For the Love of Animals 

Amy Wright

Humans are complex creatures. Indeed, there are mystery of our own species that the brightest and most rigorous minds have had yet to solve, at least in any satisfying way. One of these is the massive, echoing gap that can exist between intention and perception. Especially when it comes to comedy. Humour itself is subjective as is what one finds to be funny. This is a large part of the reason there are so many different types and modes of humour, developed over decades and sometimes centuries. There is nearly literally one for every taste and which one or group of them one prefers depends on individual perspective. 

Despite this fact, and the general acceptance of the fact that humour is a subjective matter of taste, there are still some modes that are consistently looked down on if not seen as downright harmful. That some forms are more popular than others, particularly in different times and places, is a given. For a few, select types of comedy to be more or less marked out for censure, often on grounds that are exaggerated if not entirely made up is another.

One subset of comedy that never seems to get a fair shake is the so-called “Screwball Comedy”. Generally regarded as brainless stupidity at best and socially irresponsible at worst, no matter how well they are done, these Comedies, usually films, tend to end up on a lot more hit lists that any other. One of the most recent examples of this is when, in the throes of a massive scandal about sexual harassment and assault at a college fraternity, a comparison was made to the situation being like a “21^st Century Animal House.”

Rather than commenting on the case directly, the charges being serious issues I personally take very seriously, I would rather like to explore more generally how such a misunderstanding of both the theme and content of a film like Animal House could come to be made in the first place. There are several basic misunderstandings about both the theme and the content of the film though it really comes down to three basic ones.

1. The Stars of the Show

While the descriptor of the title can be used to refer to both the film as a whole as well as the Delta fraternity if focuses on, the real protagonists of the story are Kent and Larry, played by Tom Hulce who would go on to an Oscar-winning turn as Mozart in Amadeus. Not only are they the first characters we see, they are also the characters through whom the audiences experiences the story.

2. Sex, Sex, Sex Nothing but Sex

Sex related jokes are nothing new, dating back at least to ancient Greece. Many modern comedies also use them and not only in styles like “Blue” humour which are notable for it. While there is certainly an undercurrent of sex running through Animal House it is handled in a very interesting way. Despite a general reputation for raunchiness and being made in the late 1970s, the film is hardly a fight song for rape culture. It has exactly three scenes with nudity, both male and female, only one of which is in an overtly sexual context. In all three cases the scenes are played for laughs at the expense of a male character. There are more scenes that are sexually referential but they tend to brief and either consensual or with the male as the butt of the joke. There is exactly one instance of what could be considered sexual assault in which a woman is kissed without her consent and even here this is done by a character who is clearly a villain. So rather than being presented as someone to follow as a role model this incident serves as yet another reason to hate the guy. Such instances are also often used to set up a punchline usually to make a greater point.

This is seen clearly in the scene in which Larry is taken upstairs by a girl he invited to a party. Things go basically as expected the girl as excited about the situation as Larry is. The humour starts when the girl, apropos of nothing, suddenly passes out. There then follows a variation on the angel and devil on the shoulder trope in which Larry decides not to go ahead with the coupling and, not owning a car, takes the still unconscious girl home in a shopping cart, stopping the cart outside, ringing the bell and running away before her dad, who turns out to be the university dean, answers. Whether or not this is funny depends on your individual sense of humour but there is an even more important point. Rather than giving in to temptation and hurting an innocent girl, Larry does the right thing, not only not harming her but taking responsibility for her safety. Despite all the craziness around him, Larry really is really an okay guy and so are most of the other characters in the Delta fraternity.

There is even a case to be made for John Belushi's character Bluto. While by far the most unruly of an unruly lot he is also fairly sympathetic when viewed in a particular light. It is made clear that he does what he does because it is really all he has. He is basically a failure with a 0.0 GPA who steals food from the cafeteria because he is poor and drinks and pulls pranks to forget about his problems and fight against his lot in life. While he can be a bit of a letch, he is also almost always the butt of the joke. Sure, he is a rowdy, drunken buffoon with a mouth like a sewer and a mind like a gutter but he is far from dangerous, except maybe to himself.

3. There Is No Real Meaning

There has been some debate over the film's meaning. Most tend to see it as a stupid but harmless comedy that hasn't aged terribly well. Others see it as retrograde, sexist trash from a bygone era they're glad is over. Both of these are fair enough but also completely miss the point. The real themes of Animal House are those of friendship, unity and individuality. Despite the cheap jokes and occasionally questionable politics if the film is anti anything it is anti-authority. Bolstering the underdog and the misfit against the arbitrary and often cruel structures of society, as represented by the university dean and the rival frat made up entirely of the sort of cruel, petty, racist, sexist, rich kids who go on to choice positions in the Free Masons and The Bilderberg Group.