This week we’re talking about Individual VS Group.
And yes, you might be wondering with the poster of ‘Sorority Row’ is doing up…. well, they are going to be what I am using to talk about the topic this week.
‘Sorority Row’ is you typical slasher flick, where a group of sorority girls or ‘sisters’ play a prank that goes horribly wrong and lands one of their own, Megan (Audrina Patridge from The Hills), dead. 8 months later on graduation, someone begins to kill the reminding 5 girls. Of course, some extras get killed as collateral damage and you spend the whole movie guessing who the killer is. Seen ‘I know what you did last summer’?
This movie also stars,
- Briana Evigan (Step Up 2) – Cassidy (the sensible and pretty much the main star of the show)
- Rumor Willis (House Bunny) – Ellie (the nerd, innocent & comes out being the heroine)
- Jamie Chung (Dragon Ball) – Claire (erm… not too sure what she’s suppose to be)
- Margo Harshman (Fired Up) – Chugs (the promiscuous one)
and – Leah Pipes – Jessica (Queen B)
So the girls come from a Sorority called Theta Pi and their motto is “Trust, respect, honor, solidarity and secrecy”. Everything the girls do, they do as a group and their actions not only affect themselves but it affect the girls of the sorority house. Everything becomes group orientated, as it always happens when you join a group, especially one that is supposedly so close knit.
From the beginning of the movie, the audience is shown that the girls are close, they get along well and they seem to have a good bond (sisters for life etc…) but this quickly changes when one their own gets accidentally killed. The girls are then divided, having Cassidy and Ellie wanting to go to the police while the other 3 wanting to save their reputation and future by hiding the body.
Jessica applies pressure onto the other girls when she starts playing with the minds of the rest by convincing them that hiding the body and telling no one about it is what’s best for all of them. Their futures will be intact and their families will not have to be hurt by this tragic incident. Suddenly, ‘Sisters for life’ becomes, ‘Every man for himself’ and this continues to show in the character of Jessica when every thing else she does is for her own benefit.
During the show we also see the group socialisation process (Moreland & Levine) in different characters, Prospective Member in the character Maggie (Megan’s younger sister), Full member in the other girls and Ex-member in Cassidy, although she did not leave the sorority officially (because it would look bad and they are more group orientated), she did distant herself from the house. We also get to see the push and pull of the characters choosing between being an individualist or group.
Although the other girls still show signs that they do think about others and not only about themselves, it makes me wonder, if we humans are more individualists or group orientated? Think about it, as a group, we would dare go up to others and start a fight, as individuals we would almost always be the first to run away from danger. As much as I would love to think that in times of dyer need, some hero would come in and save us, for some reason I feel that that would happen on the large chilling rooms of the theatre.
Just for thought – Hypothetically speaking if you and a group f your friends accidentally killed one of your own, what would you do?
October 15, 2009 at 4:50 pm |
I guess human beings are more individualists? Human beings only look out for themselves when they are place out of their comfort zone. They stick together as a group because that’s a social norm? People think you are anti social if you are alone. But when something happens and it calls for you to fight for yourself like in sorority row, we becomes individualist.
If its me, I’d either pack my bag and leave the country or call the cops! At least free food, free lodging! HAHA! Who cares about “Trust, respect, honor, solidarity and secrecy” when I might die ):
RIGHT?