\u201cWITHOUT HESITATION THEY BEGAN TO DANCE.\u201d<\/span> The 2008 movie Exam<\/span> is basically a cheapened version of William Sleator\u2019s terrific novel House of Stairs<\/span>.<\/p>\n As the comparison suggests, Exam<\/span>\u2018s first half-hour or so highlights the way that contemporary job applications and economic pressures infantilize adults (much as the surrounding pop culture infantilizes people who, in a better world, would already be raising children of their own). The adults in this movie can be treated like the teens in Sleator\u2019s novel because their life-stage is so similar. The pencil-skirt precision with which they present themselves, the marketing ethos which leads them to accept the most reductive nicknames, all make college applicants look like careerist twentysomethings and make thirtysomethings look like children.<\/p>\n Exam<\/span> is a really bad movie, with tons of overplaying and overwriting. I do think it\u2019s kind of amazing as a cultural document. The parallels with House of Stairs<\/span> were startling, and the really boringly obvious AIDS references were harsh enough that I choked up a couple of times despite knowing that I was being manipulated. A B-movie, if not a B-minus\u2013every single twist will be guessed well in advance\u2013but this is a window into what job-hunting really feels like, and that makes it painful. I thought the twistiness of the \u201care we pro- or anti-Big Pharma?\u201d plotline was also surprisingly thoughtful, though I have really intensely low expectations there.<\/p>\n You really should read House of Stairs<\/span> though. It\u2019s a sad, compromised look at martyrdom and complicity, and its characters are incredibly memorable. Peter and Lola are one of the most memorable and unexpected teams in children\u2019s lit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWITHOUT HESITATION THEY BEGAN TO DANCE.\u201d The 2008 movie Exam is basically a cheapened version of William Sleator\u2019s terrific novel House of Stairs. As the comparison suggests, Exam\u2018s first half-hour or so highlights the way that contemporary job applications and economic pressures infantilize adults (much as the surrounding pop culture infantilizes people who, in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n