Batman Goes to Princeton ... The "Hollywood" Factor

College Search & Selection
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<p>After viewing Batman Begins and noting that Bruce Wayne decides "not to return to Princeton" ... it struck me that there are certain schools (HYPSM in particular of course) that get mentioned quite frequently on the big screen...</p>

<p>Risky Business (Tom Cruise), "Princeton can use a guy like Joel." is another example.</p>

<p>Can people list some others?</p>

<p>Finally, what / how does this "Hollywood Factor" contribute / validate a school's "reputation", "prestige" and "popularity" with a general audiences in addition to overseas audiences?</p>

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<p>Oh I know one!</p>

<p>"Duke University is the most prestigious undergrad institution out there" -unknown</p>

<p>Remember that one? That was such a powerful and deep piece of trope. :)</p>

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<p>Well, I can't give a big screen example, but I do have one for television.</p>

<p>On "Grey's Anatomy", the main character, Meredith Grey, attended Dartmouth College. She constantly prances around in a Dartmouth sweater. Also, her fellow intern is amazed that she had the opportunity to attend Dartmouth.</p>

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<p>Harold and Kumar had princeton in it. and yea i heard that line in batman also...</p>

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<p>i dont think theres much of a hollywood factor.. other than that its going to get joe q. redneck to know the name of teh college. </p>

<p>For example, out here on teh west coast, few regular people know about Northwestern. I tell the people my age: "go watch Mean Girls, its the college that Lindsay Lohan's parents teach at."</p>

<p>Legally Blonde is the most obvious example, i think. "You got in to harvard law?" "what, like its hard?"....because that movie was so popular, particularly with the non-intellectual crowd. (wow, look at me and my sweeping generalizations)... even though few people know that the beautiful campus shown in it is not harvard, but actually UCLA.</p>

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<p>Orange County and Stanford... another...</p>

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<p>animal house and faber</p>

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<p>One of the characters on NCIS talks about MIT a lot..I dont think many people watch that show, though</p>

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<p>Northwestern is in several movies.</p>

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<p>peck: i think the more well known reference is Good Will Hunting. </p>

<p>uc: what other movies? id be interested in seeing them.</p>

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<p>Heck Good Will Hunting made references to Stanford, Harvard, and MIT.</p>

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<p>Perfect Score was based on Cornell....also mentioned Brown and Princeton.</p>

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<p>Good Will Hunting: was in MIT. there was this one guy who went into a Harvard bar and said: I'm surprised there aren't equations on the walls.</p>

<p>Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - it's a TV show, the character really wants to go to Princeton.</p>

<p>The Graduate: i'm don't remember, but i'm sure they mentioned a college somewhere!</p>

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<p>I wouldn't say "The Perfect Score" was based on Cornell...rather a fraction of the movie's plot was on one character's desire to go to Cornell...same deal with Brown, though that character was more minor, IIRC.</p>

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<p>also, in a I Know What You Did Last Summer, didn't that girl go to a prestigous Ivy League?</p>

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<p>In "The Battle of Shaker Heights" with Shia Lebeouf, Elden Henson (of "Mighty Ducks" fame) makes a comment as to how his parents are helping him get into Dartmouth because of legacy status.</p>

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<p>Spiderman 2 has Columbia as well as Hitch. If a movie happens in NYC and there is a college student...bound to be Columbia or NYU, so both schools get a lot of recognition there.</p>

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<p>northwestern is in "never been kissed." drew barrymore went to medill in the movie.</p>

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<p>fox mulder went to oxford ;)</p>

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<p>NYU is in "In Good Company". Scarlett Johansson's character transfers there from SUNY.</p>