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''"Question the knowledge."''
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As the story progresses, three lives gradually come to be changed forever. Malik becomes more and more disillusioned with the supposed promise offered by higher education, while Kristen and Remy are both radically transformed by their sometimes traumatic and always bewildering experiences.
Also features rapper [[Ice Cube]] as the charismatic Fudge, and Jennifer Connelly as the feminist Taryn.
{{tropelist}}
* [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]]: About the only two scenes that people tend to remember about this movie (assuming they remember ''anything'' about it) are {{spoiler|Kristen}} and {{spoiler|Taryn}} kissing on top of {{spoiler|Taryn's}} bed (because, [[Every One Remembers the Stripper|well....)]] and {{spoiler|Remy}} crouched on the roof of a campus building clutching a sniper rifle (because [[Weird Al Effect|the scene was parodied]] in ''[[Don't Be a Menace
* [[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.
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* [[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.
* [[Cry for
* [[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.
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: For such a ne'er-do-well, Fudge sure is enamored with black literature.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]] / [[Retroactive Recognition]]:
** [[Saving Private Ryan|Stanley Mellish]] is Remy's roommate.
** [[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
** [[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.
* [[Kick the Son of
* [[Narm]]
** The montage alternating between Kristen and Remy decorating their dorm rooms (to two radically different styles of music) is slightly wacky.
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* [[Something Completely Different]]: In this film, we are presented with something not seen in a mainstream American film since ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' 80 years earlier: white-supremacist characters who are actually relatable and semi-sympathetic (though without the blatant hero-worship of D. W. Griffith's film, of course). We get a definite sense of what prompted {{spoiler|Remy's}} [[Face Heel Turn]] and why he would think himself [[Knight Templar|justified in his attitudes and actions]]. (It could even be argued that this film helped to set the stage for ''[[American History X]]'' three years later, in which the skinhead is actually ''redeemed''.)
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: When Remy is introduced he is seen hanging up posters of heavy metal bands like Danzig, while political, multi-racial Rage Against the Machine plays in the background. Later after his {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn]] he's still seen playing their music, despite that half of the band is non-white.}}
* [[Split
* [[Straw Feminist]]: Averted with Taryn, and with Kristen as well (except in the [[Innocent Bigot]] example above). Some of their followers, however, ''do'' fit the mold - including one who apparently wants to [[He Who Fights Monsters|see rapists lynched]].
* [[Strawman U]]: Columbus actually doesn't start out as this (being a fairly typical California college campus, even with some ''[[Animal House]]''-type mischief), but becomes increasingly so as tensions escalate.
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* [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinx]]: During rush week.
* [[What Might Have Been]]:
** [[Leonardo
** [[Drew Barrymore]] was almost cast as Kristen, but appeared in ''Boys On The Side'', ''Mad Love'', and ''[[
* [[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).
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[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Higher Learning]]
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