To Sir, with Love

For a 1967 film, this positively stands out for casting a dark-skinned Black male lead. His character is non-stereotypical: middle class instead of poor, an object of attraction without undue fetishizing, and, crucially, he's humanized through a wide range of emotions, from laughing and joy to anger and yelling. A biracial male student has a small backstory. Two women of color appear in the classroom but remain silent. Unfortunately, film fares worse in its portrayal of women. Female students and teachers are never overtly sexualized, but traditional gender norms are in full swing: When female teens behave poorly, Thackeray warns them against acting like a "filthy slut" and adds emphatically, "No man likes a slut." Colonialism is embraced: Teachers and Thackeray praise Winston Churchill, known to be a racist who supported eugenics. Thackeray describes his time in South Africa to his students, saying, "The only women there were jungle Indians who carried blow pipes and poison darts." He calls the Guyanese Creole he grew up with "a simple English," mocking their dialect to the raucous laughter of his mostly White students. Bullying behavior by a teacher against a male student for being slightly heavier than his rail-thin classmates. Said classmates rally behind their friend, but their nickname for him remains "Fats" and feels glib.

A PE class gets out of hand when a student proposes boxing as an excuse to fight Thackeray; punches to the face, and a gut punch ends the fight. No blood. In another scene, Thackeray catches a kicked tin can out of midair and cuts his hand; brief blood on palm. Verbal hostility and aggressive body language -- some racially tinged, almost all directed at Thackeray -- takes place throughout.

Romantic crushes discussed. Very brief glimpse of suggestion of a naked woman in a magazine; no details or cleavage visible.

"Bastard," "damn," "moron." Phrases like "filthy slut" or "sluttish behavior" are used without critique. "F--gots" used twice, in its original meaning of "bundle." Outdated term "colored" used twice, referring to Black people. Racist overtones in speech by a fellow teacher who's never held to task for calling Thackeray a "black sheep"; joking that Thackeray can do "black magic" and "voodoo" or telling him he would "row home if I were you."

Students smoke in a few scenes. In one freeze-frame, they're seen poised to light a cigarette next to a "No Smoking" sign inside of a museum.