These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Animal House
And You Thought It Would Fail: Animal House was the ambitious foray of the National Lampoon magazine into silver-screen entertainment. Universal execs politely allowed the filmmakers to go wild in their own special way, quietly hoping Animal House wouldn't damage the company's checkbooks. Donald Sutherland famously chose several thousand dollars in payment over a percentage of the box-office gross, expecting the film wouldn't sell. However, Animal House 's charmingly dark and hard-hitting observations on college life, as well as its undeniably quirky brand of vulgar humor, was so refreshing to moviegoers in the late 70s that the film recouped its $2 million budget 50 times over. Donald Sutherland, as you might imagine, was not pleased.
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment: John Belushi partied as hard in real life as Bluto did here. It killed him.
Memetic Mutation: "Assume the position!" "Thank you sir, may I have another!"
Also, the iconic image of John Belushi in the "COLLEGE" sweatshirt. If you went to college, you saw the poster on someone's wall. Guaranteed.
If you go to THE Ohio State University, it's on the wall of the President's office. Sending what message, I don't exactly know.
Don't forget those toga parties.
Nor should we forget "You're all worthless and weak! Now drop and give me twenty!"
Heck, you could say that about the entire Neidermeyer character. He's appeared in two Twisted Sister videos, was mentioned in the Twilight Zone movie, and has a trope named after him. Specifically...
"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
Moral Event Horizon: For Niedermeyer, it's when he tries to shoot Flounder with a high-powered rifle.
Seinfeld Is Unfunny: This film was to Comedy what Jaws and Star Wars were to Blockbusters. So many of its tropes (The idiotic but loveable protagonists, the strict authoritarian villains, the final scene where the slobs beat the snobs) have been used so many times its impossible to see it the way audiences in 1978 saw it. Even worse is that its copiers haven't managed to be anywhere near as witty or talented, leading Animal House to be unfairly lumped in with its unorifinal, unfunny counterparts.
