The Hitler salute was definitely not a good idea. Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass) is actually a popular professor, but he’s been a little absent-minded since his wife’s death a year ago. He gives well-attended seminars with dramatic titles such as “Death and Modernity” and when he comes to speak of fascism in this very seminar, he briefly ironically shows the Hitler salute, including a jagged hacking. Of course a student filmed the whole thing, the clip is quickly digitally spiced up with a uniform and goes viral. Instead of a small one, it turns into a huge scandal and a big problem for Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh), who has just taken over the management of the Institute for English Literature at the fictional Pembroke University. As the first woman and the first non-white. It would have had enough to do with declining student numbers, staff cuts and institutional sexism.
“The Professor”, originally the elegant “The Chair”, tells of a world that is going under: the humanities in the special form of a department for English literature at a chic American east coast university. The microcosm of a university campus is actually the perfect setting for a television series. But the current situation of many humanities institutes is anything but funny because of the low number of students and more and more universities that have been converted into pure vocational training institutions. Perhaps that’s why it’s right that the two series inventors Amanda Peet and Annie Wyman have decided not only to face all the problems that are causing unrest at the university institutes, but also in the form of a romantic comedy to do and make their whole setting a caricature.
The completely harmless Bill has long been scandalized as a fascist among the students
Maybe that’s the only way it works at all. If only because otherwise it would never be possible to make topics such as Title IX proceedings for sexist discrimination or young women scientists in precarious positions accessible to a broad audience. Under the guise of a flat love story between the professor and her colleague, who had fallen out of favor because of his Hitler slip, Netflix is smuggling the crises in the humanities onto television screens around the world. In the case of the super-mindful students, Bill, who is actually completely harmless, has long been scandalized as a fascist, while the countless old white professors in the department can continue to lay stones in the career path of the young, black professor unmolested. The series attracts dozens of students with populist seminar titles such as “Sex and the Novel” and musically presented lectures, but leaves the series open as to whether singing and clapping can ultimately save the subject of English literature. The university has long since had other plans: Actor David Duchovny is to be invited as a guest lecturer against Ji-Yoon Kim’s will in order to keep at least a few students. And actually the single professor should take care of her behavioral daughter a little more.
All of this is actually only slightly exaggerated and for that very reason could also pass as an obituary for parts of academic life between the jokes. Of course, not all old professors are schemers and all young populists, of course not all students just want to cancel what doesn’t suit them. It is almost like in ancient drama: everyone does everything right from their respective perspective, and this is precisely what creates insoluble conflicts. But the saddest thing about this often very funny series is: You understand very well why academic professions have become so unbearable in recent years, especially for the people who are urgently needed there.
The Professor, 6 episodes, on Netflix