Introduction

My study found a fascinating trend throughout male coming-of-age movies, which very much speaks to what we talk about here at TRP. I'll explain more below, but first let's take a look at the protagonist(s) of each film. (Note: films are ordered based on age of protagonist, and character descriptions are from Wikipedia.)

End of High School Movies

American Pie: "Jim Levenstein [is] an awkward, nerdy and sexually naïve character whose dad Noah attempts to offer sexual advice including purchasing and giving him pornography."

Superbad: "Seth and Evan are two high school seniors who lament their virginity and poor social standing."

Europtrip: "Scott Thomas gets dumped by his girlfriend, Fiona, immediately after his high school graduation...Scott attends a graduation party that evening and listens to a performance of the film's main theme song "Scotty Doesn't Know", that crudely details the affair Fiona was having with the band's singer, Donny." Scott then proceeds to fly to Germany when he learns his long time pen pal is actually a beautiful woman (and not a man, as he thought.) Desperate much?

Hmm....so two movies about virgins and one about a guy who gets cheated on and publicly humiliated. What about the guys in the college movies. Are they any cooler?

College Movies

Accepted: ""Bartleby Gaines receives rejection letters from all of the colleges to which he applies, including those with high acceptance rates. In an attempt to gain approval from his strict father, Bartleby creates a fake college..."

Animal House: "John 'Bluto' Blutarsky [is] a drunken degenerate with his own style, in his seventh year of college, with a GPA of 0.0." There are many other characters in this movie, but basically it's about a degenerate second-tier fraternity on academic probation.

Old School: "Attorney Mitch Martin breaks up with his girlfriend when he accidentally discovers that she takes part in orgies." Mitch then proceeds to move back to college with other adult men.

Every single protagonist here is a loser and the epitome of a beta. We have: two virgins, two humiliating break ups, an alcoholic with a 0.0 GPA, and a kid who is rejected from every college he applies to.

Now, you might be thinking "So what? These are comedy films. They're supposed to be outrageous." My initial response to that is: most of these characters are actually kind of sad. In real life they'd be struggling. But OK it's a movie, so what?

The Beta Male Myth

Upon further examination, it turns out these movies are all telling the same story. They are archetypal representations of beta-male mythology. Consistent themes include:

-Weak and/or distant father figures (especially in American Pie and Accepted)

-Humiliating break ups (often publicly so)

-Alphas as the douches or even outright evil. Note how the cool frat is portrayed in Animal House, Matt Damon in Eurotrip plays an obnoxious alpha rock star who takes the girl, etc.

-The protagonist Betas somehow end up winning the day and getting the girl. In Accepted the loser who didn't get into college ends up wooing a 10/10 played by Blake Lively (lol)

-Fascinatingly, all three college movies involve the main characters getting in trouble with their respective institutions, and then dramatically exonerating themselves in front of the student conduct committee. In each movie, they make points about how school should be more "fun" and "free." Watch the end scene in Accepted where Blake Lively gets wet while the protagonist-beta argues against "grades, rules, [and] structure." Note also that his father finally comes around and nods approvingly while the jocks frown off to the side. Beta fantasy = complete.

-Despite their low social standing and pathetic demeanor, the men in these movies are somehow always around hot girls

Conclusion

I loved each one of these movies growing up. Sure I knew they were ridiculous and somewhat romanticized, but it never occurred to me that there was weird social/sexual psychology lurking beneath the surface. But now it all makes sense. Think about it: according to the 80/20 principle, only 20% of men are alphas. So why would a movie studio ever target their films to a primarily alpha audience? That would alienate most men and is simply bad business.

It's much more profitable to make movies that appeal to the other 80% (and obviously the alphas will still be able to relate.) This is how media fucks with us. There don't have to be conspirators in smoke-filled rooms for movies to consistently propagate an image of men as weak, pussy whipped betas. In many instances, doing so is just good business.

Furthermore, I'd argue that these movies do matter since they are targeted at teenagers who have nothing else to compare them to. They absolutely reinforce beta tendencies and purposefully exploit young men's insecurities (about sex, father figures, social status, etc.)

Finally, don't you think if you switched the protagonists described above with women, these movies would be considered outrageously sexist? Imagine a movie like Eurotrip in which a girl gets cheated on and then goes to a party where her ex gleefully sings a song describing his affair to raucous applause from the crowd. Then, she hops on the first plane to Germany to have sex with some guy she's never met. I don't think that movie would go over very well, but that's just a hunch.