It’s no huge secret that there stands a divide between college students who choose to associate themselves with a Greek organization and those who choose not. I feel safe to say that it’s not something we think about every day, but occasionally, when the oh-so-complimentary, “GDI” or the ever-so-flattering, “I don’t pay for my friends” gets thrown around, the tension is undeniable.It’s hard to anticipate how separate these two worlds are until you find yourself living in one of them. Clearly, there is interaction between the two and we do coexist quite well for the most part, it might not be particularly easy. Each group seems to come with their own set of biases and standards that may seem entirely ridiculous, yet oddly understandable. With sorority rush at a close and having watched girls who I had met and knew would fit perfectly with me, decide that Greek life was not for them and drift back into their separate world; I started thinking about the divide that develops based on that one decision.
Recently, after watching the movie Animal House, I realized how the movie discreetly fused these two separate worlds. The movie focuses on Greek affairs, yet withstanding generation
after generation, it makes this divide feel indisputable. For example, the hilarity of the look on Flounder’s face when his attempt to “get even” is foiled after he accidentally kills Neidermeyer’s horse, or the sweet feeling of victory when Bluto explodes a crème puff in the face of the stereotypical embodiment of all things evil, are olid moments of this entertainment. However, while most of the punch lines have roots in Greek life, the movie stil stands to be funny for anyone.
Everyone walks away from the movie with their own interpretation. For some, it probably seems like a victory to the case on how ridiculous and atrocious Greek affairs can be, and for others, it’s a call to go back to “fratting” and kick it with their own version of John Belushi. The point doesn’t really lie with what you take away from it; it’s more in the sense that this divide is much more exaggerated than it needs to be. It may be something that will continue existing, but it would be nice if we could settle back and realize, we’re not so different after all.