Young Frankenstein (1974) and Animal House (1978)

It is strange but not uncommon for movie scenes to be repeated. For instance, in both Young Frankenstein (1974) and Animal House (1978) a female is launched through the air and an open window before she lands on a bed. Young Frankenstein is a PG-rated comedy, and it is a little girl who is launched from a teeter-totter before landing safely in her bed. Then the covers are brought up over her. Animal House is an R-rated comedy and it is a woman dressed like a Playboy bunny who is launched off a parade float and through a boy’s bedroom window. When she lands on his bed in heels, rabbit ears, a cotton tail and little else the boy is looking at a Playboy magazine and he exclaims, “Thank you, God!” Having analysed 445 movies thus far I have noticed a lot of these repeated scenes. I happened to analyse both Young Frankenstein and Animal House last week and it struck me as an odd coincidence that they both contain such a scene. I’ve seen other women go flying through the air in movies, but they don’t usually land safely on a bed. This isn’t one of the dozens of things I’ve tracked in mainstream movies for my upcoming book on the sexualization of women in media, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant a moment’s reflection on a Sunday. 

​© 2018 Alline Cormier