You trying to figure me out? Here let me help you… I’ve seen the same fucking movies you have, man. (Emilio, a high school student to his teacher, Miss Johnson, in the movie Dangerous Minds, 1995)

Although we may not like his street language, the teenaged Emilio shows remarkable insight in recognizing what his teacher does not-the influence popular culture has on her efforts to ‘save’ him. Educated like most of us in the cultural school of popular images, he sees through her attempts to ‘psych him out’, and identifies the likely source of both her actions and his critical awareness: ‘the same fucking movies’.