Max Fischer!

Is Max Fischer a Stereotypical Teenager?

Max Fischer, the lead character of Rushmore is clearly shown not to be an average teen. The montage scene has many examples of this.

For example Max's choose of clothing. In every activity he wears his school uniform, which he seems to have adapted to include a blazer and tie. This shows his uniqueness as none of the other boys wear such a formal uniform. Even when he is fencing, he is the team captain, Max is still wearing his chinos with the rest of his fencing clothing whilst the other team members have the proper protective trousers. He also wears his school uniform in the bombardment game. Another strange item that Max always wears is a red beret, which is a very unusual item for a teenager to wear. The fact he is always in his uniform and hardly ever has the correct attire for his activities poses the question 'does Max have any money to buy these clothes?'.

Another example of Max's unstereotypical behaviour is how he is in or has actually founded or is the president of so many groups.  These groups are mainly very bizarre activities, such as stamp and coin collecting which is a very unusual hobby that no typical teenagers do. Another example is bee keeping, which Max also wears his uniform for instead of protective keeping clothes, this is also a very unusual hobby. It also seems like Max is the only one or one of two in these strange groups. Being in all these groups we see that Max obviously has no time on his hands and that he doesn't try hard to socialise, it seems that he gains his social life from his hobbies and no one really enjoys his company.

One thing about Max that seems stereotypical is that he tries extremely hard to fit in with people by joining a variety of different clubs. This and his clothing choose seems like he is quite attention seeking and almost self centered. We see this in the school group he has named after his-self, 'The Max Fischer Players', in the montage he is center of the group and wears his uniform which makes him stand out. An group shown in the montage that shows he is self centered is his evolvement in the model UN, in this group he represents Russia. I think as Russia is a super power it shows that he thinks of himself as a super power in the school. Also he tries to improve himself and others opinions of him, especially to his older role models.

All of these elements of Max indicate that he might have an obsessive condition, as he always likes to be in control and the center of attention.