At the Movies

What are your favorite college flicks? Three of the most popular ones are Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds and PCU. All are modern classics of the genre, but how accurately do they represent typical college life?

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) stars the late great John Belushi as the drunken degenerate John "Bluto" Blutarsky. It’s a film about a group of fraternity boys who challenge the school’s administration. The dean of the college tries to shut down the Delta Tau Chi fraternity for repeated disruptive behavior. In response, the Deltas throw the best toga party ever.

While fraternities are an everyday part of student life, few resemble Delta Tau Chi. Toga parties may have been big in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but are now seen as retro. In reality, most colleges would quickly expel students for the type of behavior seen in Animal House.

PCU (1994) is another frat flick. The movie stars Chris Young as the preppy pre-freshman Tom Lawrence, who is visiting Port Chester University, where frats have been outlawed. During his visit, Tom meets all sorts of students from different walks of life and learns some sort of valuable lesson.

Many colleges have banned fraternities and sororities. These have been replaced with various types of “houses” and clubs. In reality, the only thing that has changed is the names. The Greek system is alive and well across American campuses.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984) is a film about a group of "nerds" who face daily harassment from the jock fraternity Alpha Beta. The nerds resolve to take control of the Greek Council by winning the annual Greek Games.

The nerd vs. jock stereotypes portrayed in this movie bear little resemblance to university life. Computer science majors are just as likely to belong to a popular fraternity as any other students.