On Feb. 8, the brothers of the Hopkins chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity posted a parody of The Wolf of Wall Street trailer on Vimeo.com, a video sharing website. Within hours, it had been picked up by other sites, such as TotalFratMove.com, where it was proclaimed to be “so damn good” and given “two thumbs way up.”
Since then, it has gone viral, reportedly making it across the Atlantic to viewers in Europe. Senior Holly Clarke, who was featured as an actress in the spoof, confirmed its far-reaching popularity.
“Even my cousins who live in England saw it,” she said.
The short film was an idea conceived by senior Michael Nakan, a former president of the University’s Maryland Alpha Chapter of Phi Psi. Nakan also filmed, produced and edited the work. The script, however, was written in collaboration with several others. The fraternity brothers who created the film began filming over the University’s Intersession period. Within weeks, the crew had produced the complete project.
Some viewers have reacted positively, including those at Hopkins who are happy to add another dimension to the school’s academic reputation.
“I was impressed by the cinematography of the video and by [its] popularity; it definitely makes Hopkins look less nerdy to the rest of the world,“ junior Nicole Babaknia said.
Likewise, junior Harmeet Dhingra highly appreciated the light in which the video has cast Hopkins.
“I thought it was a good depiction of the fun side of Hopkins, [showing] that not everyone here is a nerd,” he said.
Hopkins administrators have not reacted in the same enthusiastic manner. Greek Life Program Coordinator Rachel Drennen expressed her disappointment with the video and the reaction it has received at the school.
“If this is what the Hopkins student population values about fraternities and sororities, then we have a lot of work to do to change the culture,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Current President of Phi Psi Ryan Poholek felt quite differently toward the trailer.
“We are all very excited. It’s not every day your fraternity goes viral,” he wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I think. . .people will be paying more attention to Phi Psi moving forward,” he said.
Drennen elaborated on her distress, expressing that she considers the video to have been created explicitly for rush week, in which case the “Wolf of Phi Psi” trailer would have violated previously laid-out rules of the rush period.
“I wish our community would celebrate videos which were executed in good taste with no references to alcohol and promoted organizational values,” she wrote. “It is highly disappointing to me that Phi Kappa Psi understood the stipulations for creating a recruitment video. . .and then blatantly disregarded the [rules].”
Poholek denied the film’s association with rush.
“It was simply a labor of love,” he wrote. “We never intended to paint Greek Life negatively and hope all viewers realize that the video is paradoxical and is not an accurate depiction of our chapter or Greek Life as a whole.”
Despite the administration’s unfavorable reaction, Phi Psi is excited about the trailer’s popularity.
“To quote Dick Mackleroy [the video’s protagonist], ‘We’re making a name for ourselves’,” Poholek wrote.
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