Teenagers do think

The going theory in Hollywood is that teenagers want movies that appeal to the lowest common denominator. They just want sex and explosions and Josh Hartnett. And that's true, to a degree. But they're not giving the kids enough credit.

Right now in my class I'm showing Life is Beautiful to accompany my section on Elie Weisel's Night. I'm looking around the room and seeing every head aimed at the TV, mouths closed, cell phones away. They love this movie.

They also love Crash and Baz Lurhman's Romeo and Juliet. They like these movies better than they like Gladiator, which is a constant violence fest you'd expect them to love. Of course, this doesn't mean they won't sit through The Longest Yard 80,000 times, but kids are just like anybody else. They're hard to pin down into a simple category. They have brains and occasionally they like to use them.