Higher Learning: Difference between revisions

''"Question the knowledge."''

 

Also features rapper Ice Cube as the charismatic Fudge, and Jennifer Connelly as the feminist Taryn.

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* [[Anger Montage]]: Remy trashing his dorm room after Malik calls him names.

* Anvilicious: During the "Take Back the Night" rally, a woman in the crowd holds a sign that reads [[Captain Obvious|"Rape is A Crime"]]. That said it's more nuanced than most films of its day when it comes to addressing racism and sexism.

* [[But Not Too Gay]]: {{spoiler|Kristen}} and {{spoiler|Taryn}} are barely even allowed to kiss onscreen.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: When Remy finally snaps and pulls a gun on both Malik and a Jewish student.

* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|Remy and Deja are dead, Kristen's dream of bringing peace to the campus has been cruelly shattered, and Malik decides he's had enough and decides to drop out of school.}}

* [[Everything Is Racist]]: Both Malik and Remy come to view the world through this lens.

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]] / [[Retroactive Recognition]]:

** [[Saving Private Ryan|Stanley Mellish]] is Remy's roommate.

** [[Billy Madison|Veronica Vaughn]] is the [[Alpha Bitch]] who befriends Kristen.

* [[Innocent Bigot]]: Kristen. Having grown up in a community with scarcely any black people, she at first thinks of Malik as a [[Scary Black Man]] (which he eventually becomes later in the film, but that's another matter) and becomes visibly afraid when he gets on an elevator with her. (Malik just contemptuously rolls his eyes.) And even after embracing student activism, Kristen still comes off as prejudiced when she tells a sympathetic male character that [[Double Standard|he can't join a non-sexist student group because....well, because he's a man]] (i.e., men are naturally sexist). (He [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls her out on her hypocrisy]], though, and she realizes her mistake.)

* [[Jerk Jock]]: Deconstructed. Much of Malik's swaggering attitude stems from feelings of inadequacy, which in turn can be traced both to his being awarded only a ''partial'' scholarship to Columbus and to the other athletes on the track team, who resent him for the supposed pampering he received from his coaches in high school.

* [[Narm]]

** The montage alternating between Kristen and Remy decorating their dorm rooms (to two radically different styles of music) is slightly wacky.

* [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinx]]: During rush week.

* [[What Might Have Been]]:

* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]]: Desperate to fit in with the [[Dumb Blonde]] girls who befriend her, [[Brainy Brunette|Kristen]] dyes her hair as blonde as possible on the night of the rush party. This causes the hair to appear such a pale cream color that it is almost white. After {{spoiler|she is raped}} and breaks off her friendship with the older girls, Kristen's hair reverts to its natural brown color.

* [[White Mask of Doom]]: The skinheads hide behind grotesque theatrical masks that resemble skulls while assaulting an interracial couple (justified, since it's Halloween).

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Higher Learning]]