Smart Kids, Big Schools

In the movie Good Will Hunting, I have decided to analyze 2 different scenes. The First scene would be when will and his friends come across a Harvard student, Clark. This really brings out the stereotype that people that go to a good school have to look like they have money, act very smart and even have to be “stuck up” to fit in.

            When will and his friends, who are all blue collar, easy going guys, head to the Harvard bar, they are expecting to see stereotypical, preppy, and smart Harvard college students. In the movie, that stereotype proves to be true. While Will’s friend is talking to some Harvard girls, this preppy looking Harvard student, Clark, comes up to them and tries to make Will’s friend look dumb by doing what everyone thinks he would do and what every stereotype says he will do. He starts asking Will’s friend all of these questions and stating a bunch of facts to try and make him look dumb. Then Will comes in and outsmarts Clark and goes against the stereotype for the type of person Will is. Most people would not expect Will, a lower class young man that does not attend school, to outsmart a guy like chuck.

            The other scene I decided to analyze has much less to do with the actual movie, but it is the scene where it shows Professor Maguire teaching in his classroom at Bunker Hill Community College. The reason why I decided to analyze both scenes is because they both show the differences in stereotypes between the average community college student and the prestigious University student. While Clark, the Harvard student is able to throw all of these facts at you and talk very proper, the students in this scene at the community college almost seem elementary compared to him. For instance, the scene opens up and shows a girl chewing on her hair and then Professor Maguire asks another student “Why is trust the most important when making a breakthrough with a client?” and the college student (portraying the community college student stereotype) says “Um.. Because, uh, trust is, uh, trust is life.”

            Now that I have seen the differences between the 2 types of students, I can most closely tie this into Tatum’s ideas in the article “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” I say this because in both scenes you can see people that match the same stereotypes as the people around them. In the scene with Clark, his friends that are nest to him are dressed the same way and both have that stereotypical smart look. In the community college scene you have the kid that answered the question and the girl that was eating her hair and all of the other students that have a “dumb” look on their face. This relates to what Tatum said by saying similar people stick together.

Do you think the stereotypes between the different college students are true?

Are Women Truly "sluts" in College?

The scene I have chosen to analysis from Beta House is the tie-breaker scene toward the end of the movie. This scene shows that the two leaders of the Greek houses get a lap dance from women. In this movie, the women are portrayed as girls who party, drink, and have sex all the time. With the scene that I chose, both the Geeks and the Betas provide women to give lap dances. Each of the women that is brought out has very little clothing on. The first set of women had on short shorts and shirts cut up to their breasts. The second set of women are in lingerie who remove their bras, and the final set of women were chosen by the leaders of the fraternities. Edgar, leader of the Geeks, brought in a woman from Las Vegas who is a professional dancer, while Dwight, leader of the Betas, brought in Bobby's girlfriend dressed as a lamb.

One of the Beta girls giving Edgar the first lap dance

At UNCC, the women of the sororities do more than constantly partying. The sisters perform community service projects, support a variety  of different charities, and etc. I think that the women in Beta House and the women of UNCC are different because the women in  Beta House are constantly drinking, showing off their breasts, and having sex. The girls/sisters of UNCC provide a stable idea that sisterhood is a bond that can never be broken while providing service to the community. The girls portrayed in Beta House are considered "sluts" while the girls at UNCC can be considered more social rather than party girls. Even though the sororities at UNCC do throw parties, those parties are more like social gatherings. The girls in Beta House provide the fraternities the pleasure of sex, boobs, and partying. Seeing how the women are portrayed in Beta House, Hollywood has stretched the truth about the women in college.

Bobby's girlfriend, Margie, dressed as a lamb

Knowing how Hollywood portrays women in Beta House shows that the college education of women in this movie is very lacking because the education aspect is nearly absence in this movie.
The tie-breaker scene in Beta House shows that the college education of women in this movie is lacking. This proves that the Beta House movie provides no explanation on how women use the college education as a form of stereotype towards women. This explanation also provides evidence that women in the movie are considered “sluts”.

Also, throughout Beta House, you can notice how different groups come together in similarity to Beverly Tatum's article, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" As she states at the beginning of her article, "Walk into any racially mixed high school cafeteria at lunch time and you will instantly notice that in the sea of adolescent faces, there is an identifiable group of Black students sitting together." (pg.359). In relation to my movie and this quote, the beginning scene of Beta House, you see all the little "cliques" together. So Tatum's quote relates to my movie greatly as we see in the Greek Olympiad, is that Bobby is considered the "farmer", Erik and Ashley are the couple, and the Betas are considered the "drinkers". Also all the women shown in the movie are dressed in "slutty", "skanky" clothes, such a school girl's uniform.

So in a whole, are women truly "sluts" in college?

The Lav Vegas professional/exotic dancer

The exotic dancer with her legs apart in Dwight's face

Black kids aren’t the only ones who sit together at the lunch table

In the movie I selected, the house bunny, there were many stereotypes that deal with gender or social things.  Due to differences in how men and women learn to use language certain class style formats allow some groups advantages over others. The most common format used is the debate like style. This style favors men over women giving men the upper hand more often than not. Deborah Tannen wrote that “yet speaking in a classroom is more congenial to boys’ language experience than to girls’, since it entails putting oneself forward in front of a large group of people, many of whom are strangers and at least one of whom is sure to judge speakers’ knowledge and intelligence by their verbal display”.  Women often end up taking a back seat to men in class room discussions due to the style. Deborah Tannen also mentioned that women tend to be more expressive when the class is split into smaller sections. There are a few exceptions to this however, I myself speak out on a more frequent basis when the class is split into smaller sections, Kristen who sits next to me however  does very well in larger debate like style settings, we are both opposite to the general rule that Deborah Tannen claims.

Midway through the movie there was a scene after shelly went on a date. She was sad because it didn’t go well and was having a conversation about it with the zeta’s. shelly is portrayed as an “attractive dumb blonde”. her usual way of doing things is to just be flirty and laugh at everything and let her looks do the rest. The man she was on a date with was more interested in her personality so it didn’t really work. When she asked why her it didn’t go well, Natalie, one of the girls said, maybe he’s one of those guys that like to know a girl first? Shelly’s response was to immediately yell HE’S GAY? Later in the scene shelly borrows Natalie’s glasses and dresses completely different from how she usually dresses. Shelly goes over the top in trying to impress Oliver trying to be something she is not. She tries to speak in a more educated manner compared to her usual manner of speaking. Oliver her date can she is acting strange and asks if she is ok. Shelly ends up tripping because she is wearing glasses that aren’t meant for her, she makes a huge mess tripping and embarrassing herself. There were actually 2 stereotypes in this scene. The obvious one was the “attractive dumb blonde”, the second one is less noticeable, this second stereotype is that all men are superficial and only care about getting laid. Neither of these stereotypes are true yet they are always used in movies and these movies continue to do well at the box office. What does it say about us as a whole if we go to the movies to see movies filled with stereotypes, do we believe them? Are they like tall tales which hold a little grain of truth or are they just completely false?

Men "Know" Everything

The scene I chose to analyze from Good Will Hunting was the scene in the bar when Will and his friends went to Harvard. There, as his friend is flirting with a few girls, a guy named Clark comes into focus. This really brings out the stereotypical view that society really labels men and women with. Guys within movies are always portrayed as intelligent and always right while the women are typically viewed as less intelligent, slutty, and needy at times. Some movies portray women as strong and independent but even then they are treated badly, called a “cold-hearted bitch” and get ridiculed while its socially acceptable for a male to be bossy and strong-willed.
 Within his scene Wills friend and Clark seem to have a battle of not only wits but masculinity. For Clark, his views of masculinity are being intelligent, ripping people off and making others feel inferior. With Tannen’s article about gender stereotypes, this scene really caught my eye. With the men battling in a game of wits, having Clark humiliate Wills friend to prove his masculinity, its something you tend to see a lot, and not just in movies. I noticed this mainly within middle school, because everyone typically wanted to be better than others. The guys would mess around in class, speak out, and wouldn’t really get in a lot of trouble cause it was “Boys will be boys.” If a girl did that, we would get in trouble, told girls don’t act out like that and get the 3^rd degree for being “tomboyish”. In middle school, it was all about being smart, and even in high school I noticed this. The guys would really try to stand out in class, answering all of the questions and always trying to prove that they themselves were correct. Men and women also have a different type of language. Women are typically more soft spoken, using fewer words to convey their thoughts. They can kind of like, go into great detail with little spoken. Guys can do the same but their tone with their words is a lot more different. They tend to have louder, harsher more demanding and attention grabbing than girls do.
 Clark really try’s to bring everything he’s been able to memorize not learn into his argument and tearing of Wills friends ego. Clark tried to act smart, memorize things that he could use to make himself seem smarter than others. He did not learn to better himself; he learned to be able to make others inferior. I don’t feel like all guys are like that but I also feel that society really pushes them to be intelligent, to act out, be loud and boisterous. While women, like in the scene, were told to really be quiet, tentative and listening. We are taught to speak when spoken to, and only really speak out if absolutely necessary. Boys and girls are told to grow up very differently, and throughout their life, society constantly tells them how to act, how to look and what they should do with their life.
Enough is enough. Should society truly continue with the “stereotypes” and “examples” of how men and women truly should act?