Impact of Animal House on College Movies
John Landis Comedy Still Influences College Films
Mar 10, 2009
If you were born the week of September 20, 1979, and you're a film fan, the cinema didn't have much to offer. However, one choice in particular would debut that week, and forever resonate through life and college movies for the next 30 years.
National Lampoon's Animal House, a film directed by John Landis, continues to influence the way comedies are made and the way college student life is depicted both inside and outside the real world.
Misadventures ad Delta House
Following the misadventures of the Delta House fraternity as they prepare to do everything under the sun but get an education, the film was a pioneer in the field of bawdy modern-day comedic delinquency that continues in the work of Judd Apatow and other like-minded filmmakers. It was a celebrated exaggeration of life and college movies that has since translated to a reality of sorts.
Those familiar with this film, the king of all college movies, might remember an exchange between Katy and Boon -- "Boon, I think I'm in love with a retard"; Boon answers, "Is he bigger than me?" This is a good example of the film's juvenile mindset.
College student life, at least for undergraduates, is but a second high school, only featuring adults that don't quite know they're adults yet. What they do know is the parental restraints that kept them from this behavior in high school are now gone, and they are free to be as immature as their hearts desire.
Rather than concerning himself with feelings such as love and companionship, Boon's testosterone overrides the bigger picture.
And essentially, that's what undergraduate college is -- hormones rampantly running rough-shot over consequences and personal responsibility.
Don't Get Mad, Get Even
Frat guy Daniel "D-Day" Day (Bruce McGill) shares this line, which single-handedly started a formula for college movies that has seldom been deviated from since: "We have a saying at the Delta House. Don't get mad, get even."
- Revenge of the Nerds
- Necessary Roughness
- Van Wilder
- American Pie Presents: Beta House
- The House Bunny
- College
Good or bad, all are college movies that follow in the same tradition illustrated by this simple line.
There is always a group of collegiate misfits who've not yet risen to their full potential. Sometimes that potential differs in size and importance, but there is always a reason for their uniqueness, and a villain to conquer.
That villain is sometimes a rival fraternity, or maybe just an evil one. Sometimes it's the Dean. Bottom line: at some point, the misfits must rise to their full potential and defeat their foes through some audacious plan of revenge.
It all started with Animal House, and it has worked on audiences ever since.
Notes
For more information on John Landis' classic college party film Animal House, visit IMDB.
For a list of great college movies, check out College Tips.
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