New movie-making fun of greeks??

[katybelle04]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

When Anna Faris walks up to the house it's in bad shape. The sign at one point said ZETA but the E was missing so it only said Z TA. Then the Z falls on her head.

this is the part that i didn't like about it. as a zeta i don't like to see my letters on something like this... i realize that its only a movie and all that, but I don't like the way they put my organizations letters into it like that... they could have found another way to be funny, or use different letters or something. Not cool imo.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by Zeta13Girl

I notice that most of the men in the 5 minutes I watched it seemed to have either new york or Boston accents. Something that definitely made the documentary lose its credibility was the amount of times the people were using the F bomb in the movie. I don't know anyone much less a college student who would talk like this. So its kind of hard for me to believe that a fraternity or sorority member would talk like this especially if they knew that they were being filmed. It's all just a little "shady" to me.

Agree-what group is going to let two outsiders/non-students take part in the last three weeks of Pledging while running a camera?
The more one reviewed this film, the less of a true documentary it became. Just MVHO.

[Honeykiss1974]

Cute movie! Since I like Anna Faris I would totally watch this on USA on some random Saturday afternoon because nothing else was on TV.

Although, it does look like a rip from Legally Blonde with the whole "pretty girl turns smart and finds a goal in life theme" - its still cute and I doubt if people will give it much thought.

[MTSUGURL]

I think it looks cute and will probably go see it. Now, I'm not going to suggest to my girls that they show it at a recruitment event and say beaming, "This is exactly what sisterhood is like! Any questions?"

[PM_Mama00]

I'd watch it, and I'm a Phi Mu. Although I think it's funny that on the main page, Phi Iota Mu is in pink. And the color combinations are pretty "coincidental".

[ztagirlthetaeta]

Originally Posted by katybelle04

this is the part that i didn't like about it. as a zeta i don't like to see my letters on something like this... i realize that its only a movie and all that, but I don't like the way they put my organizations letters into it like that... they could have found another way to be funny, or use different letters or something. Not cool imo.

I'm a Zeta and I completely agree with this statement. I was watching Greek on ABC when I first saw the commercial and I had to rewind and fast forward the thing like ten times to see it for real. It would of been cool if they had like ZAZ on the house like they do in Greek with ZBZ, but the fact that our letters were perfectly noticable (color and everything, I mean even the girls shirt was steel grey and turquoise) kind of sucks. I think it looks like a cute movie, but I don't want to see my letters associated with something like playboy or the "social misfits" of the campus.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

That's really interesting that they would refer to themselves as the "Phi Mus" if Phi was the first letter, there was a letter in between, and then Mu.

Most 3-letter orgs typically go by the first two letters (e.g. Lambda Chi = Lambda Chi Alpha; Delta Sig = Delta Sigma Phi; etc). I know not all GLOs do that (like Pi Phi for instance), I just find it odd that they would do that and Phi Mu is actually a real organization.

interestingly, we're the only org in D9 that gets a nickname with all 3 of our letters. Well, us and the AKAs but i think that is a little more fluid and natural than saying "SGRs". I notice only guys throw single-letter nicknames at us (Ks and Rhos) and it sounds a little ridiculous.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I'd watch it, and I'm a Phi Mu. Although I think it's funny that on the main page, Phi Iota Mu is in pink. And the color combinations are pretty "coincidental".

IMO this is what makes me turn the thumbs down on this more than the bunny connection. I would be more likely to think the letters were just random if they were ZAZ and their colors were green and white. But they go by Zeta, and they wear blue & gray? Come on.

As far as Animal House is concerned, the fraternity it was modeled after was a local at the time of the filming, and the movie was written by an alumnus of the fraternity. That's quite a bit different. I mean, I look at this movie and I think it's someone who has a grudge w/ ZTA and wants them to look "nerdy."

[tld221]

This is kinda like when Big Walt came out with this movie. Coincidence, with the colors and the letters?

i'm glad it went straight to DVD. the trailer is comedic gold but wouldve sucked in the theater.

[nate2512]

Originally Posted by katybelle04

this is the part that i didn't like about it. as a zeta i don't like to see my letters on something like this... i realize that its only a movie and all that, but I don't like the way they put my organizations letters into it like that... they could have found another way to be funny, or use different letters or something. Not cool imo.

Yep, but The House Bunny doesn't look like its going straight to DVD. I think it'll be pretty funny, Happy Madison films generally don't completely flop too many movies.

[wolffootball37]

I think it looks pretty dumb to be honest. I watched like a minute of that documentary though. I couldn't watch more than a minute first of all because that accent is soo damn annoying. Also it did seem fishy. If i had a guy selling anything that hard giving me hugs every 5 seconds id be pretty scared and would want to keep my distance...

[ZTAMich]

Official Statement by Zeta Tau Alpha is here.
Statement on "The House Bunny"


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2008

Zeta Tau Alpha denounces “The House Bunny” movie


INDIANAPOLIS—Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity for women expresses dismay that Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions will release in August the feature film, “The House Bunny.”

This movie depicts a sorority called “Zeta Alpha Zeta” and refers to its members as “Zetas” and its facility as the “Zeta House.” The chapter house shown in the movie has the word “ZETA” above the door in turquoise, one of the official colors of the Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity.

The Fraternity is the exclusive owner of the registered trademarks Zeta Tau Alpha and the Greek letters ZTA, and has been consistently using the term Zeta and Zetas to conduct business for nearly 100 years. The Fraternity believes that the use of “ZETA” in the film is improper and confusingly similar to ZTA. Zeta Tau Alpha is working with legal counsel to explore its options.

“We regret that the production and distribution companies have chosen to release a movie that portrays collegiate fraternity and sorority life in an offensive and inaccurate manner,” said Zeta Tau Alpha National President Laura Ladewig Mauro. “We have written a letter of protest to both companies but have received no response.”

Zeta Tau Alpha was founded in 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Va., and has 148 active collegiate chapters and more than 195,000 members worldwide. A member of the National Panhellenic Conference of Greek women’s organizations, ZTA develops members’ leadership, academic and service skills and supports breast cancer education and awareness as its national philanthropy.

[PhiMu_Gator]

I think the movie looks super cute - the actress is really funny, and I can take a joke. The writer maybe was jilted by Phi Mu at some point and had a best friend in ZTA. who knows? It's probably her own little "jokes on you". Who honestly cares? Sure there are a lot of Greeks out there, but compared to the general population of teeny bopper girls who are going to see this, it's not going to be a pivotal point in their lives and their entire view of sorority life won't be based upon this one movie. I'd be worried if a documentary by Michael Moore came out on Greek life, let's thank our lucky stars we haven't seen one of THOSE. =D So, I suggest we take it with a grain of salt *and a little lime* and not worry about it too much. ZTA is nationally known for raising tons of money for Breast Cancer Awareness and being a wonderful organization and Phi Mu is nationally known for it's long history of sisterhood and contribution to CMN. Let's focus on doing what we can control like making our chapters stronger and shining positive light on our organizations and letting silly movies lie.

[FSUZeta]

the problem is that zta and phi mu are nationally known, within the greek community. there are a heck of a lot more non-greeks than greeks, who have no idea the names of sororities, what they stand for, that they have philanthrophies they work hard to support, and images/reputations they try hard to keep untarnished.

it does bother me that zeta alpha zeta goes by "zeta" in the movie, that they have "zeta" above their door, and that the "e" conveniently falls off the house, leaving the letters "z t a", in turquiose, up. add to the fact that the movie phi mu's are linked with pink, and the argument that this is all just coincidence starts to pale.

its not very difficult to research national sororities and fraternities. we tell pnms to do this all the time, but we can cut a huge movie studio some slack, because it would be too hard, or take too long? it would take one person an hour or less to make sure these coincidences don't happen, by doing a little research.

so, those of you non-zetas, please don't discount our feelings when we share them with you. you might feel differently if your organizations nickname, colors and what not had coincidentally turned up in a movie.

[CatStarESP4]

I just checked out the website and saw the trailer. I was appalled at how Greeks are portrayed when we are trying to promote a more positive image. I am neither a Zeta Tau Alpha nor a Phi Mu, but I am outraged over the usage of the organizations' names/nicknames, colors and anything else associated with the organizations. I think both ZTA and Phi Mu should sue the production company and the distributor.

I don't care if you are a member of a national or local GLO or just a GDI, we all need to denounce this.