{"id":13829,"date":"2018-10-02T21:45:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T21:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=13829"},"modified":"2018-10-02T21:45:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T21:45:48","slug":"brett-kavanaugh-goes-to-the-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/brett-kavanaugh-goes-to-the-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett Kavanaugh goes to the movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marsha Gordon<\/a>, North Carolina State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a film studies professor, so when I first saw an image of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s June 1982 calendar<\/a>, I immediately noticed his movie plans.<\/p>\n

In between exams, a beach trip, basketball camp and workouts, Kavanaugh, like millions of other Americans that year, went to the movies. In fact, 1982 was, at the time, Hollywood\u2019s most lucrative year at the box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In June alone, Kavanaugh scheduled three trips to the movies: \u201cRocky III<\/a>\u201d on June 13, \u201cGrease 2<\/a>\u201d on June 16 and, on June 26, \u201cPoltergeist<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n In June 1982, Brett Kavanuagh had three movies penciled into his calendar: \u2018Rocky III,\u2019 \u2018Grease 2\u2019 and \u2018Poltergeist.\u2019<\/span>
\n Provided by Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate Judiciary Committee<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kavanaugh\u2019s teenage moviegoing may not have been particularly noteworthy had he not invoked three films during his Sept. 27 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. <\/p>\n

Asked to decipher some cryptic allusions on his yearbook page, Kavanaugh referenced the popular comedies as a form of justification. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor one thing, our yearbook was a disaster,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI think some editors and students wanted the yearbook to be some combination of \u2018Animal House,\u2019 Caddyshack\u2019 and \u2018Fast Times at Ridgemont High,\u2019 which were all recent movies at that time. Many of us went along in the yearbook to the point of absurdity. This past week, my friends and I have cringed when we read about it and talked to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could the young men Kavanaugh encountered on screen, many of whom behaved badly but were also relatable \u2013 even popular \u2013 help us to understand the male culture of his adolescence?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the \u2018score\u2019<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m not the only one asking these questions about the role 1980s movies played in Kavanaugh\u2019s high school years. <\/p>\n

Writing for The New York Times, Ginia Bellafante recently explored<\/a> Tom Cruise\u2019s 1983 hit, \u201cRisky Business,\u201d as a film that celebrates male mediocrity at the expense of female weakness. Vox\u2019s Constance Grady has written about the way that date rape is innocuously and humorously depicted<\/a> in John Hughes\u2019 hugely popular \u201cSixteen Candles<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the 1980s, the teen coming-of-age flick was almost a genre of its own. \u201cFast Times at Ridgemont High,\u201d \u201cBack to the Future,\u201d \u201cRisky Business,\u201d \u201cSixteen Candles,\u201d \u201cPretty in Pink\u201d and \u201cFerris Bueller\u2019s Day Off\u201d are probably the most well known today. <\/p>\n

But there were many others, including \u201cValley Girl,\u201d \u201cSome Kind of Wonderful,\u201d \u201cWeird Science,\u201d \u201cBetter Off Dead,\u201d \u201cClass,\u201d \u201cThe Last American Virgin,\u201d \u201cThree O\u2019Clock High,\u201d \u201cZapped!\u201d and \u201cSay Anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also \u201cGrease 2,\u201d which makes an appearance on Kavanaugh\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n

Capitalizing on the success of its tremendously popular predecessor, 1978\u2019s \u201cGrease,\u201d \u201cGrease 2\u201d takes place at Rydell High School in 1961.<\/p>\n

Although \u201cGrease 2\u201d was nowhere near the box office success of the films Kavanaugh mentioned during his testimony, it\u2019s worth exploring precisely because it is so typical, especially in the way it depicts the sort of male high school behavior that\u2019s being scrutinized today.<\/p>\n

The movie focuses on the two most popular social cliques at Rydell: the T-Birds, who are leather jacket-clad, preening greasers, and their satin-jacket-wearing female counterparts, the Pink Ladies, who, per their rules, are only allowed to date T-Birds. <\/p>\n

Like so many teen boys of other 1980s movies, the T-Birds seem to be able to get away with anything. They make brazen innuendos in front of their hypersexualized teacher, Miss Mason; bully their way into winning the talent show; and pay for the new kid at school to write their papers.<\/p>\n

The musical numbers that weave through \u201cGrease 2\u201d are laden with sexual innuendo. With its bowling alley setting, the T-Bird\u2019s number \u201cScore Tonight\u201d lays out the most obvious of the film\u2019s relentless double entendres. <\/p>\n

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