Rushmore Is Max Fisher a stereotypical teenager?

Is Max Fischer a stereotypical teenager?

Various elements within the montage video portray Max Fischer as different from the average teenager, the most obvious of which is his choice of clothing - in the majority of the scenes, he has chosen to wear his full school uniform (blazer, trousers, etcetera.) rather than the preferred clothing of those around him, even in the Fencing club where he wears the majority of the fencing outfit, yet retains his school uniforms trousers.

This choice of clothing could potentially be due to many factors in the character’s life, one of which is poverty, which is again suggested towards the latter end of the montage where he is seen training for the J.V. decathlon by running across a bridge over a highway, rather than the more traditional setting of an actual track.

His entire demeanour seems to be very formal in comparison with the rest of his school, from his hairstyle to his clothing to his very posture, and even though this kind of formality comes with the stereotype of submissive and shy teenagers, he seems to show a great amount of confidence at various points, which is also seen by the fact that he is one, if the not the, “top dog” in each of the clubs, such as being President of the French club, Vice-President of the Stamp and Coin club, etcetera. This formality could potentially point to some form of OCD within his character, which is further emphasized by the Lacrosse part of the montage, where rather than watching the team play he instead chooses to arrange the equipment along the floor, despite being the team’s manager.

At several points there seems to also be a conflict in decisions within his character, mainly the contrasting choices of doing activities in groups and doing activities alone – he also seems to do most of these clubs with students who are noticeably younger than himself. These things point to a main interest of control/power in his character – he seems just as happy doing individual activities than group activities, and companied with his position in the various clubs and the company of people who are probably less powerful and intelligent than himself (though this could be argued, seeing as he was earlier described as being one of the “worst students” at Rushmore, and that despite being older than the rest of the Kung Fu club he is still only a yellow belt). Control over a situation seems to be what he desires, rather than control over others, and in the “Model United Nations” part of the montage he resembles Russia, one of the world’s superpowers.

This desire for control/power, along with his great amount of confidence and formality, may link to some form of arrogance in Max, which is suggested at the beginning of the montage by the image of bee’s on front of the “Rushmore Yankee” (the yearbook, probably). This image links into two main popular sayings: “busy bee” and “the bee’s knees”. The “busy bee” phrase links into the amount of time his character spends actually doing stuff, being a part of a lot of clubs (this also links to the choice of song: “Making Time” by The Creation). The “bee’s knees”, however, is a phrase used often to state something is important, or great, etcetera., which links into his character’s arrogance.

These things set Max Fischer apart from the stereotypical teenagers, and after analyzing the montage and linking it to the fact that he’s “one of the worst students” and potentially poor, we’re left with another question:

How has he managed to get into, or stay in, Rushmore?