Let’s hear it for the dorky dorks!

A tale of Sydney White (and her tiny correlation to Obama – yup, that famous Barrack Obama)

I recently watched this film, Sydney White, in which the DVD I borrowed from a friend. The story is pretty simple, but somewhat touching and from what I think, has something to do with real life. It’s a story about Sydney (first and nick name) White (family name) – starred by Amanda Bynes, a stereotypic-white-middle-class-American-Anglo-Saxon girl who leaves her hometown and goes to college. She lost her mother (because of some illness) when she was nine and was raised by her father and his colleagues. Her father is a plumber (in which, not very much of an elite profession) and the film shows how Sydney bonds closely to her father and his world – she helps him fixing houses before she enters college.

She goes to the same college as her mom, and as her mom expected her to (before she died), she tries to enter the same sorority house, Kappa Phi Nu. Well, it seems that this house consists of a bunch of blond-haired women with slightly conservative attitude (in which many times are also portrayed as ‘the mean girls’ type by Hollywood movies). So you know, despite her name (White), Sydney actually is not a blonde herself, but more of a brunette.

During her orientation days in Kappa Phi Nu, Sydney (finally) meets her match, Rachel Witchburn, a stereotypic-slender-mean-white-blond-upper-middle-class woman who apparently is the current President of the sorority. After knowing that she doesn’t fit in the sorority’s ‘high standard’ (in which Rachel ‘unleashes’ the truth that Sydney’s father actually is not a developer as the other Kappa members think, but rather just a poor underclass construction worker), Rachel kicks her out from the sorority house. This leads to Sydney’s bond to a group of outcasts in a fraternity-like place called Vortex.

Opposite to what Kappa is, Vortex is a bunch of seven geeks, who consider themselves outsiders, or in short, as the film explains it, ‘a haven for people who don’t have anywhere to go’. They live in an old building in which for the sake of the Greek Houses’ extension plan, is about to be demolished. With no surprise at all, the plan is coordinated and led by Rachel. Thinking that the act is an offense against the people in which Sydney live with, she stands against Rachel and starts to take an action.

After some plans on registering the Vortex geeks for the student council as members of an opposition party – they call themselves with Freedom to the 7^th Power party (against the one and only the Greek party led by Rachel), Sydney finally decides to join the election as the student council president. Well, the idea of this ‘uncool’ opposition really does interest me, especially on how they conduct the campaign. One interesting scene is when Dr. Carlton, a professor in a Political Science class, mentions about the mechanics of modern campaigning. In 1960’s, J. F. Kennedy won the election despite being an outsider to the system (he is a Catholic), because he reached out to other outsiders (like himself); those including minorities, women, and the poor.

So that’s what Sydney does in the film. She meets all these people in the college. First, Pacific islanders association, and then the student army, Hebrew students association, student’s marching band, and last but not least, the gay, lesbian, transgender society. And finally, in the debate, when Sydney thinks she is about to lose support from the audience (as Rachel pops it out, “It’s just you and your dorks.”), some gothic dudes come from inside the library building with a bunch of marching bands, all with Freedom to the 7^th Power’s posters while yelling, “Go Sydney!”. And so the Hebrews, the student army, gays, and other anonymous students come out from all sides.

And this was her speech: “We all feel like outsiders, we do think and feel things that are bizarre and unconventional and dorky. We’re all dorks. My name is Sydney White. My dad’s a plumber. I collect comic books and I’m secretly terrified of balloon animals. I’m a dork.” And then the scene continues.. Some students proudly confess about how dork they are and show how they are proud of it.

And you know what? Maybe this what happens to Obama too? That fact that the rest of USA (or even the rest of the world) is not is not Anglo Saxon, but outsiders, just like him. Perhaps this is why all people around the world cheered for his victory with glee and great delights. And perhaps that what happens to Afro American celebrities who have supported him, and why Obama had to be in the RollingStone magazine 's highlights.

But the thing is, despite how dork she might be, in the story, Sydney still gets the chance to date an inherently ‘insider’, Tyler Prince, who currently is the President of the Beta house. Is this coincidence? And I begin to question, so is (this film about) the new ‘white’? A brunette girl with ‘White’ family name? And just so to relate this to the current issue, another question appears: is Obama a new white? Hm.. shall we see in the next year to come!

Well, sorry if this post bored you. But this is probably the most serious stuff I’ve ever written in this blog. So thanks for reading. HAHA! :D