Do you need something to do on a rainy day? Are you worried that you will forget what it’s like to be a student? Or do you already miss school so much that you could use a little mental road trip back to campus?
Get the popcorn ready, find the perfect spot on the couch, turn off your phone and join me on a tour through five decades of college themed movies. We have old classics and new goodies – hopefully there’s something that strikes everyone’s fancy!
Animal House (1978)
Animal House is part of pop culture. It’s not just an extra curricular activity; it belongs to every student’s life just like all-nighters, finals and doodling instead of taking notes. However, I have to confess that I have never seen it before last weekend. But I did watch it twice and now my life finally feels more complete. I can start the fall semester with a fresh perspective on various aspects of college life and never look at dining halls or English teachers in the same way (and I like it!).
I don’t want to spoil anything but the story is pretty simple – and I mean this in the best possible way: A Dean vs. a pretty crazy fraternity. A group of bullied friends strike back – in togas and with homecoming floats. It’s a hilarious comedy with lovable characters.
The script is based on the writer’s actual experiences in fraternities and this (hopefully) slightly exaggerated touch of reality is definitely part of what makes this movie so great: You can be in a classroom or dorm and pretty much match up every person in there with a character from the movie. We all know – and most importantly love or hate people like that.
Animal House is R rated but to my surprise, there are not just blunt below the belt (no pun intended) jokes that make you cringe. Of course there’s that as well, it’s a college movie. But there’s also a lot less obvious, between the lines humor that you might miss the first time around. So watch it often.
Like every good college movie, there are about two shots that were filmed in a classroom – the rest focuses on all the other important aspects of being a student. But nevertheless you learn a thing or two: “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” I know it’s something that parents say to their kids. But it seems like a much more reasonable advice when it comes from a movie like Animal House.
Stay tuned! Next week, we’ll be watching a classic tale of anti-political-correctness…
Isabelle Mitchell is from Switzerland (not Sweden). She loves coffee and chocolate and she can talk about movies and the weather for a very long time. Isabelle went to Film School in Denmark and Canada and is a Sound Designer, but she’s currently working on getting her BS in Advertising at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (Online Division). She’s planning on slowly taking over the advertising world one tagline at a time. When she’s not doing homework or studying, she works as a Marketing Assistant. You can find her on Twitter @isabellesagt or if you have a longer attention span, her blog.