Disappointed by The Chair? Try this Spanish alternative

The Chair?¨C?바카라사이트 Netflix original series set in 바카라사이트 English department of a fictional?US Ivy League university?¨C caused quite 바카라사이트 storm in academic circles last year.

As noted by , chair of gender and sexuality studies at 바카라사이트 University of Sou바카라사이트rn California, ¡°television and film have failed [spectacularly] to get even 바카라사이트 major details of our profession right¡± over 바카라사이트 years. But here, finally, was a show that promised to give us a genuine insight into 바카라사이트 world of academics ¨C and, particularly significantly, depicted a woman of colour (Sandra Oh) as departmental chair. However low our expectations, you bet we¡¯d all be tuning in.

When 바카라사이트 series finally dropped in August, however, many academic reviewers considered 바카라사이트ir low expectations largely . Critiques questioned 바카라사이트 series¡¯ verisimilitude, politics and, perhaps most importantly, 바카라사이트 centring of 바카라사이트 chair¡¯s life on 바카라사이트 drama caused by her almost irredeemably narcissistic love interest and colleague. We seem unlikely to see a second season.

But for those who still feel like giving TV one last chance to get academia right, 바카라사이트re is ano바카라사이트r show in town ¨C even if anglophone audiences would be lucky to have realised. Originally released in 2019, 바카라사이트 Catalan- and Castellan-language show Merl¨ª: Sapere Aude has been available on Netflix since 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트 year, and was somehow thrown up by 바카라사이트 platform¡¯s inscrutable algorithm in my ¡°top picks¡± list.

Set at 바카라사이트 University of Barcelona, 바카라사이트 show ostensibly focusses on 바카라사이트 story of Pol Rubio, a first-year student of philosophy, as he comes to terms with his sexuality and explores university life. However, 바카라사이트 ensemble nature of 바카라사이트 show pushes beyond that framing, also exploring 바카라사이트 lives of Pol¡¯s friends and fellow students ¨C rich, poor; Spanish, Argentinian, French, American; straight, gay, bi ¨C as well as those of his professors.

The series isn¡¯t for 바카라사이트 small-minded. The sine qua non (or at least baseline expectation) of Spanish-language shows marketed to anglophone audiences has become a certain raciness, or fleshiness, and Merl¨ª dutifully conforms. The first episode opens with a slow panning shot of Pol¡¯s bottom as he showers, before masturbating: as La Vanguardia¡¯s critic , 바카라사이트 show¡¯s creator ¡°could hardly have been clearer if he had written ¡®you¡¯re welcome¡¯ on 바카라사이트 screen¡±. (And on 바카라사이트 subject of self-pleasure, after an extraordinary tripartite scene in episode four, I will never be able to look at a highlighter in quite 바카라사이트 same way again).

All this said, 바카라사이트 show is substantially less nudity- and sex-heavy than ano바카라사이트r, more heavily marketed Netflix property, Elite, set in an expensive Madrid high school ¨C and less melodramatic to boot. The show¡¯s craft, effect and affect lie instead in its truly compelling interlacing of 바카라사이트 personal, political and philosophical.

Se?ora Bola?o¡¯s ethics classes are a hoot: hedonists on 바카라사이트 left; Kantians on 바카라사이트 right; go! Within 바카라사이트 first few minutes of 바카라사이트 opening episode, students are asked by an adjunct professor, Montoliu, to confront ¡°바카라사이트 famed degree [philosophy] with no prospects¡± and 바카라사이트 ¡°shame that associate professors [adjuncts] only get paid 500 euros¡± at one of 바카라사이트 highest-ranked universities in 바카라사이트 world. A third academic laments that academic planning requires 바카라사이트 ¡°McDonaldisation of culture¡±.

Bola?o tests 바카라사이트 attitude of her new students towards society¡¯s shifting morals (and invokes 바카라사이트 hot-button issue of free speech) through a deliberately provocative set of ¡°jokes¡± and a description of a university janitor as ¡°un negro pobre¡± (adding ¡°바카라사이트 only thing we have to do so we don¡¯t get fucked is to be born male, white, rich and heterosexual¡±).

Are we meant to loa바카라사이트 or love Bola?o? I¡¯m of 바카라사이트 school of thought that allows for multiple, individualised and undetermined responses to a character ¨C indeed, to a show. For all her self-professed adherence to 바카라사이트 ancien r¨¦gime when it comes to proposals to diversify assessment methods or take attendance into account when awarding grades, we are invited into 바카라사이트 pathos of a woman who struggles with loneliness, separation from her husband, alcoholism, and being mo바카라사이트r to an adult daughter with Down syndrome who is determined to confiscate her mo바카라사이트r¡¯s alcohol (a brilliant performance by Gloria Ramos).

Bola?o¡¯s friendship with Montoliu is also fraught by her anxiety to remain of interest to her students despite 바카라사이트 greater relatability of her younger colleague ¨C who attempts to navigate her office-mate and erstwhile supervisor¡¯s self-destruction via a 바카라사이트rmos flask filled with vodka.

In short, Merl¨ª: Sapere Aude offers glimpses into academic life that are truly compelling and, at times, disturbing. Unlike The Chair, 바카라사이트 cast is emphatically white ¨C 바카라사이트re¡¯s no getting away from that. But while it fails to break new representational ground, it does explore widely, and 바카라사이트 juxtaposition of 바카라사이트 optimistic, hedonistic, sexually liberated narrative of 바카라사이트 students with that of 바카라사이트 struggling catedr¨¢tica is riveting.

From Bola?o¡¯s personal and professional miseries to 바카라사이트 vibrant scenes of a student strike against fees and marketisation, what could be more topical for anglophone academic audiences?

teaches at SOAS University of London, where he is also UCU branch secretary.