Film	Main Theme for Class Discussion	Plot summary	Quote Illustrating the point
Animal House (1978) Directed by John Landis	Social life	Faber College’s Delta Tau Chi fraternity is so disreputable that Dean Vernon Wormer enlists their rival fraternity, the sanctimonious Omega house, to kick the Delta boys out of school.	Undergraduate ‘Bluto’ Blutarsky’s response to the Dean when he learns he has been kicked out of school: Seven years of college down the drain!
The Big Chill (1983) Directed by Lawrence Kasdan	Identity development	A group of old college friends reunite for the funeral of a college buddy. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other and to reflect on their faded youthful idealism.	An exchange between two once-close friends who have not seen each other in ten years: Sam: So how’s your life? Karen: Oh, great. How’s yours? Sam: Not so great. Karen: Ohhh, we’re telling the truth.
Breaking Away (1979) Directed by Peter Yates	Attending college	A group of recent high-school graduates from working class Bloomington, Indiana enter the Little 500 collegiate bike race at Indiana University in an attempt to beat the college team. The tensions between these locals and the college students highlight themes of class, how one decides to go to college, and the role of a college education in changing times.	Cyril discussing why he has decided not to go to college: I was sure I was going to get that scholarship. My dad of course was sure I wasn't. When I didn't, he was real understanding, you know. He loves to do that. He loves to be understanding when I fail. Father to son about having cut the stone for the buildings on the IU campus: I was damned proud of my work. And the buildings went up. When they were finished the damnedest thing happened. It was like the buildings were too good for us. Nobody told us that. It just felt uncomfortable, that’s all.
Educating Rita (1983) Directed by Lewis Gilbert	Identity development	A working class woman enters London’s “Open University” and is in one-on-one literature instruction with an alcoholic professor in this modern retelling of the Pygmalion story.	Rita on what she has learned about how to learn: Women who go to hairdressers expect too much. They walk in and a half hour later they want to come out a different person. If you want to change you have to do it from the inside -- like I’m trying to do. They have to do it how I’m trying to.
Good Will Hunting (1997) Directed by Gus Van Sant	Attending college	A troubled, fight-prone, young man from working class South Boston is a math genius. He is nurtured by an MIT professor, a therapist, and a woman student at Harvard. Stretching his skills takes him away from his roots, and helps him to define his values.	Chuckie to Will on why he should make the most of his gift of intelligence: Look, you’re my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin’ construction, I’ll fuckin’ kill you. That’s not a threat. Now, that's a fact. I’ll fuckin’ kill you. Will to arrogant history graduate student in a bar: You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.
Higher Learning (1995) Directed by John Singleton	Diversity	Conflicts over multiculturalism, sexual orientation, race and gender politics at a large multiuniversity explode with tragic results.	Professor Maurice Phipps to his class: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Despite having these rights, very few people exercise them.  It is that kind of apathy that corrodes our society from within.  Your assignment this semester is as follows: to formulate your own political ideology. This will be dictated by your sex, background, socio/economic status, personal experiences, etc. etc. This course will be like anything in life – it will be what you make of it.
Horse Feathers (1932) Directed by Norman Z. McLeod	Athletics	Marx Brothers’ send up of college life in the 1930s. Groucho plays newly appointed Huxley College president, Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, who is charged with building up the Huxley football team to play rival Darwin Univeristy. Marx Brothers madness ensues. The password is “swordfish.”	President Quincy Adams Wagstaff to the faculty: I say to you, gentlemen, that this college is a failure. The trouble is we’re neglecting football for education!
Legally Blonde (2001) Directed by Robert Luketic	Identity development	Homecoming Queen and Fashion Merchandising major Elle Woods aces the LSAT and gets in to Harvard Law School to follow her ex-boyfriend and win him back.  This post-feminist tale makes nods to “The Paper Chase” and shows Elle winning over her classmates and learning that she is capable of more than she imagined.	Professor Stromwell to Elle who plans to leave law school after another professor makes a pass:  “If you are going to let that prick keep you from succeeding, you are not the girl I thought you were.” Student out the dorm window as Elle drives up in her convertable: “Hey Malibu Barbie.”
Now and Then: From Frosh To Seniors  (1999) Directed by Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine	Impact of college	This documentary catches up with ten Stanford students during their senior year.  These students were filmed for their entire freshman year in a Stanford University residence hall.  They reflect on how they changed during and after their first year of college.	Brandi, as a senior: We were all these clueless freshman and I think that’s so cool how everyone, for the most part, found their little niche. Everything ends well. Scott on being a first-year student: Almost everything I have is in a state of flux right now. It’s a really weird time. You kinda feel like you’re changing, you kinda know that you’re changing, which is somewhat scary. I know something is happening to me, but I don’t know what and I don’t know how.
The Paper Chase (1973) Directed by James Bridges	Teaching and learning	The first year of Harvard Law school seen through the eyes of a student. The student develops hero-worship for the most difficult professor, Professor Kingsfield. He has to decide whether he has what it takes to succeed, and what his definition of success is.	Professor Kingsfield’s opening comments to his class: In my classroom there is always another question, another question to follow your answer. Yes, you’re on a treadmill. My little questions spin the tumblers of your mind. You’re on an operating table. My little questions are the fingers probing your brain. We do brain surgery here. You teach yourselves the law. But, I train your mind. You come in here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer. Hart to Kingsfield at the end of the year: You mean something to me and your class means something to me. Prof. Kingsfield: What is your name?
The Program (1993) Directed by David S. Ward	Athletics	Combining the “winning is worth bending the rules for” and “underdog pulls upset” genres of college sports films, this football film also explores issues of race, women’s athletics, and the pressures and realities of competition for college athletes and coaches.	Academic prosecutor to the Football Coach at a player’s disciplinary probation hearing: This is not a football vocational school, its an institute of higher learning. Coach Winters: When was the last time you saw 80,000 people show up to watch a chemistry experiment.
Real Genius (1994) Directed by Martha Coolidge	Teaching and learning	Life at a Cal Tech-like school where super-smart students mostly study, and occasionally pull brilliant pranks. When an arrogant faculty member appropriates their laser research the students engineer his comeuppance.	Chris Knight about fellow students who do not appreciate his efforts at creating social activities: Moles and trolls, moles and trolls, work, work, work, work, work. We never see the light of day. We plan this thing for weeks and all they want to do is study. I’m disgusted. I'm sorry but it's not like me, I’m depressed. There was what, no one at the mutant hamster races and we had one entry into the Madame Curie look-alike contest and he was disqualified later. Why do I bother?
School Daze (1988) Directed by Spike Lee	Diversity	An early Spike Lee movie that explores the lines that unify and divide the student body at Mission University, an historically black college.	Rachel to her long-time boyfriend who the leader of the Apartheid divestiture crusade on campus: You know, Vaughn, I’ve often wondered if the only reason you’re with me is because I’m one of the darkest sisters on campus. Good for your all-the-way-down pro-black-nationalist image.
Where the Boys Are (1960) Directed by Henry Levin	Social life	One of the first "spring break" movies, this film is set in a time when women went to college to find a husband. This film also has a date rape plot line.	Tuggle Carpenter on why she came to college: Girls like me weren't built to be educated. We were made to have children. That's my ambition: to be a walking, talking baby factory. Legal, of course. And with union labor.
With Honors (1994) Directed by Alek Keshishian	Identity development Impact of college	A Harvard senior’s computer crashes and he then loses the paper copy of his thesis. It is found by a homeless man who agrees to give the student one page a day in return for food and shelter. The student learns about love, generosity, and the meaning of living a good life.	Simon on living in the Harvard library boiler room: Yes I’m a bum. But I’m a Harvard bum.

There are many other films about college.  Here is a list of the ones that we have seen, and believe to be worth watching, at least once.  Most are available on video.