Julianne Mariette Leitch Delos Santos

BS Psychology - 2
PSY 14 - YC

A Movie Review on School Ties (1992)

David Greene (Brendan Fraser) hid who he was because at the start of the film, he was
told by his father something along the lines of “only tell them what they need to know,
insinuating that he should keep some details about himself a secret. Despite his father not
directly saying it, David got the hint that his father was talking about his religion and further
confirmed his suspicion after witnessing his friends make discriminatory statements and jokes
about Jewish people. David was obviously torn, but he still tried his best to fit in with the group.
This is probably because he didn’t want to be treated differently, to be the odd one out. David
was also aware of the influences of the people he was with, especially Charlie Dillon (Matt
Damon) who was from an upper class family. In the time setting that this film was written in
(1959), there was an unparalleled surge of overt anti-Semitic attacks transpired across. The US
was the birthplace of swastika paintings, anti-Semitic ad displays, and physical assaults on
Jewish individuals and property (Ehrlich, 1962), this film was just one way of showing how
apparent the discrimination against Jews was. The desire to conform to the majority is very
common in the real world because of our fear of being different, due to the shame and hate we
might get from it.

Even though David tried his best to conform, I don’t think he lost his sense of self. I
believe it strengthened his sense of self, actually. He was never ashamed of who he was, and
didn’t let his peers dictate his decisions and actions. When his religion was revealed and
everyone was hating on him, he refused to be pushed around and even went as far as
challenging the bullies that put up a swastika logo in his room to a fight, to which obviously no
one admitted to doing. When asked by his roommate why David never said anything about
being Jewish, he only said that it was because no one asked, which makes a lot of sense
because as much as he didn’t want to hide who he was, he also didn’t see the point in parading
it as well. To me, groups can either promote or hinder good and bad decisions because again,
we have this desire to fit in and be liked by the people around us, but not everyone would go to
such lengths to achieve that because we also have our own morals and principles that may
overpower this desire and allow us to be in control of the things we do.

One thing that breeds prejudice is again, our fear of being different, the need to abide by
social norms. As seen in the movie, David’s friends accepted him initially and even bonded with
him. This all changed when Charlie revealed his religion. Like a switch, they all started treating
him badly, instantly losing any trace of brotherhood or even respect for David. Another example
is Sally Wheeler (Amy Locane), even after going as far as basically admitting that she had deep
feelings for David, she suddenly had a change of heart after finding out that David was Jewish,
even acting embarrassed and disgusted to be seen with him. She tried to justify her prejudice by
saying that David hurt her by lying to her and all sorts of stuff just to make herself believe that
her actions were valid even though she almost gave in when David tried to kiss her, showing
that despite her attempt to push David away because of her prejudice, she knew deep down
that she still wanted to be with him. This is a good example of how far people can go just to
conform to social norms, even if it is not what they truly want. Thankfully, I’ve had a different
experience with my friends. We all come from very different backgrounds, religions, and
upbringing. Despite these differences, we truly respect and support each other, we even try to
learn and experience these differences because we believe that it helps us understand each
other more. Of course, there are jokes here and there, but we always make sure that we are not
overstepping each other’s boundaries because I am telling you, these people are not afraid to
call each other out when one of us does something bad. We are very different people with
unique personalities, but we have a common ground which is the respect and genuine love that
we have for each other.

School Ties was honestly quite a ride to watch. It made me feel all sorts of emotions,
ranging from kilig to pure annoyance (I’m looking at you Sally and Charlie). I even got a bit
emotional seeing how quick people were to drop and shame David just because he was Jewish,
forgetting the bond they previously shared. Another scene that got me was when one of his
friends, McGivern (Andrew Lowery), had a nervous breakdown after being ridiculed by their
professor. I remember witnessing a similar situation that happened to my friend in high school,
he had a speech impediment which causes him to stutter a lot, especially when he’s nervous.
During recitations, our teacher would make fun of his stutters and would force him to remain
standing for the duration of the class. This happened in every class of that subject. It came to a
point where my classmate just dropped out of high school because he couldn’t bear to face that
teacher again. This film helped me realize how much social influence affects everyone’s
perception and behavior towards a person. It’s sad how some people would go to such awful
lengths just to fit in, not caring about the effect it has on others.

References:

Anti-Defamation League. “Antisemitism Uncovered: Antisemitism in American History.”

Antisemitism Uncovered, 2023,

antisemitism.adl.org/antisemitism-in-american-history/.

Ehrlich, Howard J. “The Swastika Epidemic of 1959-1960: Anti-Semitism and

Community Characteristics.” Social Problems, vol. 9, no. 3, Jan. 1962, pp.

264–272, https://doi.org/10.2307/799237. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Pew Research Center. “Anti-Semitism and Jewish Views on Discrimination.” Pew

Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 11 May 2021,

www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/anti-semitism-and-jewish-views-on-dis

crimination/.