Nuking the fridge

Photo by Erich Ferdinand on Flickr

Nuking the fridge is a strange phrase, and you may never have heard of it - but in the popular culture context it means something. Here's the etymology of the phrase from the Know Your Meme website:

"Nuking the Fridge is an idiomatic phrase used by movie fans to describe the declining point of a film franchise as a result of its heavy reliance on special effects. The phrase stems from a scene in the 2008 action-adventure film Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wherein Jones survives a nuclear explosion by hiding in a refrigerator.

"The phrase was coined by fans of the franchise who were disappointed with Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released on May 22nd, 2008, particularly about a highly unrealistic scene wherein Jones (played by Harrison Ford) escapes a nuclear explosion unharmed by hiding inside a refrigerator."

Yes, surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined fridge does tend to stretch the imagination somewhat. The Urban Dictionary elaborated on the origin of the phrase, which is

".... a colloquialism used to refer to the moment in a film series that is so incredible that it lessens the excitement of subsequent scenes that rely on more understated action or suspense, and it becomes apparent that a certain installment is not as good as a previous installments, due to ridiculous or low quality storylines, events or characters."

This got me thinking - there are many movie franchises that outstay their welcome, and eventually end up overreaching and inadvertently becoming ridiculous parodies of themselves.  Are we equally guilty in the world of education and learning, in perpetrating similar 'crimes'? Has education become a cliché or a pale shadow of its former glory? Are there practices in schools, colleges and universities that have now outlived their credibility, or outstayed their welcome? Or .... are there new practices or systems that have been introduced that totally 'nuke the fridge'? I think we should be told. Comments are welcome below.

Nuking the fridge by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Posted by Steve Wheeler from Learning with e's