MovieChat Forums > Goat (2016) Discussion > Found it interesting

Found it interesting

posted 7 years ago by anonymouse-one17
6 replies | jump to latest

When I read that it was a movie about a fraternity (didn't see the trailer), I expected it to be something along the lines of the Party-hard stereotype. It showed the hazing side.

I am in a fraternity. Yes there is hazing. Luckily, at my school, we don't have greek housing so there are less reports and indications of hazing. People tend to do it at their houses and such. A lot of schools including my own, have a "no hazing" policy, but that doesn't stop some social fraternities and sororities from hazing.
- there are also some fraternities and sororities that are not recognized as organizations with the school. They don't always tell you this. I only found out cause I saw it in the school's website for all the on campus organizations and they name several organizations not recognized. But you still see them during Rush week.

Some things to note. Pinning was done at the very beginning and our version of hell week was the very last week. The hazing was very tame in comparison. We were blindfolded and drove to some area and had us spell the greek letters using rocks. Held a candle in front of us with a lamp shining in our eyes as they asked us some stupid questions about sexuality. And some other really tame stuff. The requirements we did were hectic and exhausting.
There are some very severe hazing. We've all heard stories. I met 3 members of another fraternity who pledged the previous semester while doing community service on campus. They had a brand mark on their right biceps, it was the greek letter H (eta) which was part of their fraternity's name. They claimed it was their choice. Didn't matter whether it was or it wasn't. Some fraternities go to the extreme and it's always, "If you want to join, you do what it takes. If you want to leave, the choice is yours."

Anyways, depending on how involved you are, what Nick Jonas's character said at the end is true. For some, it really doesn't matter. Once you graduate that's it. For some, this is their peak. After they graduate, that's it. There is nothing left. For some, they use this as leadership experience and networking in order to grow and become something. For some, this is all they got and they stay in school for 7+ years because that's all they got going for them.
There are some who will stay in contact with their brothers for life. There are some where once they graduate, this chapter ends and they never talk to the brothers again, let alone even mentioning that they were once in a greek organization.

- btw. Some fraternities are viewed as gangs outside North America. The only instance I know of is in the Philippines where they "beat-in" their members with paddles, members have fraternity crests tattooed on them and there has actually been reported bloodshed.

[–] j_imdb-631 7 years ago

Nice to read an intelligent view point from someone at college and has some experience of this sort of thing, whether first hand or hearsay, without flipping out and just branding the film as rubbish.

[–] anonymouse-one17 7 years ago

Haha. Sometimes you'll find people who bash others for sharing an honest opinion about greek organizations. I've butted heads with my own brothers about this. While I won't share our chapter secrets, I'll be honest when it comes to what I think of greek organizations. Whenever you ask, some people tend to glorify it and tell you such rainbow stories about how amazing it is or all the great things. You know, it sounds so peachy and a fantasy that as a freshmen you go, really? cool. I want to join. ( They're basically overselling their organizations).

But, you know what they say, there's some truth to all stereotypes. :)

Denying that any greeks do this would just get you laughed at by the public. Simply because that's not true. While news outlets and "journalists" tends to falsify statements like the RollingStones article, places like greekchat.com has members reporting behaviors and schools do suspend, remove, or put them on probation like in the SAE situation as OU. Can't deny the SAE thing, it's on video.

I'd rather take another approach and admit that some fraternities and sororities do, do these things. While these things can exist, they don't define us as greek organizations. We do alot of great things including community services, awareness campaigns, developing leadership, networking, fundraising for a cause, philanthropies, and more.

[–] KingCobra686 7 years ago

It showed the hazing side.

I am in a fraternity. Yes there is hazing.

I think this movie showed the hazing side maturely. It didnt go too over the top and it felt authentic. They did a good job putting the events of the book on the screen.

The main thing that I didnt like was the block of text at the start that said something along the lines of "100,000 male students pledge each year and this is their story". While hazing does exist, it varies drastically between every chapter and school. This is certainly not the story of every fraternity pledge because every chapter does things differently. Some fraternities haze the *beep* out of their pledges and some do absolutely nothing.

There is always some risk of hazing occurring when it comes to fraternities. They have a level of secrecy that prevents the school from fully monitoring their activities and if you get enough guys with a certain personality in the chapter, they will take advantage of that and abuse their power over pledges.

Hazing is hard to define too. My school has such a strict definition that pretty much anything you did could be considered hazing, even things as simple as requiring that pledges dress up and wear pins. I dont think it was the right approach for the school to take, because it pretty much resulted in everyone doing whatever they felt was appropriate and not worrying about the rules, since they were breaking them anyway.

I think that hazing is fine, as long as it isnt demeaning or humiliating or physical. Most of our pledging in my fraternity consisted of things that were a pain in the ass because they took up a lot of time or effort, but all of it required spending a lot of time with the rest of the pledge class. The goal was to force you to spend a lot of time around your fellow pledges and the fraternity, and to weed out people who didnt really care enough to do that. There were a lot of community service faux-greek life organizations at my school with very easy pledge processes that basically allowed anyone in, and I think those organizations suffered because they were filled with dozens of people who treated it like a very casual club that they would hang out with once a month or so.

[–] anonymouse-one17 7 years ago

+1 .If only I can give you kudos.

I don't remember that part. ha. I must've been grabbing something to eat while that part played.

Education Code Sections 32050 and 32051: "Hazing" includes any method of initiation or pre-initiation into a student organization, or any pastime or amusement engaged in with respect to such an organization which causes, or is likely to cause, bodily danger, physical harm, or personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm, to any student or other person attending any school, community college, college, university or other educational institution in this state; but the term "hazing" does not include customary athletic events or other similar contests or competitions.

This is my school's definition of hazing (I think it's for the whole system of schools). So it can be applied to just about anything.

That's how I felt going through the process too. There were some times where they would "grill" us, but that was mainly to see how serious we are. I had a similar experience. The pledging process was hard work. Eat, breathe, and sleep about the fraternity. Events with brothers, service with brothers, events with other chapters, fundraisers, and then meetings with brothers and forced to meet every active brother and all my pledge brother. Was alot of work. But like you said, it truly shows who wants to be there and who doesn't care to be there. You get out of it what you put in, and there has definitely been members who showed they didn't deserve to be accepted as brothers. It shows again when you meet people who has letters, but put a bad name on their organization by not knowing about their organization.

A little hazing is needed. Afterall, if you just let anyone in, your organization can get a bad rep from people who don't hold the qualities of the fraternities and they are out there at events representing you. It's not just for the sake of popularity among on-campus organization, but also for the sake of building relationships/partnerships or obtaining sponsors from local shops and such.

There's a few of those that allow for easy pledge processes. There's some that allows for a "vote" on members even if they don't meet requirements.

I can't remember the name, but while I was pledging, a classmate was pledging for another frat and they were barely in their 2nd week of the pledge process and already had their big brothers/bigs. Didn't get mine till about halfway into the Pledge Process.

If you don't mind. Can I ask what Fraternity you are in?

[–] KingCobra686 7 years ago

TKE. What about you?

We actually got big brothers within our first few weeks. Each fraternity does it differently. Big brothers were kind of supposed to be a random guy, but once you got one they were supposed to be the brother that you knew the most about and the one that you hung out with the most.

There's a few of those that allow for easy pledge processes. There's some that allows for a "vote" on members even if they don't meet requirements.

One of the community service coed fraternities at my school had to admit anyone who wanted to get in, no matter what they did. Someone had complained to their nationals when they got cut, and when their nationals came to discuss it with their chapter they made a rule that they couldnt cut anyone any more.

Most of their members were fine, but they had some really strange members that they had no choice but to accept. One was a 50 year old creepy dude that was taking 2 classes a semester and using the coed fraternity to creep on girls. They also had to take written tests for the final evaluation of whether or not they should be initiated, and I knew a guy that wrote "I dont care" for every question about the fraternity's history and still had to be accepted in. It definitely hurts the organization when those kind of members join.

[–] anonymouse-one17 7 years ago

APO
Some consider us faux-greek since we're not connected with the NIC or participate in greek week. But to me, we are greek. We're a co-ed service fraternity.

That's pretty disturbing that the nationals would say that. I'd understand if it was pertaining to who can be a pledge and who can't since some fraternities don't give out "bids," instead they have a first come first serve kind of thing with a cap on pledges. But to not cut anyone who wanted in? That's quite disturbing. It shouldn't be a participation trophy kind of thing. Work hard to get in.

Do you know which fraternity that was that has the 50 year old creep?
I hope that's not one of my brothers . tsk tsk. That's disappointing for that fraternity and disgusting on that member. If in the offchance it is one of my brothers, someone has some explaining to do. This is bad rep.

Hopefully that guy did not cross, and if he did. Hopefully he either has changed his thoughts or doesn't rep the fraternity in any way, shape, or form.

Everyone does stuff differently. I hope it's for the sake of brotherhood/sisterhood and upholding the principles of the fraternity/sorority. Our pledges have sponsors from their initiation night till around midway when they get their big brother(s). Every semester the Pledge Parent (as we called them) uses different ways of connecting pledges with an active. Sometimes interviews, sometimes surveys, and sometimes it's based on where they think a pledge needs help with.

hmm.. There's a TKE at my school, but they aren't considered a recognized organization of the school. Don't know too much about them. I only remember seeing them on the school listing saying that membership in unrecognized organizations are not supported by the university.