Movies

Fraternities are a staple in university life in the United States and even have made significant contributions as well originally created to promote and recognize academic excellence, social networking has become the major contribution of fraternities not only in American college life, but also in American society as well.  Although some of the older prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth have similar student clubs that are unique to their own institutions such as Porcellian at Harvard, Skull and Bones at Yale, eating clubs such as Ivy at Princeton the predominant form is found in the Greek system, fraternities whose names are made up of Greek letters, founded at one college or university which would later spread to other campuses. Some of the larger bodies now have numerous chapters across the country.  Initially, some fraternities, started out as a academic and social clubs but have evolved into an honors society, with chapters established in major institutions, to which students are elected for academic achievement.

There are also other similar societies with Greek-letter names that honor achievement in academic fields as well but through the years other similar organizations have been formed as well and have adapted the  Greek  system in naming their fraternities.  The reason for their existence is primarily for creating social networks among students.  They offer benefits ranging from mentoring, course offerings, and even looking for housing on and off campus.  Best of all, these fraternities help open doors to many opportunities through the networks established which would serve one well during college and even beyond campus life after graduation where one can interface with fraternity brothers (or sorority sisters) nationwide.

Movies on Fraternities
Hollywood has made several films that centers on fraternities and similar organizations and most of the recognizable ones are comedies such as Animal House, Old School, and Revenge of the Nerds. Such movies can help provide a glimpse to the uninitiated on what it is like to be in a fraternity to confirm or disprove certain  myths  that go on inside it.  One common denominator one would see in the films is that Greek-letter fraternities tend to be  wild  and rowdy as all three films show to the point that the participants get drunk or sometimes high on drugs that they would do outlandish things (Landis  Kanew  Philipps).  One example of a wild party that went out of control is in Revenge of the Nerds when the Alpha Betas were so drunk, they accidentally set fire to their fraternity house, which led them to turn on the  nerds  by taking over their dormitory (Kanew). In Old School, Mitch (Luke Wilson) wakes up to find out he slept with a high school student following a wild party the previous night where he was too drunk to remember and later found out she is the daughter of his boss at work (Philipps).  While it is true that fraternities hold such activities to relieve the pressure of the rigors of college life, the wild parties are exaggerated as real-life fraternities adhere to university policies on decency and propriety.

Another feature of fraternities shown on films is the initiation ceremonies, sometimes called hazing or pledging.  In one scene in Revenge of the Nerds, Nick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert (Anthony Edwards) were trying to get into the Alpha Beta Fraternity and were subjected to a somewhat humiliating initiation ritual as they were stripped to their underwear and made to answer questions that made them uncomfortable and when the interrogators were not satisfied, they doused them with cold water and ejected them from the dormitory in that condition (Kanew).  In reality, One insider who had been there and done that stated that hazing should never be a part of the pledge process in a fraternity or sorority (Lynn). Schools have established policies against such practices.  They do however, permit initiation rituals that are wholesome and in an environment that supports positive choices.  It can be inferred here that  hazing  carries rather negative connotations though they do permit initiations rituals that conform to school policies.  Nevertheless, comedy films tend to show these bizarre rituals for entertainment and thereby adding to the myth.

Another feature of these fraternity movies is when rival fraternities are  at war  with one another.  This is seen in Animal House between the Omega Theta Pi and Delta Tau Chi who are the underdogs in the film.  The Omegas conspire with the Dean to have the Deltas charter revoked because both despise the Deltas for their unorthodox and seemingly obnoxious ways which goes against the norms of the college.  After being marginalized and later on discredited, the Deltas fight back and eventually have their dignity and self-respect restored.  The end of the movie tells what became of the characters following their  graduation  from college.

In Revenge of the Nerds, it is the Alpha Betas against the Lambda Lambda Lambda or Tri-Lambs.   The Alpha Betas are made up mainly of the colleges football squad and as the name (Alpha) of their fraternity suggests, they regard themselves as superior owing to their physical prowess and proceed to demonstrate it by oppressing the freshmen who are  nerds  first by ejecting them from their dormitory and oppressing and humiliating them in every way possible.  The nerds of the Tri-Lambs have had enough that they retaliated by doing a  panty raid  on the sorority house of the Alpha Betas girlfriends by planting hidden cameras which they used to spy on the girls dressing and undressing.  They also played a nasty prank of the Alpha Betas by mixing strong liniment on their athletic supporters.

In Old School, it is the fraternity against the school administration as the college dean (Jeremy Piven), a childhood acquaintance of the three  older  frat men (Farrell, Wilson and Vaughn), is trying to discredit them and see that they are ejected from campus.  This was done mainly out of a personal grudge against them.  They got back at him by exposing his attempt to bribe the student council to have them removed.  The dean got fired and their fraternity was reinstated (Philipps).  As stated above, these things are avoided in the name of decency and propriety as well as maintaining order on campus.

Conclusion
Despite the comedic scenes in the movies, the fraternities featured in the three films are consistent to the goals of fraternities in creating social networks and work alongside the school administration in promoting its mission vision.  If there is one other thing one will notice about fraternities from the films is that not all fraternities have open-door policies and are very selective on who they want to accept.  It is not also shown here that fraternity members also pay dues as means to meet the needs of the fraternity as they turn out to be non-profit organizations that rely on the  charities  of its members which also includes the alumni.

If there is another common theme that these movies show which is consistent to reality, is that it does promote brotherhood or camaraderie among fraternity members.  It is seen in the films that fraternities tend to draw people from all walks of life and it has served a glue that unifies them and they discover their hidden strengths which enable them to cope with the odds.  In reality, this is what fraternities do through their social networking, they help build character, especially the  good  ones and as stated earlier, open many doors which would serve a member well in campus and beyond and this lasts a lifetime.