History Film / SchoolOfRock

* BitingTheHandHumor: Dewey's rant about how TheMan ruined rock 'n' roll "with a little thing called Creator/{{MTV}}" is this, as both MTV and Paramount Pictures (who distributed the movie) are both owned by [=ViacomCBS=].

* InsultBackfire: Frankie says "Ms. Mullins, you're TheMan" and she replies "Thank you, Frankie" without knowing what they really mean. Frankie's snickering regardless of Ms. Mullins' response indicates that this was meant to be a StealthInsult.

* TheMan: Ms. Mullins ([[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} a hot, sexy, female man]]). [[spoiler: Later subverted -- she actually only became tightly-wound because she feels powerless against the constant, strident demands of over-protective parents.]]

* AdultFear: For the parents, [[spoiler:learning that a random stranger impersonated a substitute teacher at their kids' private school, used them for a private music project and later on took them for a "field trip".]] While the parents are micromanagers, their MassOhCrap reaction is understandable. Fortunately for them, Dewey underwent CharacterDevelopment.

-->"Here's a useful lesson for ya: Give up. Just quit. Because in this life, you can't ''win''. Oh yeah, you can try. But in the end you're just gonna lose — ''big'' time! Because the ''world'' is run by TheMan! The Man — oh you don't know the ''Man?'' Oh, [[BigBrotherIsWatching he's everywhere]]! In [[PresidentEvil the White House]], [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil down the hall]] — ''Ms. Mullins'', ''she's'' the Man. And [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Man]] ''ruined'' [[GlobalWarming the ozone]]; and he's ''burning down'' TheAmazon; and he [[KickTheDog kidnapped]] [[Ride/SeaWorld Shamu]] [[KickTheDog and put her in a chlorine tank]]! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man, it was called ''[[ThePowerOfRock rock 'n roll]]''. But guess what? Oh no, the Man [[TakeThat ruined that too, with a little thing called]] '''''Creator/{{MTV}}!''''' So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool, or pure, or awesome, 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat, washed-up loser, and crush your soul! So do yourselves a favor, and just GIVE UP!!"

** And the above quoted slam against MTV. And [[ActuallyPrettyFunny the line is always left in when they air it]].

As it happens, an elite private school in the area has an opening for a long-term substitute teacher. Receiving a phone call intended for his apartment roommate, Ned Schneebly (Creator/MikeWhite), Dewey fakes his roommate's identity and gets hired. He takes the job initially planning to do as little as possible, but soon discovers that the kids have musical talent. After that, he changes his plans drastically, turning the class entirely into a music class about the history of rock, and preparing his kids to enter a band contest and beat his old band.

!!Tropes Used in the Film

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler: Dewey eventually does start to care for his students and winds up becoming the teacher of an after-school program called, you guessed it, ''The School of Rock''.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Despite their entry, School of Rock ultimately loses to No Vacancy, Dewey's former band. However, the audience deprives them of their glory by demanding an encore from School of Rock since the school had more passion for their work. The credits reveal that Dewey has repurposed his love of rock by becoming an afterschool teacher, something that inspires Ned to do the same.]]
* BitingTheHandHumor: Dewey's rant about how TheMan ruined rock 'n' roll "with a little thing called Creator/{{MTV}}" is this as both MTV and Paramount Pictures (who distributed the movie) are both owned by [=ViacomCBS=].

* CampGay: Billy, the boy placed in charge of designing their costumes, has these mannerisms though his sexuality isn't explicitly stated. Reportedly, the character wasn't written this way. However, the director saw that playing up the stereotypes would bring in laughs. As a result, screenwriter Mike White (an openly bisexual man with a gay father) [[DudeNotFunny disowned the final film.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: At one point, during the rock class montage, Dewey draws a flowchart on the blackboard with the ramifications of rock and important bands. Pausing the movie reveals how [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/66/7b/84667b42ceb5e7857b39193f8d0aa930.jpg accurate the whole thing actually is]].

-->"Here's a useful lesson for ya: Give up. Just quit. Because in this life, you can't ''win''. Oh yeah, you can try. But in the end you're just gonna lose — ''big'' time! Because the ''world'' is run by TheMan! The Man — oh you don't know the ''Man?'' Oh, [[BigBrotherIsWatching he's everywhere]]! In [[PresidentEvil the White House]], [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil down the hall]] — ''Ms. Mullins'', ''she's'' the Man. And [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Man]] ''ruined'' [[GlobalWarming the ozone]]; and he's ''burning down'' TheAmazon; and he [[KickTheDog kidnapped]] [[Ride/SeaWorld Shamu]] [[KickTheDog and put her in a chlorine tank]]! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man, it was called ''[[ThePowerOfRock rock 'n roll]]''. But guess what? Oh no, the Man ruined that too, with a little thing called '''''[[TakeThat MTV]]!''''' So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool, or pure, or awesome, 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat, washed-up loser, and crush your soul! So do yourselves a favor, and just GIVE UP!!"

* SuddenlyShouting: Dewey's line to Theo while [[FlippingTheBird flipping him off]]: "Read between the lines, Theo. Read between the LINES!"

* JustTestingYou: A RunningGag.

* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Dewey has priceless reactions on the words of the preteen kids. Summer's "I read about groupies, they're ''sluts''!" and Alicia's "I say let's get out of here and do the ''damn'' show" are famous examples.

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Ms. Mullins. Just add "Edge of Seventeen" as BGM.

** The "rock moves" including the arm windmill from Music/TheWho's Pete Townshend and the top hat, worn by both Music/{{Slash}} and Music/AliceCooper.
** Dewey's school uniform at the Battle of the Bands is a shout-out to Angus Young.
*** As is the Gibson [=SG=] guitar he is holding on the cover image.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: One-shot joke. "Actually, it's Shnay-blay."

* SocietyMarchesOn: The visual gag of Ms. Mullins making herself stand in the corner would be lost on modern viewers now that making a student stand in the corner for misbehavior is no longer a permitted form of punishment.

* CrowdSurfing: Dewey attempts this in the first scene while performing with No Vacancy. The crowd steps out of the way and he crashes painfully to the floor. He tries again during the Battle of the Bands and succeeds to his obvious delight.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: At the Parents' Night while Dewey is telling the parents about their children, he nervously looks in the hallway and sees Ned, his girlfriend and Ms. Mullins talking to police officers.

** One of the students telling Ms. Mullins "You're [[BrickJoke the man]]!"

* BitingTheHandHumor: Dewey's rant about how TheMan ruined rock 'n' roll "with a little thing called Creator/{{MTV}}" is this as both MTV and Paramount Studios (who distributed the movie) are both owned by [=ViacomCBS=].

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: At the Parents' Night while Dewey is telling the parents about their children, he looks in the hallway and nervously sees Ned, his girlfriend and Miss Mullins talking to police officers.

* FreezeFrameBonus: At one point, during the rock class montage, Dewey draws a flowchart on the blackboard with the ramifications of rock and important bands. Pausing the disc reveals how accurate the whole thing actually is.

** Ned tells Dewey in their first scene together that if Dewey thinks Ned's job's so easy, he should try it. Come Dewey answering a call meant for Ned a few scenes later from Horace Green, and guess what happens.

*** As is the Gibson [=SG=] he is holding on the cover image.

** Dewey telling Ned that he'll "throw [him] and [his] dog (Patty) a bone." He's calling Patty a bitch.

** Freddy asks one of the other students to name "three great chick drummers." She mentions [[Music/TheWhiteStripes Meg White]], to which Freddy replies, flabbergasted, "She can't drum!"

* RealityEnsues:
** At the audition for Battle of the Bands, Dewey is furious to find he and the kids have gotten there too late, and when he talks to the man in charge, he throws a chair, gets in his face and shouts at him. The man in charge simply tells his assistant to call security and have them thrown out.
** [[spoiler:When the parents and Mullins get to Battle of the Bands after finding out that Dewey has taken their kids there to play the show, they are initially refused entry because they don't have tickets and, as far as the ticket checker knows, this is just a random group of people trying to get past him without paying.]]
** A rock band of children competes in the Battle of Bands with professional musicians. [[spoiler: The audience loves them, but they're not the ones judging the actual contest, and Dewey's old band No Vacancy ends up taking first place.]]
** The first responsible adult to find out what Dewey is doing [[spoiler: immediately calls the cops, and rightly so. What he did was fraud and child endangerment. The administration and parents are equally furious.]]

-->"Here's a useful lesson for ya: Give up. Just quit. Because in this life, you can't ''win''. Oh yeah, you can try. But in the end you're just gonna lose — ''big'' time! Because the ''world'' is run by TheMan! The Man — oh you don't know the ''Man?'' Oh, [[BigBrotherIsWatching he's everywhere]]! In [[PresidentEvil the White House]], [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil down the hall]] — ''Ms. Mullins'', ''she's'' the Man. And [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Man]] ''ruined'' [[ClimateChange the ozone]]; and he's ''burning down'' TheAmazon; and he [[KickTheDog kidnapped]] [[Ride/SeaWorld Shamu]] [[KickTheDog and put her in a chlorine tank]]! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man, it was called ''[[ThePowerOfRock rock 'n roll]]''. But guess what? Oh no, the Man ruined that too, with a little thing called '''''[[TakeThat MTV]]!''''' So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool, or pure, or awesome, 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat, washed-up loser, and crush your soul! So do yourselves a favor, and just GIVE UP!!"

As it happens, an elite private school in the area has an opening for a long-term substitute teacher. Receiving a phone call intended for his apartment roommate, Ned Schneebly (Mike White), Dewey fakes his roommate's identity and gets hired. He takes the job initially planning to do as little as possible, but soon discovers that the kids have musical talent. After that, he changes his plans drastically, turning the class entirely into a music class about the history of rock, and preparing his kids to enter a band contest and beat his old band.

* ParentsAsPeople: In "If Only You Would Listen," it's obvious that all the kids' parents love him but don't click with them. Billy is hurt that his dad doesn't want him to read ''Vogue'' and makes him watch a game; Tomika's parents are InnocentlyInsensitive about how she's not "fitting in" and are an overprotective pair; Zack's dad doesn't want to spend time with him. [[spoiler: After they see the rock performance, it seems all their relationships will improve for the better.]]

* SpitTake: Dewey when he realizes that parent/teacher night is the same night as the battle of the bands.

-->'''Dewey:''': Whoa, nobody caught me. That was lame.

* ProductPlacement: Most of the instruments in this movie are made by Gibson, Although some from other companies like Fender and Washburn show up as well. Also, all of the parents' cars, as seen a few times, are Volvos.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Dewey for impersonating Ned, even though the cops were called on him and Ned politely tells him to move out before the Battle of the Bands. The kids still come to rock in the after-school program, which allows him to fulfill his dreams while helping them out even though they lost the Battle of the Bands. This is justified in that Ned doesn't press charges against Dewey and leaves Patty.]]

* TheNicknamer: Dewey comes up with nicknames for all the kids, including Zack-Attack (Zack), Spazzy [=McGee=] (Freddy), Turkey Sub (Tomika), and Mr. Cool (Lawrence).

** The "rock moves" including the arm-pinwheels from ''Music/TheWho'' and the top hat, worn by both ''Music/{{Slash}}'' and ''Music/AliceCooper''.

* TheStinger: At some point after the Battle of the Bands, Dewey opens up an after school program called the School of Rock, where he continues coaching the students he played with, accompanied by Ned who is coaching the beginners.

*** Particularly funny in the London production in the Gillian Lynne Theatre, best known for having staged ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' for 21 years, where they add in Dewey's line "I never want to hear ''that song'' in ''this building'' ever again!"

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Both Dewy and No Vacancy had valid points in the argument and the ending actually emphasizes Dewy's point.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Zack's dad. He comes across as overbearing, and doesn't allow him to play the electric guitar, thinking it a waste of time.

** Dewey reiterates that one great rock show can change the world. [[spoiler:The kids' show ends up changing their parents' mind, and Ms. Mullins while furious with Dewey tells him SoProudOfYou.]]

* {{Groupie}}: Dewey assigns three girls as "groupies" of the other band members (a PG-13 version thankfully, as they are in charge of merchandise and branding). Summer, however, refuses to be a groupie and is instead given the role of band manager.