The Hunting Ground

              My choice for the final blog post will be the movie The Hunting Ground. I watched it for the first time a few months ago and I was in shock afterwards. The Hunting Ground is a two-hour documentary that addresses the issue of rape on college campuses. It includes interviews with multiple people of both genders that have experienced rape on college campus; it tells their story and experience with the college after the rape. It also includes statistics and actions taken after these horrendous occasions. The movie was released February 27^th in the year 2015. It has gotten a range of reviews. People either praise the movie for speaking up on the situation, or discourage it for its claims against big name colleges. The big name colleges include the Ivy League schools, Georgetown, University of Chicago, and many other top ranking schools in the United States. The Hunting Ground speaks of how rape is not punished even though it is brought to the attention of the college. Rape is a crime, but colleges choose not to do anything to protect their reputation. Through this documentary, it is revealed that college students who are rapists are not punished at all for the injustice they have committed towards someone else.

            The first theme of the film is hiding the truth. There is a scene with statistics of rapes reported, and punishments taken regarding those rapes. In most, almost nothing was done. Then they showed Honors students who broke something in the contract, and they were expelled. This blatantly shows how colleges and universities do not take rape seriously. Also, with the many interviews and confessions, it shows how this has happened many times but no one seems to know about it. Even I didn’t know. Colleges promote their safe campus by hiding their facts about rape or just do not acknowledge it. The facts are out there, but college is a big industry compared to a single student. If they do not want something to be known, they have all the power to hide that information. The second theme is the power of unity. Individually these stories are told, but no action is taken. When groups were made to protest college rape and news was spreading, it became a problem that was known on campus. When groups went after colleges more action was taken to punish rapists, but they still let them attend their schools. In my opinion this documentary shows all these stories and situations in one well-organized piece. This documentary is powerful enough to change the way colleges address rape. One story was not enough, but how about a thousand stories. That is when the change happens.

            This documentary is beautiful to me because it is going against the system. It is so strong! This film is exposing the truths about the corruption of colleges and universities all throughout the United States. I admire the courage and confidence the filmmakers had in making this movie. It is for the good of others. This film can literally save people from being raped. It teaches safety and hopefully will make colleges take action against the rapist. If colleges do this, then rape will be discouraged and happen less on college campus. The Hunting Ground basically tells the story of the underdog, and I am a total supporter of the underdog. Being the emotional person I am, I was angered while I was watching this movie. How could nothing be done to known rapists? Why are college athletes protected against the system? Everything is so messed up. I think that when things are so obviously wrong but nothing is done to change it, it is disgusting. This movie calls out all the imperfections. It makes me so happy that something dishonorable is being acknowledged for the first time. The justice of the film is so beautiful because it results in more happiness and safety of many people who are in college.