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Rushed
We’re holding this festival to show off the work of the film students on campus. We hope you enjoy the entries. However, the views and ideas expressed in these films do not reflect the opinions of North by Northwestern or its staff, and the director of each film is responsible for its content.
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Well, sorority recruitment is over. Or you can return home.
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brilliance, sheer brilliance
ian
December 6, 2006 at 1:40 pm
This movie is a striking commentary on the inner cicrle workings of sororities everywhere. I would typically hate it because it was done by a man, but I can’t help but LOVE IT!!!!! It makes me want to RUSH all over again. Kisses!
Sorority Girl for Life
December 6, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Fantasticly perceptive,creative and a highly relevant message about the core “values” and culture within Fraternal organizations; Marcus Cohlan has used the “female” experience however, it is clear that his message could resonate with as much gusto had he chosen the “boys” club as the example!
Paula Henkin, Consultant
December 6, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Betty Freidan must be turning in her grave-what did we burn our bras for?? A ‘must see’ for all incoming freshman who want to belong.
A Mom
December 6, 2006 at 3:20 pm
It seems like these girls know that the whole system is…kind of sick, kind of degrading. Why would you subject yourself to this?
Another thing. After “Philanthropy Round” all the girls in my dorm were a-buzz about all the different sororities; which ones were cute, which ones they hoped would like them. How many do you think were actually talking about the “philanthropy” that the whole event was supposedly about? Precisely zilch. The whole thing is a scam.
Jamie
December 7, 2006 at 11:22 am
Well conceived, the editing is brilliant and the entire film has a powerful message. This young man is going to be a significant force in cinema for many years to come!
Unbiased
December 8, 2006 at 10:56 am
An unflinching look at a serious topic. Fascinating and disturbing. Really well done.
Matt Mckenna
December 9, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Well done indeed! Between the shakey camera work, simplistic camera angles( from the front!, from the side!), and heavyhanded (but brilliant!) powerful message, and backed by the best editing iMovie has to offer, this movie gives you the best overview of a huge situation that interviewing only 5 people can give you.
A tour de mediocrity! This young man is going to be a significantly negative force in cinema for many years to come!
Dave McPherson
December 11, 2006 at 6:07 am
everything this movie talks about is seriously soooooooooo true. everyone, even all the girls in sororities, know that rush is a crazy, effed up process. and the thing the girl said about your looks and attractiveness being a HUGE factor is absolutley true. NO sorority, even the less popular ones, can deny that they put their more attractive girls out front for everyone to see. And getting a new pledge class that is hot and will impress all the fraternity guys, i found, really was the goal of almost every sorority. And it’s sooooooo incredibly true too that if you aren’t hot, you are going to have to walk on water or something…otherwise you are out of luck. don’t get me wrong, i love my sorority, but nobody in the greek community can deny that being attractive is a big part of rush and getting accepted into “good” houses.
sorority girl
December 12, 2006 at 11:43 pm
who the hell are you? reveal yourself!!!!!!
the filmmaker
December 13, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Superficiality run amok. The film is well put together. Well conceived and well executed.
Pat Tap
December 14, 2006 at 7:38 pm
It seems lots of girls in sororities have responded positively to this piece, and I have to go against the grain here! I was somewhat insulted at the image it gives to ALL sororities, indiscriminately. While some chapters may make a “hot” pledge class their goal, mine certainly does not. We, in fact, have spent months preparing so that is NOT the focus; we want the people rushing to have an enjoyable experience to find a chapter that they enjoy being around. That is he only way to ensure that people will be happy in the sorority they are joining. I know I certainly am. One final comment: How can you say that there are certainly sororities that are more “popular” than others when every active sorority on campus has around 130 members post-recruitment?
Unhappy Sorority Girl
December 24, 2006 at 8:34 am
I feel that it is ironic that the maker of this film is in a fraternity himself, and therefore part of the greek system at northwestern university. The process of sorority rush was not concieved by sorority girls- it was instituted by the University’s Panhellenic Society. The “Anonymous” girl you have commenting talks about a lot of things that absolutely do NOT happen in all houses. In fact, I know of very few houses that designate the hot girls for the floor and the quiet girls for the food committee. In my house, each girl gets to pick. I feel that this film is completely biased and fails as a documentary because it shows ONE side of a process that has many sides and ONE attitude of sorority women when there are many attitudes. Documentaries are supposed to show many sides of an issue in order to make a statement that is based on fact. You accuse these girls of only taking pretty girls and excluding ugly ones. Well, this documentary only takes the ugly information, and excludes everything else.
Annoyed
January 9, 2007 at 2:36 pm
While much of what was said in this “documentary” rang mildly true, it was a one sided, narrow-minded glance into the world of sorority recruitment. It did not, nor did it claim to, capture what a true sorority experience is all about. More than anything, this attempt at sorority-bashing was a commentary on society. Since when does being attractive and outgoing NOT help you get where you want to be? Can anyone actually look down on sororities for funcioning just as the rest of society does? No. People who make a good first impression have a clear advantage in recruitment, just as they do when making friends, applying for jobs, or interacting with people in general. Sororities are a microcosm of society, which is why being in one and dealing with the experiences that it throws at you can only help a woman grow and develop her interpersonal skills. Sororities breed successful and empowered women. This film does not reflect negatively on anyone but those who believe it paints a complete picture.
Proud Sorority Girl
January 9, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Next time you attempt to produce a scathing documentary, Marcus, please have the courage to attack the superficial, privileged, status-quo supporting organizations to which you yourself belong. You were the Vice President of Programming for IFC and yet you decided to attack only women’s groups? Weak.
Trying to make a point about how evil it is to exploit women by exploiting women to make a stupid video is pretty disgusting. And so was the choral music that you used.
Emily
January 9, 2007 at 8:47 pm
That film was pretty poorly done. I think it should have been called “Rushing Tridelt” – wasn’t anonymous in Tridelt?
I think Marcus needs to get over his obsession with the “gift” rule. About half the film was about that.
Let’s talk about fraternities for a second, just to be fair…
Fraternities tend to breed a chauvinistic male-male love established in large part through promotion of heterosexual male dominance over differently gendered or gender-identifying people. Through engaging in often sexualized initiation and hazing rites (yes, hazing does occur in frats at Northwestern), some fraternities, by no means all, are engaging in homoerotic behavior for the purpose of establishing heterosexual male supremacy over their peers. Isn’t that kind of ironic?
Ooo sororities are soooo evil
January 9, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Please… Must mystical music be played in the background as the girls enter the houses? What a ridiculous film choice. Recruitment isn’t some magical, mystical process… Also, who cares if girls can’t take a mint with them… Seriously?? is this really so horrific? If Marcus would like to uncover some deep, moving secret, I would suggest he look elsewhere.
Unmoved and unimpressed
January 9, 2007 at 11:43 pm
So THAT is how Tridelt rushes?
Impressed
January 10, 2007 at 3:29 pm
This movie is hilarious!!!!
Loves It
January 10, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Dear Filmmaker,
It’s nice to see that there are still people in this world, like yourself, who lack creativity. Not only does the title nearly plagarize that of a book released in 2004 (”Pledged” — does it ring a bell?), but you also show your own obsessive enchantment with the sorority system by literally only mentioning the “top three houses.” Clearly, you did not learn much from this research. Are you really any better than any sorority girl or soon-to-be sorority girl? I would say, with complete confidence, no. And by the way, if you happen to see a few cameramen outside of your frat filming, or perhaps just interviewing your brothers to find out the plethora of drugs that they waste their time ingesting, I hope you understand, it’s all part of a “scholarly” project and does not at all have to do with my effort to ameliorate my own social standing.
Grow Some Balls
January 10, 2007 at 8:58 pm
damn, some of these comments are vicious. i apologize if my film is upsetting some people. it’s just a documentary, my perspective, my voice. please be kinder with your words though, i have feelings too, i swear.
the filmmaker
January 10, 2007 at 9:42 pm
This merely scratches the surface, but for those who know nothing of the system it is an eye-opener. As for any eager PNM who wants to make sure she gets into a good house, I suggest a trip to the stylist. (Though I can’t understand why anyone who want to subject herself to hazing and catty clicks). I was surprised to see the girls in this film show up in jeans. At my former university women rushed in head-to-toe couture.
Black Balled
January 10, 2007 at 11:01 pm
i think you are a horrible journalist and filmmaker. i think that a person making a documentary should go into it trying to be as fair as possible. you obviously created this film with the purpose of making sororities look bad. you only ask questions about kappa, tridelt, and theta… and you respond to the speakers ON FILM! it is SO unfair for you to scare freshmen like this when what that girl says is untrue of most sororities… and the sorority she is in doesn’t even do that stuff anymore… i feel sorry for the girls in that house who now have to deal with a reputation that is just untrue.
this film makes me want to make a documentary about how to be a good filmmaker and use RUSHED as a bad example.
filmmaker needs to go to class
January 11, 2007 at 8:36 am
plus… is that slavery music???
come on marcus, its not THAT bad to get dressed up and talk to girls.
filmmaker needs to go to class
January 11, 2007 at 8:38 am
Wow, I really want to see this film now! Maybe it’ll show me once and for all that I’m too stupid, ugly, socially awkward, off-puting and uncool to ever be in a sorority. (Maybe that twitch I have has something to do with it.) PRAISE THE LORD!!
That Ugly Chick
January 11, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Just for the record, the “anonymous” was specifically told to over-exaggerate and make it very campy, and was told she was going to have her face blurred and voice disguised. I am in the house that the women in the documentary are in and THAT is NOT at all how rush is run.
Disappointed
January 11, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Every word is true and all of you guys freaking out about it know that. “Anonymous” – let’s just call her A- was 100% honest and just told it like it is. If you are so vehemently opposed to what A had to say, maybe you should rethink the organization that you are a part of rather than attack a filmmaker who honestly portrayed what his source provided him with.
It's all true
January 12, 2007 at 2:24 pm
The truth that various respondents are denying is that we all urgently want to belong to something so badly that we will allow certain sub-cultures, like Greek life for example, to persist in order to gain a feeling of superiority if granted a place among an elite few. What we don’t stop and think about is how this perpetual system ingrains a discrepancy in our minds about what we’d like to become and who we actually are. What the film causes me to ask of myself is what intrinsic validation one receives by belonging to such a system. The film does not suggest this question cannot be answered beyond a superficial level but rather poses the question to the viewer to ask of him or herself of any system/membership to which he or she wishes to belong. It is brilliant.
Sense of Belonging
January 19, 2007 at 10:38 pm
So I found it interesting that so many people found this movie to be so ground breaking. While it’s good to support your friends it’s not good to lie to them. While it seems to be a sad truth that the sororities are pathetic least we forget the many pathetic attempts made by people who never make it into a sorority, and for good cause do they never make it. While it can be said that it is all superficial, I must object and say that, it is because that is the way the community has let it become. Social standards are much more widespread than sororities. How can one say that this is any new information, when I can see these ideas on the t.v. everyday. don’t lose sight of the big picture, if you this sororities are pathetic, or this film is some great eye opener, then maybe you should take a quick look around our COUNTRY or WORLD.
Silly loser’s only the best dress in the horse.
AL
February 14, 2007 at 12:03 am
Someone just directed me to this site. Wanted to thank you for the comment, and have a sneaking suspicion you know me…who is this?
A
March 2, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Absolutely fabulous job. Should be edited to eliminate any really direct northwestern connections and then posted on U Tube for all to see! This is media with meaning…which is rare these days. Many congrats to the creator.
Loved it.
August 27, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Amazingly powerful and impressive. Thank-you for having the creativity and courage to film it.
SogladiwasGDI
October 10, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I am a huge fan of this movie. It’s my favorite documentary…ever! It’s already on U Tube, that’s where I found it. Keep up the good work filmmaker, the world is now watching you and can’t wait for more brilliant work.
SogladiwasGDI
October 10, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Really bad camera work. Get more interviews, of actives, other girls than “Allie,” of guys other than your frat bros, and the Dean, throw some more alumni of the sororities maybe. Please try again.
Score of 6 (Out of 10)
December 11, 2007 at 9:57 am
Marcus is a scum bag who tried to sneak into multiple houses without warning. His point is wasted at here. At NU, sororities are nothing like their more southern counterpoints. Yes, I agree more intense sororities exist…in Texas. And maybe some things happen that shouldn’t. But the way this was done was not “discovering” anything. Marcus used previous acquaintances to interview and lied to girls he talked to about how they would appear on film. This is crap documentary-making.
whatevs
December 12, 2007 at 8:05 am