Burning Sands

Molly McGrady

            I decided to check out a Netflix original movie for this weeks blog post because somehow I actually had a little extra time! I asked a girl that I work with if she had a favorite or any suggestions and she told me to watch Burning Sands, so I went for it. She told me it was about fraternity hazing, so it seemed pretty interesting to me and it’s a very prevalent issue in American society today. The biggest takeaway from this movie is that a college freshman going through a fraternity rush died in the process, and it was a very sad and messed up film to watch.

            This movie is pretty much what you would think of when you hear a movie is about fraternity hazing. It follows a group of five college freshmen rushing Lambda Lambda Phi, an African American fraternity with a strong history. All five of them have a father, brother, or grandfather who were members of the fraternity in college and have been instilled the task of keeping up the family tradition. They go through countless humiliating and painful circumstances over their pledge season in order to become a part of this fraternity. The main character, Zurich, even fractures a couple of ribs and loses his girlfriend in the process and continues to go through this to get to be a part of the brotherhood. At one point he even goes to the dean of the university, also a former fraternity brother, to seek refuge and get advice on how to quit or change the process of all of it and make it safer for the pledges. What he gets in return is shocking and terrifying, not what you would at all expect; the Dean yells at him to get up and recite the fraternity’s motto and then tells him he needs to suck it up and get through it for brotherhood. In the end however, on the last night of the boy’s hell week, one of them is beaten to the point of death. The older fraternity members simply leave him with the other pledges and run away to try and not let anything that happened be traced to them. The boys try to get him to the hospital in time, but they are too late.

            I don’t think that anyone would argue that what happened in this movie is extremely tragic and things like this should never occur. I’d like to talk about it in a little different light, however. I think a lot of people see things like this and wonder why on earth anyone in their right mind would go through this type of treatment, but in a lot of ways, I do understand it. The fact that these boys were able to go through all the physical and emotional torment they endured shows one of the most basic human instincts in action: the will to survive. When it comes down to it, everyone just wants the chance to prove themselves to others and more importantly for their own pride. Being in a fraternity that hazes is a priveledge, and being able to say that you were able to make it seems pretty glorious to anyone in my opinion. Another reason this occurance makes sense is that people have another trait in common all over the world that unites us: we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Let’s face it, life is just a weird thing in general and things like fraternities are the biggest example of a social construct known to mankind, but it gives people purpose and a sense of belonging. That’s something that no one could argue of not wanting for themselves. Basically what I’m getting at is that I totally get the intent and will of these boys in the movie, and I’ll go as far to say I think the whole thing is pretty noble. I think what the problem is here is simply that people have taken all of it too far. As time goes on and traditions deepen their roots, people tend to get more and more intense with what may have started as something small. This to me is what is the root of the problems we have with hazing in greek organizations. Not something bad, actually just the opposite, the problem is people being so dedicated and loyal that other things like human empathy and compassion get pushed aside. It really just boils down to basic human psychology at the end of the day and could happen to any of us. It needs to change and things like deaths due to hazing most definitely need to end, but that energy that it comes from is not the problem, it just needs to be channeled in something better that doesn’t hurt people.