July 17, 2011

1999–2000

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1999–2000

Coming Soon
This was a teen sex comedy positioned as a more intelligent American Pie that played in one theater for one week. A major plotline follows a number of Manhattan prep-school girls applying to college. Here, one young woman gets news she doesn’t like; a contrary view, to be sure!




Suits
Another small indie film, but noteworthy here for being the first time Vassar is a character point for a gay man. (There’s one in the Law & Order group, but the specific episode was after this.)



If You Believe
A TV movie about a woman who gets a bump on the head and goes back in time to meet her younger, more carefree and not-embittered self. This first of the two references is from the movie’s first sequence, where we see the lead character at the Christmas dinner table at different ages.  Later, her seven-year-old self cheers her on and references some of her life's high points. Ultimately, just another character point for a smart, ambitious and career-minded woman.



NYPD Blue
All these police procedural shows seem to bring in a Vassar character at some point.  Our
Vassar character is writing an article for an art magazine and has some information about the disappearance of the dealer who is the subject of her article.



Ghost Stories
Vassar even makes it into anime. Well, at least, into the English rewrite of the second episode of Gakkō no Kaidan, based on a book series by Toru Tsunemitsu. The show is about a girl who returns to the hometown of her deceased mother, to find an abandoned school stuffed full of ghosts who used to haunt the school and the town. They’re now being released due to the nearby urbanization.  Our heroine’s not a Vassar student but it sounds like she wants to be; a character point for a determined, ambitious young woman.
Thanks to Alex DelPriore ’13 for this fun catch.

Miss Congeniality
In this light comedy, Ben Bratt is trying to impress Sandra Bullock with his sexual prowess and his very young Vassar-student girlfriend.  Bullock is a smart, tough FBI agent with no feminine side (at this point in the movie). It’s an unusual choice to make Vassar a character point for a ditz.
Thanks to Miriam Vega for the tip.

Party of Five
A popular teen drama about five children orphaned when their parents are killed. In this scene late in the run, the youngest member of the family struggles with whether to sleep with her boyfriend; she’s also preoccupied about college options.



American Psycho (deleted scene)
For this period, it’s unusual to see Vassar as a character point for a white-glove, prudish, debutante.  A deleted scene on the DVD, the movie follows a young investment banker who also murders people for fun after dark.
Thanks to Laura Berlin Zipfel for the tip.

Undressed
This was an MTV late-night soap opera with plotlines around sex. The show would follow a handful of characters for a few episodes and then leave them forever—essentially a series of vignettes. The arc of Max & Cassidy is of interest here as Cassidy is a spoiled prom queen who wants to go to Vassar to stay with Max, who seems to have already been accepted. She is the villain of the arc, ultimately; a mean girl who tries to play a power game with Max and ends up losing.



Continue to:
Page One: 1926-1944
Page Two: 1945-1954
Page Three: 1955-1964
Page Four: 1965-1967
Page Five: 1968-1976
Page Six: 1977-1983
Page Seven: 1984-1987
Page Eight: 1988-1990
Page Nine: 1991-1995
Page Ten: 1996-1998
Page Twelve: 2001
Page Thirteen: 2002-2003
Page Fourteen: 2004-2005
Page Fifteen: 2006-2008
Page Sixteen: 2009-2010
Page Seventeen: 2011-2013
Page Eighteen: 2014-2016
Page Nineteen: 2017-2019
Page Twenty: 2020-

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