Lights, Camera, Princeton!

For an undergraduate, Rockefeller dining hall is just another place to get a cheese sandwich, Blair Arch is just another venue for a capella groups and a courtyard is just another way to get from point A to point B. This is the Princeton of our day-today lives. But there is another Princeton: the one molded by Hollywood film scripts and carefully rendered by camera angles. As undergraduates, our Princeton experience seems complex and highly unique but outside the bubble, the American public is spoon-fed a very distilled vision of this university.

For better or for worse, these cinematic interpretations of Princeton often rely on and perpetuate archaic stereotypes of the institution and its student body. Even when a film attempts to explode myths, we are still acutely aware of the caricatures it has tried to dismantle.

One of the first major movies set on Princeton's campus was "Varsity," a 1927 flick that featured Paramount Pictures' golden couple, Mary Brian and Charles Rogers. The film focuses on the turbulent love affair between the collegiate Jimmy Duffy (Rogers) and a carnival girl named Fay (Brian), but the plot also portrays a campus infected by vice.

In one of the movie's pivotal moments, a group of criminals plot to get Jimmy drunk and steal the funds from the Community Chest account, similar to today's Trustees' Alcohol Initiative. According to a review from The Midway Theater in Martinsville, Va., the film provided "inside dope on speakeasy joints and carnival life, with a smearing of Princeton University." After the film's 1927 debut, with the end of prohibition still six years away, the Princeton administration was outraged by the portrayal and practiced more caution with the approval of future projects.

Today, each project goes through a fairly rigorous screening process: "We ask members of the motion picture industry to submit a brief synopsis of the project that includes plot and character summaries," said the director of communications, Lauren Robinson-Brown '85. "We also ask them to submit a script, or portions of the script pertaining to Princeton, when available."

A few years ago, the University rejected a script with the working title "Stealing Princeton." Soon after, the Tom Green and Jason Lee movie entitled "Stealing Harvard" was released. The film chronicled the efforts of John Plummer (Jason Lee) to steal enough money to pay for his niece's tuition at Harvard.

Other could-have-been projects include "Rounders" — the classic, cult gambling flick — which was denied permission in 1998 because "of the unfavorable light it might have cast on a Princeton club," according to a 1999 Princeton Alumni Weekly article by Steven Kellman.

Even with the extra red tape, however, Hollywood's portrayal of Princeton has been less than perfectly flattering and usually infused with derisive humor.

Since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise," and probably even long before, Princeton has been portrayed as an elite playground for the children of the privileged, a place where one can gain admittance with the right pedigree and upbringing. In movies such as "Young Philadelphians," admission to Princeton was depicted as a way to break into the top social tier of American society or, for those who already belonged, as a verification of membership. The stereotypical Princeton man was well-versed in gentleman's language and niceties but was not necessarily the most diligent student.

Hollywood had some fun casting Princeton undergraduates as the spoiled, pompous Amory Blaine type. Another modern incarnation of this Princeton stereotype, although one from the small screen, is Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro) of the "Fresh Prince," Will's conservative, bowtie obsessed cousin who dreams of attending his father's alma mater, Princeton.

The staunchly preppy Carlton is a money-obsessed youth, only slightly less obsessed with Barry Manilow than with bowties, who speaks with an upper-crust society accent. Like Blaine and other fictional Princeton characters, Carlton teeters between yearning to project an image of old world maturity and falling vulnerable to weak impulses: of Princeton, he says, "I will be accepted into that college because I am a responsible and mature adult!" But as he looks into a grocery bag, he squeals, "Oh, look! Fruity Pebbles."

In 2005's "Batman Begins," Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, grows up as the "prince of Gotham," living a life of luxury as heir to Wayne Industries and eventually attending Princeton. But his life of perfect privilege and comfort is punctured when his parents are killed in an alleyway mugging. Disturbed, the young Bruce matures but eventually comes to detest his comfortable trappings and the expectations that come with his name and wealth. At 20, Bruce becomes indifferent towards Princeton, another symbol of the pressures of his privileged lifestyle, and drops out of school for a wayward and criminal life in Asia.

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Even though, Carlton and Batman aside, the connection between Princeton and America's high society has slightly eroded over the decades, films continue to portray Princeton students as intellectual snobs.

In 2000's "The Beautiful Mind," the brilliant John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, is an antisocial genius. During his Princeton undergraduate years, Nash refuses to attend class on the grounds that he is simply too smart, and even dictates to a professor which assignments he will complete. "People don't like me much, and I don't like them," Crowe's character says.

In 2001's "Legally Blonde," one of Elle Wood's Harvard Law peers introduces himself succinctly: "I was first in my class at Princeton, I have an IQ of 187 and it's been suggested that Stephen Hawking stole his 'Brief History of Time' from my fourth grade paper."

According to Hollywood, Princeton not only attracts country club cardholders and brainy stuck-ups, but also a fair share of intellectual, "underdog" girls.

The 2004 movie "Spanglish" is a film about Cristina Moreno's (Shelbie Bruce) disjointed upbringing as a Mexican immigrant who moves to the United States with her mother Flor, told within the frame of the girl's Princeton application essay.

In Hilary Duff's teen flick, "A Cinderella Story," Duff plays Sam, a modern-day Cinderella who lives with a cruel stepmother. Sam's stepmother forces her to work long hours at a diner and shelters her from any social interaction outside of school. Oppressed at home and ridiculed at school —the other students call her "Diner Girl" — Sam's only wish is to escape her hometown and head to Princeton.

While visiting a chat room for people interested in Princeton, Sam meets a fascinating wordsmith who also happens to attend her school. Her secret paramour is actually Austin (Chad Michael Murray), a poetic aspiring writer who, unfortunately, happens to be a popular star football player. A series of unfortunate events and high school politics ensue but eventually we reach our inevitable happy ending: Sam and Austin live happily ever after as freshmen at Princeton.

But as undergraduates know, everything that is orange is not necessarily gold and the student body is not quite perfect. Uncouth behavior such as drinking to excess in "Varsity" or flatulence in 2004's "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" are usually inserted for shock value in films or to underscore the relatable humanity of America's elite — to show that they, too, are not immune to common vices or lowbrow humor.

In "Harold and Kumar," fictional undergraduates Clarissa and Christy are first depicted in the vintage Princeton stereotype model — wealthy, classy, put together, attractive and, just to underscore their ties to snooty traditions, from England.

But while Harold and Kumar are hiding in a bathroom, the girls enter and play "Battleshits," an impromptu competition that the boys witness in amazement. As Robert Ebert explained in his review, "at Princeton ... the students may be Ivy Leaguers but, like students everywhere, occasionally unwind with ear-shattering demonstrations of flatulence."

But the portrayal of Princeton in "Harold and Kumar" may be accidental. In a Pennsylvania Gazette interview with the writer, University of Pennsylvania alum Jon Hurwitz admitted, "In an ideal world, I would have liked to use Penn if it was an Ivy League School in New Jersey. We used Princeton because it actually is an Ivy League school in New Jersey."

Well, perhaps in that case the Princeton shout-out was just a matter of convenience. But then again, (as an ode to our elitist stereotype) when was the last time we heard "University of Pennsylvania" in a movie?