PCU Revisited

     Over the weekend, I decided that I was a little bit burnt out from football, and instead of being productive, I decided to watch one of the two dozen movies that I DVR’d from the holiday weekend premium cable preview. After coming to the conclusion that recent current events necessitated something lite, I stumbled upon a little movie that (judging from its $4.3 million domestic gross) many of you probably haven’t seen, PCU. PCU is a play on words for the movie’s setting, fictional Port Chester University, or as is the movie’s premise-- Politically Correct University. It is part of a genre of films that attempts to package itself as an Animal House for a new generation. 
        

     The plot is centered primarily on the misadventures of Tom Lawrence, a suit jacket-wearing pre-frosh who is touring the campus (played by Chris Young) and James “Droz” Andrews, a senior who is assigned to be his tour guide (played by Jeremy Piven, who you can see crafting the character that he would continue to play in everything he has appeared in since). In short order, Droz explains to Tom that he needs to scrap his preexisting notions of college life, and learn to navigate a mine field of various causes, each backed by a stereotypical group of supporters. We are quickly introduced to a series of parodies of various student activist types, including a Free Nelson Mandela supporter who is unaware that the iconic figure had been released from captivity four years prior, and an environmentalist/vegan named Moonbeam.

                

     Hijinks ensue as Droz and some compatriots, including Tom, decide to incite the various activists by throwing raw meat at them from above before making their escape to their- don’t call it a fraternity- house (frats have been banned on this campus for decades), The Pit. During their retreat, Tom is separated from the group and eventually manages to enrage the entire campus through a series of innocent mistakes; he then spends the next half of the movie running for his life.

                  

     Droz and his friends are presented with the bill for that semester’s shenanigans and must quickly raise $7,000 dollars in order to keep their house. What solution to this problem do they arrive at? Throw a giant keg party and charge at the door, of course. (Is there ever a different answer in these movies?) I won’t spoil the rest of the movie, but I will tell you that there are appearances by David Spade, doing an impression of what Michael J Fox’s Alex P. Keaton might have sounded like if writers weren’t trying to make him likeable and had instead released the id of what Reaganism truly represented, and a post-Rudy/pre-Swingers dreadlock-sporting Jon Favreau.

                 

     I honestly have incredibly mixed feelings about this movie. I won’t sit here and tell you that it’s great, because it isn’t.  However, when taken in context with the pop culture of its era, its politics are fascinating, and has relevance for today’s protest movements. While there are elements that I find incredibly problematic (and that’s putting it charitably, if you’ve seen the film I’d love to discuss this in the comments), there is a message here that liberals and progressives ignore at their own peril.   

               

     I would argue that the movie is aimed at the vast, politically unaffiliated, middle of American culture. The battle lines of the political left and right are clearly defined, with the various protest groups representing the left, while Spade’s blue-blooded cronies representing the right.  While it may be easy to miss, the film actually does take sides somewhat in this conflict, with the left being portrayed as clueless, while the right is irredeemably evil. The center, represented by Droz and his friends, are simply interested in having a good time, and the message of the movie can be interpreted as a plea for the left to move to the center, or to at least stop being a buzzkill.

                 
     I understand that in today’s country, twenty years after this film was made, that to ask for liberals to move to the center is counterproductive. The center has shifted so far to the right, that today’s “liberals” would have been conservatives a generation ago. But honestly, lots of us need to work on our messaging. The center is interested in having a good time and/or taking care of their family, which needs to be remembered. As someone that has been described as a “flaming liberal” (yes, apparently some people still talk that way, and yes, I was surprised as well), I can say that it gets tiresome to have your entire existence put under scrutiny by people who you would like to view as allies. It’s annoying to have every film or sport that you enjoy thrown at you as evidence of your support for oppression. It’s insulting to be called a supporter of rape for daring to enjoy or discuss media that includes attractive women wearing something less than a snowmobile suit. It’s irritating to have any achievement shortchanged as having been born on third base.  I’m saying this as someone that’s on your side, or at least I thought I was. If I’m feeling this way, how do you think people that are not concerned about the struggle for equality, as a part of their identity, are going to respond? Now, if you’re one of those people who not only see patriarchy and post-colonial oppression in every five steps you take, but feel the need to remark upon it at every occasion, you might be saying to yourself, “I don’t care if you’re annoyed, irritated, or insulted.” My response would be that if you’re interested in progress, you really need to care. PCU was released in 1994, two years into the “feel-good Clinton 90’s”.  Six years later Americans voted for the guy that they wanted to have a beer with, and we all remember how that worked out.