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Making the Grade

Name: Making the Grade
Director: Dorian Walker
Released: 1984
Duration: 105 min

Representation Score

3.9/10

Limited

1984

Director

Dorian Walker

Runtime

105 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Making the Grade is a comedy focused on class mobility and identity performance. Its primary strength lies in disrupting socioeconomic norms, using a fish-out-of-water premise to bridge urban and elite environments. However, the film remains constrained by traditional storytelling formulas. It emphasizes masculine competition and adheres to conventional gender roles, providing limited opportunities for female characters. Ultimately, while the film offers a platform for characters of color to navigate homogeneous spaces, it lacks engagement with LGBTQ+ or disability narratives, resulting in a moderate diversity profile.

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Category Breakdown

Does Making the Grade have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not explicitly address LGBTQ+ identities or include same-sex intimacy. The romantic tension is focused on a traditional relationship between Eddie and Tracey.

How does Making the Grade portray gender?

Fair

The story relies on conventional gender stereotypes. While Tracey serves as a romantic catalyst, the main conflict is driven by male characters and masculine competition.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Making the Grade?

Good

The story disrupts social hierarchies by placing a street-smart protagonist in an elite, traditionally white-dominated academy. This setup explores the intersection of racial and class issues.

How does Making the Grade represent religion and culture?

Fair

The film critiques institutional class structures by challenging the preppie lifestyle. It relies on established urban struggle clichés, such as gambling debts and bookie archetypes.

Does Making the Grade include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no visible or invisible disabilities portrayed in the narrative. The story does not represent any form of disability.

Present on Screen

Disrupts social hierarchies by placing urban characters in elite, traditionally white-dominated academic settings.
Explores themes of class mobility and the subversion of institutional social structures through a comedic lens.

Limited or Absent

Does not represent LGBTQ+ identities or non-traditional romantic dynamics.
Relies on conventional gender stereotypes where female characters primarily serve as romantic catalysts.
Does not include any representation of visible or invisible disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Lazy preppie Palmer Woodrow hires street-smart Eddie Keaton to go to school for him while he lives it up in Europe. Eddie falls in love with preppie gal Tracey, upsetting Biff, the Hoover Academy bully. When his bookie from the old neighborhood, Dice, comes to collect on Eddie's gambling debts and Palmer returns early from Europe, the scheme slowly starts to unravel. Soon, Eddie can't even tell whose side he's really on.

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