Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

I've seen a documentary on the History Channel about the fraterntity rush at Ole Miss. I have two questions:

1. Have anyone done a documentary about sorority rush?

2. Do you think that someone should do a documentary on sorority rush?

I think that there should be one, however, extreme conditions should apply. The documentary should focus on the positive things, and it should not include drinking. Also, they should feature girls that either got released or dropped out to show the harsh, yet true reality that not everyone gets in. Documentaries do not have happy endings for everyone.

Also, the girls must not say what sorority that they like or don't like. They should, however, say how many they feel comfortable or not comfortable with.

1. No.
2. No.

Sorority rush with NPC or NPHC groups never includes drinking anyway, so I don't know why you felt the need to add this caveat.

As many people on here have stated, membership selection procedures are often a part of ritual and therefore may not be seen by nonmembers.

I don't know who would watch it... Version 1 would be a pat on the back to sorority women, as it would be a tribute to sisterhood, service and friendship... Version 2 would be a Jerry Springer-esque look at Girls Gone Wild.

I guess I need to see the "Who Cares" factor-- why would someone watch it? "Because they're curious" isn't going to get ratings.

Re: Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

I'm not sure that I'd think about this in terms of whether there "should" be a documentary about this. It seems like it's more a question of whether it would work, and whether a producer was interested in the topic and GLOs and rushees were willing to cooperate. I think it would be interesting, but logistically difficult - I doubt that it would be easy to get permission to go charging into a sorority house in the middle of rush with filming equipment. I'm not sure that being told what to show and not to show would go over too well - creative control seems to be important to filmmakers.

Maybe she meant drinking outside rush parties (i.e. going out at night)? I think I was the only girl in my rush group that didn't go out to a fraternity party or something and get drunk at least once during rush week.

There is a documentary about sorority recruitment at Ole Miss from the 1980s. (it might have been the 1970s but I don't really remember which decade it was). I've seen it and it just sort of whatever, just shows the sororities singing songs and stuff. It is neat to see how much the houses have changed through the years.

I've emailed the Ole Miss Library to see if they have a copy or who has it. I don't think it ever aired on TV or anything.

I was interviewed my sophomore year in the Ole Miss Grove while tailgating by some student from another university and she asked me what I liked about being in a sorority...I had to sign something too, never heard about it again.

I think the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Southern Studies might have done a study on sororities at Ole Miss, not sure if it included a video or anything.

Yeah, IIRC, a video release form is a standard legal precaution when a producer wants to include a recognizable likeness of someone who's not a public figure.
http://www.current.tv/studio/groups/thread/366726.htm
http://www.current.tv/studio/survivalguide/ has a "legal stuff" section that talks about this.

What I meant was that the documentary should not have ANY drinking so it would steer away from MTV.

If I had watched a documentary of Recruitment at Ole Miss, I probably would've been scared to go through recruitment at all! Campuses are so different that I think it would be impossible to do an accurate documentary that reflects all the styles and different campuses of NPC recruitment.

I know. That's what I took your statement to mean. However, I think there was confusion because someone pointed out that NPC rush does not allow alcohol to be served during rush parties...but that doesn't mean that rush week is alcohol-free by any means.

Sorority rush could be an interesting thing to document, but writing would probably work a lot better than video. It'd be easier to protect people's privacy that way. The piece would be more engaging if the author talked with participants on both sides and let them tell their own stories.

I don't get it. Who would watch it? Sorority women know what goes on and unless you give the REAL picture of sorority life, it has no general appeal.

I found a link to the video from Ole Miss.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...ml?v_id=157100

Yes, exactly. And if the girls from Ole Miss watched a doc of Clarion recruitment they would have probably said "My Land! Whatever is the matter with those women?" ;)

Look at all the fracas we had on here when Sorority Life was on - there were people who thought the sororities weren't real just because they weren't NPC groups!

Wow, OleMissGlitter, thanks for that link. Do you suppose there's anywhere in the world to get a copy? Because to those of you asking, "Who would watch?" the answer is, I would! And I'd be happy to pay for it, too.

I doubt I'm the only one who'd be interested...there's no shortage of readers for "rushee's-eye-view" articles in school papers and so forth, and this would probably appeal to the same crowd.

When I was in high school I had Lisa Birnbach's College Book, a college guide by the woman who wrote The Official Preppy Handbook, and in the section on Ole Miss their dean of student life mentioned that documentary. Apparently a girl from Ireland saw it and decided to come to America so she could enroll at Ole Miss and join a sorority.

I am working on getting a copy from a local movie place here. The library does not have a copy although they said they had a few disserations I might be interested in...not sure if I want to read hundreds of pages on something I'm pretty familiar with...but I'll see what I can find and if I can get another copy I'll hook you up! It is quite interesting though from what I remember. Mostly for me I enjoyed seeing what the sorority houses looked like back in 1981 and how different rush is at Ole Miss now with the "no frills" in play. They use to do so much elaborate stuff before the new NPC resolutions. I also found last night at the AOII house some old rush videos from the last 1980s and early 1990s...talk about hilarious! We are going to burn them eventually to a DVD to show to our alumni when they come in town for events...totally hilarious!

If that's the case, I don't think you want to make a documentary at all. If you only want the film to focus on the positive aspects and only show certain things, you're more or less making a promotional film - not a documentary. I agree with some earlier posts, and you'll never satisfy everyone. If it's too pro-sorority, GDIs will blow it off, but if it's too anti-sorority, sorority women will be up in arms. It's just one of those things that's very hard to show objectively b/c most people have very strong opinions.

I don't know about any documentaries, but I have read a book called "Pledged" by Alexandra Robbins that follwed three soroity women for a year. Coming from a Northern Sorority with and open mind on a campus that has a somewhat different Greek environment than most campuses, I found it to be interesting. Friends of mine that are members on other campuses have not liked the book, but i think it gives an interesting look into sorority life. Not all of it is pretty, not all of it is nice, but as a current active, I can relate to many of the things the women in the book go through.

Pick it up if you want a "documentary" in book form :)

*Groan* PLEASE do a search on this book, it has, of course, been discussed EXTENSIVELY in multiple threads on this site. If you take this book that seriously, I have a few bridges I can sell you.

Agreed. That book is FAR from being a documentary.....

Re: Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

MTV had a tv show kind of like that. It was called sorority life. I'm not sure if it showed people who got cut or not. I never really watched it...just heard about it.

Re: Re: Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

Whaaaat? MTV had a show about sororities? I can't believe I missed it! Where was I?

I wonder if they'll do a sequel? Maybe even a three-quel?

Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

And then maybe one of those sororities will try to affiliate with an NPC group and gee, it will be discussed all over greekchat!!! That would be NEAT!

Denise

Re: Re: Questions about documentaries on sorority rush
 

Sorority Life focuses on parties and not the whole aspect of sorority life (i.e. philantrophy).