I think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
I think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
Probably due to the feminization of the culture since then - nowadays, if a boy gets in trouble at school, he isn't in danger of getting a paddling from the principle so much as he is certain to face the humiliation of "Time Out" in the corner of the room.
BTW, along those lines, I have often felt that the movie Sideways is the grown-up's Animal House - almost a sequel to the original Animal House - but a more realistic look at the kinds of lives which are ultimately led by the oddball fellows who never quite fit into mainstream society.
I think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
That's because when the movie came out in 1978, the gross-out antics of the Delta Tau Chi frat brothers was so far outside the socially acceptable norms of behavior that to our generation it was hysterically funny.
However, to the next generation it was no longer satire. It was how people behaved every day.
I think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny."
I'm not sure if it was targeted at those who were of college age when it came out, or those who were of college age in 1962. I'm closer to the former group, and - I agree with you - I never found it very funny either.
I love it when Dean Wormer says "Mr. Kroger, two C's, two D's and an F...that's 1.2 GPA. Congratulations Kroger, you're at the top of the Delta pledge class" and the others pat him on the back and give him congratulatory nods...
My fraternity in college (mid 80's) spent a fair amount of energy emulating Delta.
Whether decadence was good or bad, in the past decadence was enjoyed and promoted for its amorality, nihilism, and excess. So, at least there was something honest about it.
Today, decadence itself has been moralized and puritanized. Thus, we have the 'morality' of 'gay marriage'. Thus, women dressing like sluts is 'empowerment'. And blacks acting like jungle lunatics via rap music are sending 'positive messages'.
Whether decadence was good or bad, in the past decadence was enjoyed and promoted for its amorality, nihilism, and excess. So, at least there was something honest about it.
Today, decadence itself has been moralized and puritanized. Thus, we have the 'morality' of 'gay marriage'. Thus, women dressing like sluts is 'empowerment'. And blacks acting like jungle lunatics via rap music are sending 'positive messages'.
Wow! Perhaps the most insightful thing I've read all year. I'm going to steal it word-for-word.
It was only a couple days ago, while watching Dirty Harry again, that I made the connection between Dean Wormer, the Mayor in Dirty Harry, and Fletcher in TOJW. Vernon was great in that role.
My fraternity in college (mid 80's) spent a fair amount of energy emulating Delta. ten years ago I would have chuckled at this and "animal house" now i realize how destructive that movie was.
That's because when the movie came out in 1978, the gross-out antics of the Delta Tau Chi frat brothers was so far outside the socially acceptable norms of behavior that to our generation it was hysterically funny. Bingo. it's like the movie "the wild ones" - stealing soda pop from a store...
But what did Chesterton say about not taking pride in not being shocked at what might shock your grandmother???
The best line is when he looks at Bluto (i.e. John Belushi) and contemptuously reads his gpa...zero...point...zerrrro!
ReplyDeleteOT
ReplyDeleteApparently Omar Thornton's mother has put up a web site (well, maybe she had some help with that part):
The Omar Sheriff Thornton Memorial Fund
She asks for donations to help combat "institutional racism".
Just FYI.
BTW, here is a foto of Thornton and the woman who was his girlfriend at the time of the killings. While I admittedly did not pay the closest attention at the time, I do not recall seeing before that he had a white girlfriend.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/obama-354827-ever-white.html
ReplyDeleteI think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
ReplyDeleteI think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
ReplyDeleteProbably due to the feminization of the culture since then - nowadays, if a boy gets in trouble at school, he isn't in danger of getting a paddling from the principle so much as he is certain to face the humiliation of "Time Out" in the corner of the room.
BTW, along those lines, I have often felt that the movie Sideways is the grown-up's Animal House - almost a sequel to the original Animal House - but a more realistic look at the kinds of lives which are ultimately led by the oddball fellows who never quite fit into mainstream society.
I'd like to see National Lampoon's 1984.
ReplyDeleteI think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny.
ReplyDeleteThat's because when the movie came out in 1978, the gross-out antics of the Delta Tau Chi frat brothers was so far outside the socially acceptable norms of behavior that to our generation it was hysterically funny.
However, to the next generation it was no longer satire. It was how people behaved every day.
On the Omar Thornton Memorial website's "Awareness" page is a scrolling section of photos.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of them!
It would be funnier if they could actually come up with a quote from 'Animal Farm' rather than '1984'.
ReplyDelete"eah said...
ReplyDeleteOT
The Omar Sheriff Thornton Memorial Fund
She asks for donations to help combat "institutional racism"."
Wow. That is some kind of gall. From the front page of the site:
"Son. Brother. Uncle. Entrepreneur. Friend. Hardworking. Loving. Giving. Kind."
By "Entrepreneur" does she mean "beer thief"?
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it. I'm a few years younger than the youth demographic it was aimed at at the time, and I've never really found it funny."
I'm not sure if it was targeted at those who were of college age when it came out, or those who were of college age in 1962. I'm closer to the former group, and - I agree with you - I never found it very funny either.
Same here, anon 1:18. I must have been older than the target demo, because I hated those kinds of slackers myself.
ReplyDeleteI love it when Dean Wormer says "Mr. Kroger, two C's, two D's and an F...that's 1.2 GPA. Congratulations Kroger, you're at the top of the Delta pledge class" and the others pat him on the back and give him congratulatory nods...
ReplyDeleteMy fraternity in college (mid 80's) spent a fair amount of energy emulating Delta.
Whether decadence was good or bad, in the past decadence was enjoyed and promoted for its amorality, nihilism, and excess. So, at least there was something honest about it.
ReplyDeleteToday, decadence itself has been moralized and puritanized. Thus, we have the 'morality' of 'gay marriage'. Thus, women dressing like sluts is 'empowerment'. And blacks acting like jungle lunatics via rap music are sending 'positive messages'.
Whether decadence was good or bad, in the past decadence was enjoyed and promoted for its amorality, nihilism, and excess. So, at least there was something honest about it.
ReplyDeleteToday, decadence itself has been moralized and puritanized. Thus, we have the 'morality' of 'gay marriage'. Thus, women dressing like sluts is 'empowerment'. And blacks acting like jungle lunatics via rap music are sending 'positive messages'.
Wow! Perhaps the most insightful thing I've read all year. I'm going to steal it word-for-word.
It was only a couple days ago, while watching Dirty Harry again, that I made the connection between Dean Wormer, the Mayor in Dirty Harry, and Fletcher in TOJW. Vernon was great in that role.
ReplyDeleteI think you had to be a certain age when Animal House came out to really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen, today's wrongest man on the internet!
TOJW. Vernon was great in that role.
ReplyDeleteSeinfeld's Uncle Leo was a bounty hunter in TOJW.
...Dean Wormer, the Mayor in Dirty Harry, and Fletcher in TOJW...
ReplyDeleteThat's a helluva career right there.
A helluva career.
"a paddling from the principle" = "a paddling from the principal"
ReplyDeleteMy fraternity in college (mid 80's) spent a fair amount of energy emulating Delta.
ReplyDeleteten years ago I would have chuckled at this and "animal house" now i realize how destructive that movie was.
That's because when the movie came out in 1978, the gross-out antics of the Delta Tau Chi frat brothers was so far outside the socially acceptable norms of behavior that to our generation it was hysterically funny.
ReplyDeleteBingo.
it's like the movie "the wild ones" - stealing soda pop from a store...
But what did Chesterton say about not taking pride in not being shocked at what might shock your grandmother???