Educating Rita

The consequences of moving into the world may or may not be beneficial. Social and cultural backgrounds complicate the process of moving into the world. The play ‘Educating Rita’, composed by Willy Russel, portrays personal growth as a consequence of moving into the world through the relationship between the two protagonists Rita and Frank. Similarly, in Richard Robbins’ documentary ‘Girl Rising’, the young girls from third world countries, struggle to break into the world and obtain an education as a result of the social expectations placed upon them by their cultural backgrounds.
The consequences of moving into the world are affected as a result of the individual’s social class. This is evident in the play ‘Educating Rita’ where Rita’s persistent knocking and almost forced entrance into Frank’s office is symbolic of her entry into the academic world. However, the difficulties of entering Frank’s office throughout the play foreshadow the struggle Rita will face. Russel juxtaposes Rita’s idiomatic phrases, evidenced in ‘I wanna know’ with Frank’s formal ‘I want to know’.   Therefore, Russel creates a dichotomy between the working and upper classes.
An individual’s existing social class often results in a desire to move into a new world.   Rita fights against the distinctly working class culture of being a stay at home mum, and wants to ‘be the kind of woman who knows the difference between Jane Austen and Tracy Austin’. Again, Russel draws on the dichotomy between the upper class culture of classical literature in Jane Austen, and the lower class sporting culture in the reference to tennis player Tracy Austin.   Therefore, we see that Rita aspires to move out of one world and into the other, becoming free and educated as a result.
Similarly in the documentary ‘Girl Rising’, we see that moving into an educated world, and gaining power as a result, is a desire of underprivileged girls. The scene ‘Walking to School’ is filmed with dull colours, which symbolise a...