNING some bad language, shower scenes, and shouting/screaming: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059969/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Re: [long] Spud books, movies etc (1 pic) | Graeme to Lucas (responding to some of your points) | 21:25:38 03/27/26 Fri |
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