# I just watched Animal House and I didn't like it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733 "2017-12-06T19:21:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/41 "2017-12-06T23:43:11Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Great then. Great now. Great forever. > > Same with _Blazing Saddles_, _The Blues Brothers_ and _Young Frankenstein._ > > Fuck all this retroactive offense. I agree with every word…except _Blazing Saddles_. It had great moments, sure. But overall it was pretty meh. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/42 "2017-12-06T23:53:32Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > Another that hasn’t aged well is Revenge of the Nerds. Can you imagine the voyeurism scene today (the one with the cameras in the sorority house: “What’s Betty up to?”) Saw that a few years ago it creeped the hell out of me. As did the impersonation scene (I think that was that movie). I’d seen it years before when I was younger, but I don’t even think I finished it this last time. The “heroes” were just too skeevy. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/43 "2017-12-07T00:30:41Z")
Tzigone wrote: “The “heroes” were just too skeevy.” I almost think that was the point. College guys are virtually all assholes. It’s the age bracket. Oh yeah, plenty of guys that age not in college can be assholes too, but they’re not in an environment where assholery is reinforced and an almost necessary component for acceptance, which guys that age crave. For all the talk of individuality, they want to belong. (For the record, most of us do outgrow it by maybe age 35 or so. And if any young ladies are reading this and thinking that they’ll just latch on to that rare guy who _isn’t_ an asshole at 20, good luck. They just go through the asshole phase later in life, like maybe at forty.) ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/44 "2017-12-07T00:37:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Tzigone wrote: “The “heroes” were just too skeevy.” I almost think that was the point. College guys are virtually all assholes. It’s the age bracket. Oh yeah, plenty of guys that age not in college can be assholes too, but they’re not in an environment where assholery is reinforced and an almost necessary component for acceptance, which guys that age crave. For all the talk of individuality, they want to belong. (For the record, most of us do outgrow it by maybe age 35 or so. And if any young ladies are reading this and thinking that they’ll just latch on to that rare guy who isn’t an asshole at 20, good luck. They just go through the asshole phase later in life, like maybe at forty.) So, “shut up and have sex with assholes - even the the guys that seem good will turn out creepy later” - don’t think so. And it’s not just assholery - it’s seriously creepy and criminal. Edit: Can’t believe I actually got a “boys will be boys” and “everyone does it” response to peeping toms and sexual assault. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/45 "2017-12-07T00:45:52Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Great then. Great now. Great forever. > > Same with _Blazing Saddles_, _The Blues Brothers_ and _Young Frankenstein._ > > Fuck all this retroactive offense. Same here, pretty much (except I somehow haven’t gotten around to _Young Frankenstein_.) _Animal House_ is one of the very few movies I enjoy rewatching. I first saw it probably around 1992 or 1993, when I was in my mid-late teens. I last rewatched it about two or three years ago. It’s almost every bit as funny to me now. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/46 "2017-12-07T01:02:00Z")
Animal House is hilarious. I rewatched it a couple years ago. Old films are time capsules of life and cultural values. You have to accept that you’re seeing a completely different life from your own. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/47 "2017-12-07T01:44:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > Another that hasn’t aged well is Revenge of the Nerds. Can you imagine the voyeurism scene today (the one with the cameras in the sorority house: “What’s Betty up to?”) Its true that takes stupid sexism farther in to the abuse category. Then again, wasn’t there a web cam scene in American Pie? Do we ever learn. At any rate, we’ve mentioned before, Revenge of the Nerds has already been critiqued by Robot Chicken. Immediately after their crimes are known, they all get sent to jail. Which they dread, except for LeVar. Apparently, Robot Chicken still believes the cliche that gay men look forward to prison. That joke has aged faster than others. Listen, I’m not going to go off on an anti-PC rant here. But if you second guess every joke, and counter-joke, and sanitize every response. Then there’s no comedy left. Rules of the funny: 1). You can do anything to the pompus. As noted by Homer Simpson, “Kill wealthy dowager”. 2). Do unto others, as they have done unto you. Then split. Note to SDMB members: If you’re robbed at gunpoint, and disarm your assailant, Scott Adams believes its ironically funny to kill and rob your assailant. IRL: You go to jail. 3). Although it seems like a great way to earn money, and fight terrorism at the same time, do not acquire plutonium for the Libyans and then steal it to power your car. If you’re not arrested, that’s cause the CIA intends to kill you and wipe your existence from all databases. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/48 "2017-12-07T01:46:31Z")
Not justifying any of the behavior, just trying to explain/contextualize. Nobody I know ever committed assault by deception/matching costumes. But as far as peeping tomhood goes, I think that pretty much every guy in the all boys dorm who lived on the side facing the all girls dorm owned a pair of binoculars. (And before anybody says anything, I lived on the side facing the ravine.) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/49 "2017-12-07T01:49:20Z")
How soon we forget: That role fit John Belushi like East of Eden or Rebel fit James Dean. He never got the chance to make the big Belushi movie. Animal House was as close as it got. People have been appreciative ever since, and maybe that’s why the movie is thought of as funnier than many of it’s jokes. But movies about anarchy are inherently funny. Also: anyone play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon and not love AH? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/50 "2017-12-07T01:49:26Z")
I thought it was good, juvenile humor. It was good then, and good now. But if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. However, you do have to admit it had some very sensuous moments. Or were those moments sensu_al_? Now, who’s up for a _ **FOOD FIGHT!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/51 "2017-12-07T01:56:29Z")
I’ve never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/52 "2017-12-07T02:08:11Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > When this movie came out, I was an introverted, intellectual college woman doing grad research in Finland. I saw it with a couple other Americans studying in Finland, a mix of men and women. We all laughed. None of the Finns in the audience laughed at anything, which somehow made it even funnier to us, and we laughed even harder. Yes, we knew it was sexist, racist, stupid humor, but we did not see it as approving sexism, racism, or stupidity. More as a critique of them. We applauded the spoof of frats, as none of us liked them or belonged to them, and the silliness. We really needed a dose of silliness then. Glad you enjoyed it. I guess I’m not that subtle. I just thought it was stupid and juvenile. Although, to be frank, I think that about 90% of comedy films. So maybe it’s just me. I still think Some Like It Hot is funny. Also, What About Bob? is still funny. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/53 "2017-12-07T02:14:29Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > What hazing? The evil ultra-white frat does paddle pledges in their underwear, but is it really that bad that D-Day and Bluto scare Pinto and Flounder with fire extinguishers? Pretty much the only thing Deltas do, to their pledges, is provide free beer to kids who (probably in that time and place) can legally drink. > > TBH, I avoided frats in college because I was sure I’d get the paddling hazing reinstated just in my case. But _Animal House_ is just a raucous, fun, romp. The way Kroger smoothly takes advantage of every situation is loads of fun. How ever the top D-Day and Bluto is fun too. How the pledges, Delta and others, try to maintain while everyone more experienced than they are just blows them off is fun as well. > > The blatant sexism hasn’t held up well, I agree. That’s in part an artifact of the gratuitous nudity rampant in pre-1980’s films. But _Animal House_ is historical picture about academia in the 1960’s. The endless ogling is just a slice of these (immature) people’s lives. Actually most states after the end of Prohibition and until the early 1970s had legal drinking ages of 21. A few such as Louisiana and New York had it at 18. Many states in the early 1970s, with the lowering of the voting age to 18, also lowered drinking age to 18. It went back to 21 in the early 1980s with campaigns against drunk driving and the fact young drivers had a disproportionately high share of alcohol related accidents. “ Animal House was set in 1962 IIRC > **[U.S. history of alcohol minimum purchase age by state](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._history_of_alcohol_minimum_purchase_age_by_state)** > > The alcohol laws of the United States regarding minimum age for purchase have changed over time. In colonial America, generally speaking, there were no purchase ages, and alcohol consumption by young teenagers was common, even in taverns. In post-Revolutionary America, such freedom gradually reduced due to religious sentiments (as embodied in the temperance movement) and a growing recognition in the medical community about the dangers of alcohol. The more modern history is given in the ta As on... I liked “Animal House” when it came out and while its been a couple years since I’ve seen it, it was still funny. Aklthough I seriously quote Dean Wormer a lot and let’s face it: getting a young teenage girl drunk and having sex with her ain’t funny. ``` But we’ve said this before on other threads: Humor can age badly and succeeding generations don’t know why the predecessors laughed at someting ``` ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/54 "2017-12-07T02:17:39Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I saw it when it was first released, the summer before I went off to college. > The (mostly teenagers) in the audience were laughing so hard I missed a lot of the dialog. I saw Animal House when it first came out at the now-defunct Winchester Drive In Theaters in Campbell. Never laughed so hard in my life…but the 'shrooms may have been a contributing factor. 😃 I have the “Double Secret Probation” DVD in my collection and I still pull it out from time to time. A bit of Animal House-related trivia: Tim Matheson (Otter) was the voice of Jonny Quest. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/55 "2017-12-07T02:29:19Z")
Regardless of how it’s aged, I think there was a lot of funny in Animal House: “Double secret probation” (I still use the phrase all the time) “Germans?” “Forget it, he’s rolling.” “Wait until Otis sees us! He loves us!” “My kid can’t see - is it all right if he stands in front of you?” “No.” And although it’s the lesser of the two movies, the same goes for Revenge of the Nerds. My favorite moment is when John Goodman is giving his football players a rollicking pep talk while they are slowly suffering from a chemical poured on their underwear. They eventually run for the showers at the triumphal climax of his speech, at which point he mumbles, “Shit, we forgot to practice.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/56 "2017-12-07T02:43:21Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > What hazing? The evil ultra-white frat does paddle pledges in their underwear, but is it really that bad that D-Day and Bluto scare Pinto and Flounder with fire extinguishers? Pretty much the only thing Deltas do, to their pledges, is provide free beer to kids who (probably in that time and place) can legally drink. They can’t do that to our pledges! Only we can do that to our pledges! > [@Arkcon](#): > > TBH, I avoided frats in college because I was sure I’d get the paddling hazing reinstated just in my case. Just tell me, mister. What fraternity would pledge a…man like you? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/57 "2017-12-07T02:58:09Z")
“I used to touch Fawne like this.” “I know. She told me.” The look on Tim Matheson’s face is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/58 "2017-12-07T03:00:54Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I’ve never seen it. To quote another of my favorite movies: “What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/59 "2017-12-07T03:05:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > To quote another of my favorite movies: > > “What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?” 😛 Sit down, this will take a while. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733/60 "2017-12-07T03:35:15Z")
On a side note, I loved the Twisted Sister videos with Mark Metcalfe where he basically reprises his Niedermeyer character and is the subject of all sorts of cartoonish violence. In the video for _I Wanna Rock_, he even gets squirted with a seltzer bottle by the late Stephen Furst. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-animal-house-and-i-didnt-like-it/803733.md?page=4)