By Fernanda M. Tovar
Staff Writer
If I could, I would stay home and watch movies all day. My interests range from comedies to horror to dramas to documentaries, pretty much everything other than Westerns.
I do enjoy a crazy college movie, though. When I was in high school, I constantly heard about different majors, dorming, scholarships and tuition, which made me nervous to start college. Here I was, still needing permission to use the restroom while in class, and I was soon expected to make life-altering decisions.
But what I saw in movies was completely different. There was no studying or mental health issues, just endless partying and reckless behavior.
I thought, “Wow, is this really what college is like?”
Then life got real, and I realized my college experience was, in fact, nothing like this.
Unlike the students in these movies, I am not an extrovert. I am not privileged. I do not have parents who can afford to pay for my tuition and give me a flashy car to speed in.
I have a hard time socializing with people I do not know. I have worked up to two jobs while I am enrolled full-time in school. I need financial aid and any other assistance I can get to cover my tuition. My dad also lets me borrow his Nissan Sentra for my commute to school.
Hailing from San Bernardino, my city is not the glitz and glamour you see in Hollywood movies. Instead, I hear gunshots and the helicopter, which we call the “ghetto bird,” and drug addicts roaming the streets.
In the movie “Neighbors,” which stars Zac Efron, Dave Franco and Seth Rogan, a rivalry blossoms between a fraternity that moves into a suburban neighborhood and a couple who is trying to settle into their family home. Throughout the movie, they pull pranks on each other involving drugs, home invasion and emergency air bags.
When I first watched this movie, I thought it was hilarious, especially because I love Rogan. Then I thought about it, “Yeah, this would never happen here.”
“The House Bunny,” which stars Anna Faris, who we know from the “Scary Movie” film series, also had a comedic way of depicting college, a bunch of female outcasts who are led by an ex-playmate to find their true selves by partying and forming a sorority.
In reality though, really? I doubt this would ever happen.
After being in college for four years, none of these movies have come close to depicting my experience, but I can dream.
