As you’ve probably heard, the movie does mock fraternities and sororities. Even before the movie was released, there was chatter on social media about how Hollywood – yet again – is feeding into negative stereotypes about our movement. And so, upon watching this movie with some hesitation and concern, when the Greek scenes emerged I expected myself to shake my head in frustration.
But instead, I laughed.
It felt so good to laugh. My kids were laughing and the rest of the audience was laughing. There was the jock fraternity, and the “cool-kids” fraternity, and the nerdy fraternity. Their portrayals were over-the-top and…really funny.
Later, I thought about Animal House, and Revenge of the Nerds, and other college movies that have been a thorn in our behinds. And, my thoughts turned to how funny these movies really are. The student court scene in Animal House is absolutely classic. “We’re not going to sit here and let you badmouth the United States of America!” Animal House is a funny movie when seen as a lampoon and not as a documentary.
We've spent so much time allowing ourselves to be debilitated by these movies, that we've forgotten how to laugh at them.
Oh man, I just want to laugh at these things. I want them to just be satire. I want fraternity and sorority members to have built organizations that are so authentic and values-based, that Hollywood portrayals can only be seen as spoofs. I so want to be like most Mormons I know who have seen the musical “The Book of Mormon,” and be able to laugh with knowing confidence in what’s real and what’s not.
I want these negative portrayals to seem so outrageously funny instead of seeming so truthful. I want us to be able to carry a sense of humor about ourselves - the kind that comes when you also have an abundance of respect and credibility.
By the way, in Monsters University, the fraternity that is the most real and authentic is the one that succeeds. It’s the one my sons were loudly cheering for at the end. Yet, our focus will probably stay with how the movie depicted our worst aspects (albeit in amusing ways).
Well, for a moment, it felt good to just smile along with my boys. When it comes to real-life fraternities and sororities, let’s keep building organizations we can be proud of.
When it comes to a day at the movies, I just want to laugh.
I almost didn't want to take my daughters to see this, in fear of them thinking what I did for a living was a joke or meaningless. You have just changed my mind!
ReplyDeleteI am 100% in agreement with you, very well said.
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with you, and the lampoon/stereotype was not as negative as I'd prepared myself for (a movie geared towards children shouldn't tread too far down the road of debauchery to begin with).
ReplyDeleteI wonder, though, where satire crosses the line. Monsters U might be harmless, but I would not say the same for TFM. There's a lot of space in between where damage can be done.
That being said. Aubrey Plaza portrayed the disaffected sorority woman to a tee.
I am in total agreement with your statement. Persons whom are not in the greek communitty will probably dig deeper and will find it easier to stereotype all of us in the greek communitty. If we all as a collective whole build a strong enough base in our own chapters, then movies pertanining to college stereotypes can be laughed at like you said.
ReplyDeleteAlso, being geninue, real, and honest is what we all should strive for because that is what people want to see and that is what we will all be proud of.
Christina Phanna
University of Lousisiana at Lafayette Greek Community.