More than Just a Party

Every teenager, especially those in their final year or two in high school are eager to enter college and start living “the best 4 years” of their lives. Give them 3-4 weeks into their first semester and they are completely engulfed in what being a college student is REALLY like. I guarantee the enthusiasm you get out of a kid entering college will not be the same a month in. They realize how much work you have to put in to keep up with all of your classes and the time you have to sacrifice to get high grades. The work begins to wear you down, you start to wish the semester was over so you could relax and you find yourself thinking, ‘this is what I signed up for?’ And then the next question that usually comes to mind is, ‘why did I want to go to college so bad before?’ We, at this age, just crave independence. We find ourselves yearning for a chance to leave the house for good, no longer having to listen to anyone, doing whatever we please whenever. Or so we think? Yeah, you have the freedom you have been waiting for but it’s not what you thought it would be like. The movies we watch give us a fantasy-like perception of what our college experience will be like. The movies we watch depict college as this place where you go and just get as drunk as possible, get involved with drugs, have sex with random people, and party every day. Everybody’s dream right? Probably not, but because we see it so often we begin to believe it. The stereotypes in movies portray college in such a socially exciting place that we have the wrong mindset most of the time coming in. As a team we talked about four very similar movies in aspect to what they are trying to express about college. We chose to analyze How High (2001), National Lampoon’s: Van Wilder (2002), American Pie: Beta House (2007), and Neighbors (2014). All 4 being comedies depicting what life COULD be like in college. Almost always, especially with these comedies, what happens in the film is not even close to the things that really go on in universities, especially here at UNCC.  

In for example Van Wilder, Van, the main character played by Ryan Reynolds is the big man on campus. Van has spent 7 years at Coolidge College, enjoying himself, partying, hooking up with random girls, doing everything that a guy wants to do. But as Van’s father finds out how his son has not been taking school seriously, he decides to stop paying for his son’s tuition. A girl named Gwen enters the plot of the movie by being asked to write an article on the famous Van Wilder for a school newspaper, which Van perceives as a romantic advance on her part. Van finds out that Gwen actually has a boyfriend named Richard who Van very much dislikes. Richard and Van go back and forth pulling pranks on each other until Richard sets up Van at one of his own parties by reporting some very underage drinkers to the police. After almost being expelled for this, Van proposes that Coolidge College punish him by making him complete the entire semester’s worth of work in a week and to graduate, which is approved. Gwen is impressed by how Van seems to be maturing, while also finding out that Van was set up by her boyfriend, who coincidentally cheated on her. Gwen ends up getting back at Richard by putting a laxative in his drink before he goes to take his medical school exam, which basically ruins his chances of getting into medical school because he ends up leaving the exam early and defecating into a trash can in a room of medical school committee members. Van Wilder meanwhile, crams an entire semester’s worth of information with the help of a couple friends in a matter of 6 days and miraculously passes his exam. He ends up celebrating his graduation with one more party, where his romance with Gwen is realized with a kiss to end the movie. The movie makes college honestly seem like one giant joke. How can someone learn an entire SEMESTER’S worth of work in less than a week? It is impossible, especially passing with a high final exam grade. So much work goes into college academically that goes unnoticed, now a days you cannot just read a book and automatically understand everything, there is practice work, notes, visual aids, lectures, etc. and you have to be present and attentive to everything if you hope to pass a class with a high grade. The movie completely blows the academic side of college out of proportion.

How High is similar to National Lampoons: Van Wilder on the aspect of education. All four films portray college and emphasize on the party life with American Pie, and Neighbors focusing on frats and Van Wilder, well he is just his own party. How High puts a special partying emphasis on drugs and the stereotype of college being a time to experiment. Drugs are not everybodies thing and a little bit of experimenting might just ruin a future career. As far as education goes, How High at least gives the notion Silas wants to do well in school, specifically botany, but this is also drug related. The only reason he wants to do well in botany is so he can grow better pot. It is like doing something good but for a bad cause. His intentions are good but the application is bad. It almost puts a spin on it that a college education is a joke. After all, these movies are comedies, and cheap humor at that. A stereotype of immaturity is also displayed through these movies. In How High Silas and Jamal think they can just do whatever they would like around campus, tearing down statues and blowing things up, literally. This gives college a bad rap. College is supposed to be a place to mature. These movies give a false sense that college is going to be easy. College is not easy, not even getting a major in business. Future students will get the impression of work easy play hard, when in reality it only leads to academic suspension and failing grades. Maybe Van and Silas and Stifler do put a lot of time towards school but the movies do not show it.  The problem is not necessarily with the movie though. In today's culture we accept this. The public loves this kind of humor, and even more so teenagers and young adults love to do the things these feature films are centered around. It has become socially acceptable and the mindset of teenagers and young adults is often times just like that of Silas or Van. “Partying is more important than academics”. They are living for the now.

Coming from a different point of view, maybe teenagers and young adults have these mindsets because of media. Media influences a large portion of things in life so why not college? The stereotypes present in these movies become stereotypes in the minds of high school students. The music on the radio and the things seen on television and movies like How High as well as the others are why things are the way they are. So how does this reflect back to education? It is a slap in the face to high education. It is society and culture saying, “we do not care about academics”. Teenagers love to be rebellious. They love to party. Although college is a transition into the real world it IS the right time to party. A healthy balance of both social life and academics must be found. If anything this is the biggest flaw in the movies noted. Due to this lack of balance in the movies, it gives a very negative spin on the outlook of academics and that is not what the college students of tomorrow need to look forward to. Even as a student that cares very much about academics and that has always been very competitive in the classroom, I too had this party outlook about college coming in as seen in these movies. It is almost as if every point of view about these films has a good rebuttal. Because even though future college students see these movies it still does not change the fact future college students care enough about their education to go to college. Regardless, the underlying truth to take away from this is these movies give a negative spin on education and are centered around partying and  social life in college.

College is a time for self-exploration, fun, adventure, and most importantly getting ready for your life. Joining clubs and organizations is one of the best ways to find yourself. When you leave home and come to college you are by yourself and often this can be lonely. Many college students want to have a sense of belonging. Because of this they often turn to fraternities and sororities known as Greek life. These organizations give you a “family” while encouraging academics, philanthropy, and a social life. Movies tend to focus on the Greek life, but they only show the social aspect. American Pie: Beta House is a great example of how movies over exaggerate partying. Beta House focuses on the Greek aspect of college. The main character Erik Stifler chooses to attend the University of Michigan because of the legendary Beta House fraternity his cousin belongs to. The whole movie is centered on Stifler and his best friend Cooze as they go through pledging the Beta House Fraternity. To become brothers they must work with the other pledges to accomplish a board of challenges before semesters end. Their final and most difficult challenge is to steal something from their know-it-all rival, the GEK house. After stealing the geek’s most prized possession, the geeks declare war. They challenge Beta House to the long banned Greek Olympiad. The two fraternities battle in embarrassing challenges. The winner gets both fraternity houses. This movie depicts an extreme version of the social life college students have. I believe a social life is very important to have in college. Spending time with your peers helps you grow as a person. However, the social life typical college students have are not what is depicted in the movies. Movies show outrageous parties with excessive drinking, sex, and drugs. Partying and drinking happens, it is a part of life. Participating in consuming alcohol and partying is seen as having the “college experience”. I believe this is due to the freedom college gives you. When you are at home you have someone stopping you from making the “bad decisions”. When you move to college you can choose how to spend your time. This freedom that many students did not have before can lead to an excess in partying and bad decision making. However, there are many college students that choose not to participate in these activities.  Partying is much different than how it is depicted in movies. The students that do participate usually only “party” on the weekends, not every day. The parties are also not to the same scale. Although there have been some parties that are large and wild, the majority of the parties are small get togethers. In Beta House, the parties are hundreds of people creating chaos. Having been to both Greek and non-Greek parties, they are not as chaotic and wild as the movies lead you to believe. In college you do not have a lot of free time after class, homework, and other obligations. This allows very little time for partying, unlike you are led to believe with these movies.

Another movie that focuses on depicting Greek Life and its culture is Neighbors.   The movie Neighbors, featuring the humorous Seth Rogen alongside the likes of  Zac Efron and Dave Franco, attempts to illustrate a portion of college that is more commonly displayed than any other aspect; Greek Life.  The exaggerated portrayal of Greek life in films commonly depicts what young adults do when they are finally on their own with no authority over them.  For this reason, the film industry usually shows its characters indulging in events regarding extreme excess when depicting college especially in the categories of sex and alcohol consumption. Neighbors does a good job at this specifically as it illustrates classic stereotypical Fraternity life.  The comedy shows Seth Rogen and his wife trying to live in peace while a fraternity moves in next door.  Throughout the duration of the comical pranks and sabotage of each other between Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, many different stereotypes of how the media portrays college and especially Greek Life in college are shown.   

As the fraternity settles into its new house, Zac Efron and Dave Franco, who are the Fraternity’s president and vice-president call a meeting in the basement.  Zac Efron begins explaining what the fraternity hopes to achieve that semester regarding parties.  As he goes into the history of parties that the fraternity has done in the past he explains how their predecessors came up with different party themes through accidental occurrences like that of a toga party and beer pong.  Through the pride that is displayed by Efron’s character by being a part of something that started the likes of toga parties and beer pong, the drinking culture that is commonly associated with college is exploited.  In arguably every depiction of college by the media, alcohol is a major part of the “college experience”, especially so in fraternity life.  The reasoning behind this recurring theme in depictions of college life is perhaps because, in most cases, alcohol is a major part of the college experience.  It is a symbol of the freedom of decision making that accompanies attending a university and “leaving the nest”.  Though there are many who choose not to consume alcohol, I feel as if many more choose to for the same reason that people stay up so late or skip class in college; because they can.  Before college, in many cases, young adults do not have the freedom to do all that they please because of parents or guardians making sure that they do not get into trouble.  Upon entering college, many realize that they no longer have anyone over top of them dictating what they can or can’t do and because of this alcohol consumption is prevalent due to a combination of independent decision making and even peer pressure.  Along with those who drank before college and had to hide it from their authority figure at home, there are also those who did not experience alcohol and the feelings that come with it at all.  Because of this, once these people come to college, perhaps join a fraternity or sorority, and begin divulging in excessive debauchery, they may believe that they have struck gold and understand “what they have been missing”.  It all comes back to the fact that college students are basically self-authoritarian.  Since those entering college are still relatively young, it takes learning the ropes.

 Another part of the debauchery, along with drinking, is sexual aspect.  It is no mystery that young adults coming to college are not only curious about alcohol, but also about sexual relations.  Most movies that attempt to illustrate college life show the characters partaking in physical relations with each other or alluding to sexual themes, usually through humor.  Neighbors has one scene in particular in which Dave Franco’s character and the girlfriend of Zac Efron’s character go upstairs while Zac Efron is distracted during a party.  Since Dave and Zac are best friends in the movie, this event shows how media depicts college students and how high on their priority list sex is by showing that even though it was Zac’s girlfriend, Dave still acted upon his own impulses and desires.

Another example of not having authority over oneself at college is a theme commonly associated with college fraternities which is the controversial act of pledging and the hazing that the pledges must endure to become a full member of the fraternity.  In the film all of the pledges of the fraternity wear foolish-looking, pink, cutoff shirts with vulgar names on the back of them in order to humiliate them.  On top of this, there are a few scenes in the film in which the senior members of the fraternity force the pledges to partake in humiliating procedures as they belittle them further. While not personally being in a fraternity myself I can make few valid claims to what the process of pledging is like and I also believe it varies with every university.  However my brother and close friend from home were both in fraternities at the University of South Carolina and have told me as much as they can about the unenjoyable experiences that they have had to endure.  Though not common everywhere, as I’ve heard that Charlotte for example is less tolerable of fraternity hazing, it and the creation of the hierarchy in fraternities that comes from it are other common themes when depicting college.  My meaning by the “hierarchy” is that through pledging and the hazing that accompanies it, members must earn their spots and respect within the fraternity through humiliation.  I have heard many times that this humiliation is put in place in order for one to show their dedication to the fraternity and by doing so, be able to climb up the ranks of the group.  In many cases, hazing is a controversial subject because of the effects that it can have on those who participate.  Neighbors does a good job at depicting those effects by showing a pledge become fed up with the humiliation.  This displays the side of the freedom that comes with college that is more commonly categorized as negative.  Since there is no central authority within the frat house except those higher up the chain in the fraternity, there is no one directly to tell the hazers what they are doing is wrong.  Furthermore, I feel as if even though this movie is meant primarily for comedic entertainment purposes, the studio also attempts to create an exaggerated image of what college is like. Though one may find it hard to understand how all aspects of college life are illustrated by media in this particular film due to the emphasis on the fraternity life, there is enough material to find media portrayal of stereotypical fraternity culture, social interactions, and even some academics.  While media does tend to exaggerate themes and common aspects of the college culture that exist, Neighbors has many parts in the film that, though amplified, can illustrate the basis of where such exaggerations in media originate.