baltimoresun.com: "The Johns Hopkins University passed itself off as Harvard in a movie Monday without feeling the least bit flattered.
'It feels degrading somehow,' said Diego Ardila, 19, as he watched workers remove the words 'Latrobe Hall' from a stately brick building and replace them with 'Kirkland House.'"
10 comments:
Ok, this is silly. I can understand that maybe Hopkins feeling slightly miffed because they're pretending to be Harvard. But really? It just seems more like whining. The filmmakers are making a movie about the creator of Facebook who went to Harvard and not Hopkins. That is the school he went to, and Hopkins should take it as a compliment to the natural beauty and pleasant aesthetic of their campus,made them want to make the movie there.
Like Sonia, I think that this whole situation is somewhat ridiculous. There is obviously some hostility between the two schools who are often rivals in the college admission process. The students at Hopkins need to understand that, for the most part, movies are fake. And, yes I understand the symbolism and implications behind the producing company's choices, the reaction at Hopkins is out of proportion. The college should be happy that the company chose to produce their film on campus, it will definitely give the students important opportunities to work with and meet with important people in the film industry.
Agreeing with Sonia and Chris, there isn't much of a valid argument to be made here that Hopkins was a second choice. The article made things pretty clear that Harvard doesn't allow commercial filming and therefore the producers needed to find somewhere else to shoot. This is good press and PR for Hopkins as I'm sure it garnered lots of local media attention and Hopkins will be credited in the movie as a site location. Movies, especially ones set in major cities, rarely shoot in the area they are representing due to financial and logistical difficulties. Students arguing that this movie is degrading to Towson should realize that every other movie they watch would be equally as degrading to somewhere else.
i understand that the Hopkins kids are upset that they are "conforming" to the movie to become harvard. And frankly i would be surprised if they didnt try to sneak past the set with their school pride in sweatshirts etc. I think its good for them to try and take more pride in their school. Also, schools are weird about this sort of thing. I know in the negotions of Smart People, CMU made them use the name Carnegie Mellon for Dennis Quaid's school, not just the property. And when we watched it in McConnomy, people got upset that his office, was really in Doherty, not PH/BH like English should be etc. People take pride in their school, and I see nothing wrong with that.
ALso, didn't Harvard let the Great Debaters film there? why not this movie....? It probs puts them in a bad light.
I think that this article is pretty much fluff because it addresses a pretty minute problem that very few problems are facing. It's very likely that if these students did in fact get into Harvard, they would be upset that the filming was happening at Hopkins and not at Harvard. This is the group of people who like to complain about anything that they can. I personally think that it says a lot about the school if the film producers think the students and the campus can pass for Harvard, even if only visually.
I can definitely see how this would be degrading to the students at Hopkins. However, because of the nature of the story, it is essential to the story that it take place at Harvard. If however, it had been a choice of fiction that it take place at Harvard, then I could see it getting more degrading. As of now, though, it doesn't seem like they are doing that because Harvard is "better" than Hopkins but, because he story historically took place at Harvard.
This seems like a crazy thing to be disappointed about. While I understand that someone wouldn't want there school to be shown as a different school, isn't it still nice to be chosen for a film shoot? I love that the Hopkins students are trying to get there sweatshirts and such into the filming. It should make for an interesting movie if any of the sweatshirts make it into the Harvard movie.
I totally agree with Katherine, it would be an honor just to be told your school looks good enough to be in a movie. Who cares if it isn't going to be called your school. They do this all the time in movies. The three movies that are shooting here now will probably pretend to take place else where. It's just nice to be considered up to par. Trying to sabotage the film is immature and idiotic. They are paying to use the space and are creating possible opportunities for students in production type majors. The administration should issue a statement or something discouraging this type of behavior because it makes them look very bad.
I'm all for school pride, but this is a bit absurd. There is nothing wrong with being a shooting location for another school. I wonder, if the school that Hopkins was representing was lower on the totem pole of ivy league schools, would they still be so upset? Shooting at Hopkins isn't an intended slight--it's a compliment to the school's aesthetics! I completely agree with what the commenter before me have said; this is silly. And purposefully trying to subversively sabotage the movie by walking through in their Hopkins sweatshirts is pretty immature.
First of all, I can't believe they're making a movie about the creation of Facebook! Anyway, I think that it's totally normal for things to be filmed somewhere other than where they actually take place, and I think that the Hopkins students need to realize this. I would be excited if there was a filming going on here, not angry. This rivalry seems pretty dumb to me. Everyone knows that Hopkins is an amazing university, and I think that the students just need to get over their feelings of lesserness.
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