Question

What do movies have to say about education, college life and college students? What do they show to be the expected role of men and women in higher education? What are the characteristics of college students that media portrayals convey.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate on the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Generally, college life is depicted in the “teen-flick” genre of films. These films generally have a male or female protagonist who has to journey through a perilous year in high-school or college. Even though the primary purpose of high-school is to acquire an education, the focus is rarely on the scholastic aspect of university life. Only a few films like “Finding Forrester,” for instance, focus on academics of college.

Most of the popular films about university would generally have a male or female finding a romantic partner. If this is not the general plot, then it might be about bullying, social status or finding one’s social identity amongst peers.

Based on these films, men and women are not expected to have regular friends, family time and a considerable amount of time spent studying or completing projects. These films talk about how an individual is supposed to stand out in the crown, have a collected personality, accomplish popularity or even find one’s “true self.”

College students are to have a magnificent life story at a very young age. According to these films, a college student should be in an enviable relationship, have an extraverted social life and stand out in the crowds by any means.

In these films, a college student rarely would be seen dealing with a group member to did not help with the project, working hard for extra credit because they did poorly on a previous test, preparing a research structure for their Ph.D. dissertation, worrying about loan interest rates or any of the things that a normal college student would have to face. Their worries are generally focused on the clothes they will wear at the final party at the end of the film.