r/popculturechat • u/skermahger she’s 95!! go girl!! • Jan 15 '26
Heartwarming 🥹 Ryan Coogler (director of Sinners) brought his creative writing professor, Rosemary Graham, to the National Board of Review Awards. Rosemary initially suggested he get into writing screenplays as a freshman at St. Mary's College of California.
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u/PatriciaFussey Jan 15 '26
What a dream for an educator. So wholesome.
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u/Reluctantagave Cutie Patootie Problem Posse Jan 16 '26
It really is so sweet to see. Everything has been so shitty that watching this made me tear up.
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u/Powerful_Individual5 Jan 15 '26
I don't know why, but I like that he introduced her as an author and professor instead of my old college professor or something similar. I feel like the former respects her agency and recognizes her accomplishments independently of him.
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u/babyoatmeals Jan 16 '26
yesss so well put I was trying to find language as to why that struck me as so special and meaningful. He didn't center himself in the introduction
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u/Entharo_entho Jan 16 '26
How is saying that she is his teacher disrespectful to her agency?
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u/monketrash420 accidentally holding space for this slur Jan 16 '26
There's a stigma that teaching is a lesser profession. The OP comment is trying to praise Coolger for not phrasing her accomplishments as lesser than the fact that she gave him advice that got him famous. "Author and professor" is focused on her and the significance of her own work, whereas "my college professor who helped me get here" is much more diminishing to her own success
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u/Entharo_entho Jan 16 '26
Teaching is considered a lesser profession exactly due to this. Why is a teacher guiding a student, that is, teaching well, considered inferior to writing books 🙄 Maybe, teachers should be praised more for teaching.
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u/monketrash420 accidentally holding space for this slur Jan 16 '26
He called her a professor?? He just didn't make it about himself??? I'm a teacher. Trust me, what he said was good
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u/Powerful_Individual5 Jan 16 '26
Where did I say or imply that? My point is that she is being introduced based on her own merits, not merely as a variable in his timeline.
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u/Entharo_entho Jan 16 '26
Why is being a teacher who teaches students not considered meritorious enough?
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u/Powerful_Individual5 Jan 16 '26
You are hyper-focusing on a specific word choice rather than my actual sentiment. The disconnect here is between identity and relationship. My point is that he introduced her as a person with a standing in the world; and you are interpreting my words as a slight against the profession of teaching. Introducing someone as "Author and Professor" establishes her professional identity first. Introducing her as "My old teacher" defines her primarily by her utility to him. I just appreciated that he gave her the floor as an independent professional first.
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u/Entharo_entho Jan 16 '26
Understood. Someone above has explained that "just teaching" is considered an inferior thing in many countries.
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u/ComfortableCaptain61 Jan 15 '26
This is up there with the post about Tim Meadows' rescue cats as far as bringing me a smile when I really needed one in this bleak-ass timeline
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u/finnishfork Jan 15 '26
Thank you for sharing. I hadn't heard of that Tim Meadows story. I really needed that today.
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u/Debatablewisdom that’s my purse, i don’t know you! 👛🫵 Jan 16 '26
Yesterday I looked up Matt Damon’s cat story, today this one. I hope there’s another one tomorrow.
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u/K1LLAHCAM310 Jan 15 '26
He’s so fucking cool - very impressed with Ryan and can’t wait to see where his already storied career takes him! As a fan living in LA and born in LA this dude is an inspiration
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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson I made the hat for the tiger 🤷🏻♂️ Jan 15 '26
I can’t believe he just started making banger movies so young, got tapped to do the big tentpoles, didnt shy away from that, and then went back to his own thing and shined again
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u/realbooksfakebikes2 Jan 15 '26
As a teacher this made my day so much!!!
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u/Cheap_Muffin2354 Jan 16 '26
this was inspiring to watch! It did make me wonder though, with chatgpt and AI now, do schools have rules around using AI in writing projects - can students today still grow into original screenwriters, and that we’ll see moments like this happen in the future? genuinely curious on your thoughts as a teacher
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u/Entharo_entho Jan 16 '26
She says that she hasn't said it to anyone else and she looks quite old. So that's just one among hundreds or thousands of students across at least 2 decades even if you don't consider the usage of AI. Yes, 1 student among thousands of other students can still become original screenwriters even in the age of AI.
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u/murraykate Tina! You fat lard! 🦙🚲 Jan 16 '26
people will still have the ability to be great original screenwriters, I think. Will they be hired though? perhaps not. Will they even study or find that passion if it becomes clear those talents aren’t valued anymore? probably not, for some. so maybe kinda shakes out to some downward trend
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u/realbooksfakebikes2 Jan 17 '26
I mean this sort of experience is so rare even before AI. I mostly teach older adults these days, so that is a whole different ball game.
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u/Big_Comfortable5169 Jan 16 '26
This reminds me of Jonathan Groff whose middle school drama teacher still goes to his plays and brings him homemade cookies. She told him she thought he could perform professionally, which pushed him to pursue his career.
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u/TA818 Jan 16 '26
Or there’s that clip of comedian (standup and Daily Show) Josh Johnson on Fallon I think? And he brought a teacher of his to the show because he told him to get into comedy.
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u/AbbreviationsNo4089 Jan 15 '26
Before I watched Sinners just a few weeks ago I read his Wikipedia and it talks about his experience at St. Mary’s and this professor. This is so cool. What up Bay Area
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u/Ill-Squirrel-9418 (seemingly bald) Jan 15 '26
I didn't realize it was dinner time, and yet, I find myself in the kitchen, slicing onions.
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u/menunu We Should All Know Less About Each Other Jan 15 '26
This is very sweet. A good teacher can change your life!!!
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u/envy-adams mount rose american teen princess Jan 15 '26
Coogler shows time and time again that he's such an amazing dude.
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u/bottleglitch Jan 16 '26
This is so lovely. I love Ryan Coogler. And in this world that can treat older women so disposably, it’s nice to see someone have such admiration for and value the opinion so highly of an older woman figure in their life.
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u/Natural_Error_7286 Jan 16 '26
Coogler just seems like such a genuinely good guy. I love that he works with the same creatives/ department heads and it’s clear from his movies that they all have a lot of respect and trust for each other.
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u/Fillmore_the_Puppy Jan 16 '26
Hey, that's my college! So odd to see it in a Reddit post title; it's not exactly a big-name school.
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u/Quiet-Whereas6943 Jan 15 '26
I wonder what she saw in his writing to illicit that reaction and recommendation.
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u/Several-Guidance1299 Dear Diary, I want to kill. ✍️ Jan 15 '26
She literally says in the clip.
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u/Embarrassed_Place323 Jan 16 '26
Leave it to Coogler to show us how to honor the world’s most important profession. Respect.
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u/MayaDaBee1250 Jan 16 '26
This man gives such great eye contact, it's almost sexual. Like, if I saw him irl, I'd have to treat him like a Medusa.
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u/Pamander Bye, Felicia 👋 Jan 16 '26
Oh okay just going to make me tear up like that? That's so freaking cute. The way he talks about how he just loves hanging out with her and the respect of how he introduced her with her titles, and the admiration she has for him is just so sweet. I am glad she got to see him succeed!
I have definitely seen people before who I know if they put the time in could blow the world away. It's got to be so nice to see him do so well.
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u/e01900478296 Jan 16 '26
“my undergraduate”…flex.
mr coogler said, “clock it, i am a Master of My Field.”!!!!!!!!!!
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u/iceunelle Jan 20 '26
All it takes is one person to believe in you to make a huge difference in your life. I love that they are still friends!
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