Did You Have The "Crazy" Roommate?

As I was looking at a list of movies to watch and reflect on for my first NSO blog post, I was thinking that I would either choose a comedy or a chick film, where I thought the college experience was most exemplified in today’s pop culture. But instead, I came upon a peculiar choice—the horror psycho film, The Roommate. This thriller actually came out in 2011, and since it was recent enough to reflect today’s college experience, and a film I never saw before, I decided to use this for my reflection.

            To sum up the plot, Sara, the protagonist, is starting her freshmen year in college, and through an unfortunate series of events, ends up with a schizophrenic and bipolar roommate named Rebecca who murders a number of people in her life. In the end, Sara kills Rebecca for her safety and her own survival.

            Essentially, I thought the movie was decent in terms of the plot and character development, but I definitely found a number of themes and character experiences I could relate to the first-year college experience. To begin with, there is the love interest, Stephen, who is a kind, good-looking guy—someone different and attractive to Sara. Our protagonist is actually coming out of another relationship with a guy named Jason who constantly calls her asking for her forgiveness. This shows how during the transition from high school to college, people are some times stuck between those who were apart of one stage of their lives and those apart of the new stage. This new stage, college, is enticing and fascinating for Sara, because for her, and for many first year college students, college is an adventure, the beginning of their independence and adulthood, and an opportunity to let go of the burdens of the past. This increased Stephen and Sara’s attraction towards each other, and through this chemistry and surviving this crazy turn of events together, they end up with each other at the end.

            Another huge part of the college experience is bringing with you the events of the past that you hold close to your heart, and trying to find the balance to make that event or person stay with you in the present. For Sara, the person she held most dear to her heart was her sister who passed away when Sara was just 9 years old. And to this day, she still remembers her and memorializes her through her name, Emily, tattooed on her body. To help her handle this, she turns to her friends, and most of all, her new “understanding” roommate. Every college student has a story, a story they want to share with others they can trust and confide in. And Rebecca starts off personifying this type of character—the roommate who is always there for her and acts as a reliable support system. For the first-year college student, it could be an old friend who decided to go to the same school, a new friend he or she just met, a guidance counselor or professor, an RA, or one of the first Rutgers faces they encounter, an Orientation Leader. For Sara, it was in her new love interest and her roommate where she found comfort (that is, until Rebecca's condition worsened), and for the new student coming into Rutgers, or any college, it could be you, the Orientation Leader. Unfortunately for Sara, her newfound companionship and support transformed into psychotic admiration and desire.

            This leads to the strongest theme of all in the film: the relationship between roommates. What Sara and Rebecca’s relationship exhibited was that people who, in our minds, are kind and welcoming in the beginning are the people you learn to trust and stick with. They become the people you don’t mind asking to come out and get dinner with, or go meet other students with in a social event or program. And when that go-to person is found in college, we find a sense of comfort.

You could be that comfort for somebody.
           From the exterior, Rebecca was that person, a kind and caring student who just wanted a close friend—something we all look for during new phases of our lives—but unfortunately, in reality, she had a psychiatric illness which required care and medication. Essentially, it is this struggle to find belonging on college campuses, the pressures to fit in, and balance we hope to find between academic life and a social life, that some times makes us go a little crazy, illness or not.

From sister figure to psycho roommate--

even the trailer highlights this transition!