The Dropout

The Dropout

Rejissyor: Davis (Sid) Productions. A warning to would-be slackers, The Dropout shows the loneliness and frustration that develop in Robert, who drops out of school and tries to find a job before he is qualified to compete in the highly competitive world of modern work. Told in Davis' inimitable voiceover style, this film retells the classic "downward spiral" tale. "More than ever before, competition is keen," says the narrator. "The work force is made up of skilled personnel." Attracted by the world of work and eager to leave the regulated society of high school behind, Robert begins to pound the Santa Monica pavement. But no one wants to hire a dropout. And, what's worse, his schoolmates seem to be getting along just fine without him. "There used to be an order in your life. You belonged. You had an anchor in a social institution. Now you feel adrift. You're on the outside, looking in," comments the narrator, who throughout the film addresses his words to Robert. And that's not the end of it. Alice, Robert's girlfriend, has to meet him in secret, as her parents don't want her seeing a dropout. In an attempt to keep her, "you downgrade your image one more step and take a job as busboy." This improves things, but not for long, and one night Alice shows up at the restaurant with another date. Robert begins to crash and burn. He cannot even get an unskilled job, as employers want an older, more reliable hand. "You begin to drift in earnest...much of your day is spent wandering aimlessly in the less desirable sections of town." He begins to frequent a pool hall, where men of all ages with "no competition, no drive, no illusion" hang out. When his friend Jake, an obvious lowlife, is arrested, he wonders how much unlike Jake he has become. "You wish you knew." Rare among teenage transgression films in that there is no successful adult intervention to head off disaster, The Dropout seems to stress the devastating effects of shame and downward class mobility. Robert doesn't just leave the bustling, productiv

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