These are the best years of your life

     What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of college? Is it the excessive amounts of alcohol and drug use? The lack of an academic environment? Or maybe that the athletes spend more time on the field than in a library. All these things are perpetuated by movies like 22 Jump Street, The Waterboy, Neighbors, and Drumline. Now don’t get me wrong, these movies mean well and the majority of these are comedies so of course some aspects of college are under the limelight while others are left in the dark. We as a group have a well-rounded list of movies about college, covering Greek life, scholarships, athletics, and of course the ideal college parties. In his blog post we will read through each of the team’s member's movies and the analysis they made about it. Let us start with Nick's movie analysis on the movie The Waterboy.

The movie I chose to do for my rhetorical analysis is The Water Boy starring Adam Sandler. The reason why I decided to use this movie for this essay is because The Water Boy is one of my all-time favorite movies and it will always be a household movie in my family. In this rhetorical analysis I will bring up the topic of the need for higher education, the idea that a well-developed athletics department makes the college, and that stereotypes about college can also be based off of the location that the school is from.

     In the 1998 sports comedy starring Adam Sandler, we take a look at a socially awkward and inept water boy who provides his hydration services to the Louisiana University football team, which is not to be confused with the real LSU. He is then fired because of his inadequacy and is forced to find a new job all the while living at home with his imposing and over protective mother. He then is granted a job as SCLSU’s new waterboy and then shows his superhuman ability to tackle, and is then enrolled in the university and is a key member on the team. The movie then goes on to show his personal development as an athlete and helps pull the Mud Dogs out of the dirt and into the spotlight. After a few bumps in the road, Bobby Boucher (Sandler) finds that being in college is what he needed in life and having friends and a love life helped him become more independent and contributed to his self-growth. In the end he finally confronts his overly protective mom about his new found independence and she finally caves in and gives him the freedom that he wants. One of the main purposes of this film is to show that college is a place where people do find their independence and start to shape their own ideas. For example, when Bobby Boucher is in his Biology class and he is wrong about why gators are so "ornery", his whole life he has believed everything his mother has told him and now all that is being questioned. Moving on to the audience, this movie was intended for any type of viewer who enjoys any of Adam Sandler’s movies, but if you want to go deeper and think more abstractly about it you could say that the audience that is intended for this movie is anyone who is having second thoughts about college, or is too afraid a big life choice like going to college. This movie is also filled to the brim with stereotypes, from the Cajun soaked accents, the riding of tractors to school, and the fact that Bobby Boucher lives in the bayou, it is clear to see that geographical and cultural stereotypes took a beating in this movie. Now of course these stereotypes are completely exaggerated, no Cajun would invite their guest over to eat baby’s alligator and snake, and the desert which is bayou frog cupcakes, but it is a comedy and it does bring some good points into the spotlight. Like for example South Central Louisiana State University is a state recognized university in the movie, but because of their awful athletics department this school is ranked very low, which makes people from other parts of the state not want to go there for college. Creating a local college were the nearby Cajuns can go to school and bring their own culture with them. So because of this strong cultural influence many of the campus’s aspect have some type of Cajun touch to them. Like their name being the Mud Dogs and the very satirical professor who resembles colonel Sanders. Even the parties that Bobby goes to in college have Cajun influence, one in which he brings frog cupcakes too, and the other that is actually in the middle of the bayou. This movie was hard to compare to normal college though because of this, I myself have been to Lafayette where this fake college was located, and the actual university; University of Louisiana at Lafayette may be in a similar area but it is by no means anywhere close to how it is depicted in the movie. Many students come from all around to go to ULL and are greeted with good food, music, and people who are more than glad to immerse you into the Cajun culture. So even though the stereotypes about college in the movie are more regional stereotypes based off of the strong Cajun culture in southern Louisiana, it goes to show that they can carry over into everyday college life.

Unlike other movies made about college I do not even think it mentions anything about Greek life, but it does focus on the athletics and the belief that athletics make the school. With a claim like this you could use real life examples. At one end you have schools like LSU, Ole Miss, and UNC-Chapel Hill who are known for their athletics and this creates a large fan base. This fan base ends up with their first choices being those schools. On the other end you have schools like UNCC who have recently added a football team to their athletics but we have always had a large student population regardless. So what really attracts students to a school? For some, yes athletics is the best advertisement. Regardless this movie helps proliferate the claim.  

The next two students; Giao and Julian both viewed the movie Neighbors and both brought up some very interesting ideas and stereotypes about Greek life and the many factors that go into it. Let's look at their analysis to learn more about the movie. 

The media has helped to create expectations for what it should be and what it will be like going to college and joining Greek life. The movie Neighbors (2014) is clearly an example of that. It is heavily influenced by fraternity stereotypes. The movie is an R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. The film is mainly revolving around wild frat parties, binge drinking, and use of drugs and hazing. The main purpose of the movie is meant to entertain its audience. However, Neighbors has delivered an important message about brotherhood and friendship in college.

The movie shows how Mac (Seth Rogen) and his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne) struggle trying to live next to a frat house with constant parties every night. Their family has to deal with loud noises and constant pranks from the brothers of Delta Psi Beta. This describes the most common stereotype about Greek life. The only reason to join Greek life is to party and drink alcohol every day. Of course this isn’t entirely true in reality except maybe in one or two chapters somewhere. In the movie, a pledge tells Mac and his wife that he is rather follow what his fraternity brothers say and be in the fraternity than to be a loner. This is another stereotype that Neighbors has pointed out. People seek acceptance in going Greek. Joining Greek life and earning a bid from the fraternity are a way to boost up one’s social status. Because the competition for bids is competitive, one has to do everything it takes to gain that invitation. Most college movies want everyone to think that college is a big wild party, with tons of alcohol and having fun with no to little consequences. In real life, however, consequences come up quite often when members of the fraternity follow those movies. Hazing is an issue that movie has brought up.  

Hazing is another topic that is brought up and highlighted throughout Neighbors with the characters that were constantly wearing the pink football jerseys and the scenes that included Teddy’s favorite pledge played by Craig Roberts with the character name of A**juice. In the Scenes the audience can see how the fraternity was forcing A**juice to do task that were utterly disgusting and immature. In the middle of the movie the audience is exposed to the infamous “Elephant Walk” which every potential new member of a fraternity fears. The Elephant Walk is honestly and entirely something I’d rather not go into detail with but upon curiosity and reader of my analysis is more than welcome to research the topic and cringe at their new found discovery. But the fact of the matter is hazing in its entirety is illegal and does not happen and would never happen at the level it is displayed in Neighbors. Hazing like that would most definitely result in suspensions, arrest, and a removal of the fraternity for that schools campus which to fraternities is equal to the death penalty. A punishment that absolutely none of them would risk. I can even support my statements made in the fact that the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Greek Organizations Department “does not play that s***” hazing would result in an immediate expulsion and has happened to countless fraternities on campus in the past.

Fraternities are seen as dumb, and in that case do not attend class. In Neighbors Teddy has a GPA below a 2.0 and never attends class. Universities across the nation would not stand. Colleges have a necessary GPA you must maintain while you are active in a Greek organization and Teddy being the President of one helps me highlight how this Hollywood stereotypes is an absolute fantasy. College education in Neighbors is viewed as a joke. Even within the movie the scenes in the Dean’s office do not help reduce the stereotype at all. When Mr. and Mrs. Radner attempt to complain to the Dean for help to move the fraternity from the neighborhood. The Dean claims she only cares about headlines and if they are not negative towards the university she does not care. Which is entirely untrue in this day and age. Pete the “smart one” out of the fraternity is the only one who is shown going to class. The fraternity views education as a joke being that not many members in the fraternity seem well educated. Pete actually misses an important meeting regarding the fraternity’s future on the school’s campus and he chooses to attend a job interview instead of coming to the meeting with the Dean. The same meeting that one of the brother choose to attend under the influence of marijuana. Pete shows that with self-discipline anyone in a fraternity can work to still succeed in class.

Regardless of the negative Greek life stereotypes, the movie has highlighted the great brotherhood in Delta Psi Beta especially the friendship beyond the fraternity between Teddy and Pete. Right before the cops show up at the frat party, Teddy forces Pete to leave because he wants to take the responsibility. Moreover, he doesn’t want to ruin Pete’s future. If the cops arrest Pete, he then would lose everything that he has worked for. All his hard work, internship, and mock interviews would be a waste. Teddy understand and doesn’t want that to happen to his one and only true friend. They look out for each other not only because they are brothers in the same fraternity but because they have formed a close friendship over time. This proves that friendship is very important in college. 

This next analysis is from Richard and it is about the movie 22 Jumpsteet which covers a whole different array of college stereotypes and problems people would face in a college setting.

The film, 22 Jump Street, does not seem like it would be one about college, but after looking past the title, it was obvious that college education and college live is a large part of the film. Officers Schmidt and Jenko are put on a mission by Captain Dickson to get rid of a new drug that has shown up in a local college, MC University. They go to the college and pose as new freshmen to complete an investigation and ultimately put an end to this new drug. The genre of this film is not only a comedy, but also an action movie. The target audience, as I saw it, are college students and those who are just looking for a good laugh. The attitude of students tends to vary from college to college. Depending on the merit of the student, there is usually a difference in attitude both positive as well as negative. From the class setting in the previous paragraph, the officer asked the person behind him if he had a football in his hand, and the person responded, “No, it’s a laptop, you see? Yes, it is a football.” This is one possible attitude of college students, joking around and being somewhat of a bully. In another scene, where the other officer is sitting next to a girl he had previously met, they are talking about their life to each other and are in more of a romantic and calm setting, just sitting out near the sculptures and admiring them.

When many think of college education, they think of professors and large classrooms/lecture halls. According to the movie, this is true and is conclusive to the predictions of many. The scene in the movie is where one of the officers in sitting in the class setting and trying to be a part of the class, which given its size, is not an easy task to accomplish. I believe that in a larger class setting, as the one in the film, gives you a harder time of getting to know each other and being able to respect each other. The fact that in the scene, the professor already knew the students names during the first week of class is highly unlikely and not representative of the actual class setting.

Overall, this movie was only able to accurately depict college education, life and students to a certain degree. It is impossible for you to be able to get a consensus of what all colleges are going to be like. Some colleges are more on the extreme ends, such as continuous partying, while others tend to stay away from things like that. As for college students, on almost any campus, it is likely that there is going to be someone who has to be that person, one who bullies and one who is affectionate. In addition, the college classrooms always are going to vary in size, from large to small in almost any size college. Finally, being that this film was both a comedy and action movie put into one, it made it interesting and fun to learn about college life as it is seen in the eyes of Hollywood.

Lastly we look at a whole other aspect of college that has not been touched at all. Things like scholarships, academics, and extra-curricular activities are what Nathan has covered after viewing the movie Drumline.

     In most college movies the only thing that is being portrayed is partying or studying but in fact there are other sides to college than that. Other sides include cheerleading, marching band, clubs, and other activities. The marching band was what convinced me to do my project on the movie “Drumline.” The marching band is a side of college that is rarely ever shown in these movies. It is more or less about partying/fraternities and sororities. Some of these movies are American Pie and Animal House that are exactly what I am talking about. If you think about it I think that Drumline is the only movie that is based off of the marching band specifically percussion.

            In the movie, Devin Miles (Nick Cannon) is the main character that has just graduated high school is a very talented street drummer from Harlem. He gets a full ride to the A&T College to play as a drummer in the marching band. The audition for the marching band is held at the A&T College in Atlanta Georgia. He goes through the preseason and then gets P1 which is the highest level player and being a freshman that is a big deal. He starts off college very well with the first chair and having a girl on his side which is a dancer for the college as well. But, Dr. Lee pushes him back to P4 because Devon can’t read music. Later, Devon is put back at P1 but soon after that at the homecoming game Devon plays on the opposing teams drum and gets kicked off the band. Devon gets a scholarship to play at A&T’s rival school but declines it. Later, he gets put back on the band and faces off at the Classic. They do their performance and A&T is awarded the win. The main message that it is try to give is that raw talent can be molded into discipline success.

            When people hear about a marching band playing they don’t get too excited but if you turn Drumline on they will be glued to their seats. In Drumline, the drumline is exaggerated a lot but at some universities they do take their marching band serious, more than others. In the movie they do a lot of tricks and fancy moves to get people’s attention but personally I have never seen that happen. Also, there is a preseason thing that everyone on the marching band has to go to before they can audition for their place on the drum line. As hard as the work in the movie at preseason seems pretty exaggerated because they are doing the same workouts as the football team would be doing. In the movie, there are barely any football scenes being played when usually football is watched more than the band would be. The movie is set in a college scene but it is mostly on the field. They practice on the field, they do competitions on the field, and they had their homecoming on the field. Some of the side scene is at parties and at the university itself. There was some partying going on but it is not like the partying like other movies portray. This movie is not showing college as being all about partying or all about fraternities or sororities it is showing that college can be a good place that does not involve alcohol or drugs but a place to enjoy yourself.

            Since many people have never seen the side of college like this before it was amazing what they were missing. The movements of the drums and the way they tend to play on the opposing teams drums. It’s like they are just trying to piss them off. The intensity of the battle between the two bands is very tense. You can just feel the tension between the teams. The expressions on their faces and the way they play the music. They want to win and they want to win with all that they have got. There was a fight scene in the movie and also there were single battles between two band members from different teams. The creativeness that the teams show through their skills during their competitions is very real. They show a lot of love and heart in what they do and what they play. I use to play percussion myself and I find it very easy to let your heart play through your hands. Also, you can see through the movie that even though Devon was told to play a solo during the halftime, he never got nervous he just played. It just shows that when you have your heart in something nothing can change it. He started from playing in the streets to being the champion. Also, when he talks to the rival school and they offer him a very good scholarship but instead he stays with the school he started with. He doesn’t quit and he doesn’t keep a grudge on the team because he cannot play.

            Overall with these movies I think that our group has more to compare and contrast. Starting with the Waterboy and how if barely touches base with parties and does not even bring anything up about Greek life, then to the movie Neighbors where it is completely focused around fraternities and the stereotypical “frat boy”. And then there is 22 Jump Street which is similar to Neighbors when it comes to the college party scene, but has a way deeper focus on it. And lastly the movie Drumline brings up the idea of raw talent and how higher education can shape it into something way greater, and it also sheds some light on the admittance process and how important it is.