You may or may not have heard about the upcoming movie "Goat," the latest in a string of Greek life-related Hollywood blockbusters. While some may be thrilled by the prospect of seeing a film that includes Nick Jonas on screen and James Franco behind the scenes as a producer, for many "real-life" Greeks, this is just another attack on an already misjudged community.
As a member of a sorority, it's disappointing to see so much money being poured into the same old story we've heard a thousand times. There are much more important issues that could use the coverage, but beyond that, the story that's being told just isn't representative of the Greek community. Do things like what are portrayed in "Goat" happen in real life? Probably. But that doesn't mean it happens everywhere, and to include only negative depictions of fraternities and sororities is to ignore a large portion of reality. The effects of films like these is in fact so damaging that some communities—including my own here at Baldwin Wallace University—have even had to change their names to fraternity and sorority life in order to avoid the negative connotations that "Greek life" carries.
To help non-Greeks—ahem, I mean non-fraternity and sorority Life members—understand my community's point of view, here is every Greek's reaction to "Goat" as told by the one and only Argus Filch.
When you first hear that a new Greek Life movie is coming out.
Maybe this time it will be different. It's 2016 after all, past time we stopped letting stereotypes dictate story lines, right?
Then you watch the trailer for "Goat."
And it's worse than you thought.
When you're trying to ignore the movie entirely so you don't have to be angry all the time.
Maybe if I just pretend this movie isn't real, it will disappear.
But then (of course) someone just has to ask you what you think about "Goat."
Or even worse, they ask you if the things that happen in "Goat" happen in your sorority/fraternity.
Moral of the story, don't ask your Greek friends about "Goat." It's time for Hollywood to move on from outdated stereotypes to real issues. We live in a world where Donald Trump may become the next president of the United States and Kanye is actually the good guy in the world of celebrity drama, so you can't tell me there's not enough material.
