If you’ve heard or seen the topic of “Bama Rush” online lately, you’re not alone. Especially popular on Tik Tok, sorority girls share their experience as they go through the rush process at the University of Alabama. Whether you’re familiar with “rush” or not, the rules, processes, and dos and don’ts are truly fascinating, catching attention of people all over the United States. While you might find your new sisterhood, there is also a lot of drama and judgment associated with the whole process that can be misleading.
When HBO released their news to make a documentary called Bama Rush, people went wild. Everyone couldn’t wait to see the secrets uncovered and an exclusive look at what goes on behind the scenes. But, is that what we received? Now that Bama Rush is out on Max, we’ll give you our Bama Rush documentary review to see just how well this film lives up to the hype.
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What is Bama Rush?
“Bama Rush” is a type of recruitment process at the University of Alabama where students hope to receive a bid from the sorority house of their choosing. However, in order to achieve this, students have to attend and participate in all of the rush events that the sorority houses plan. The documentary Bama Rush was released on Max and focuses on four students at the University of Alabama. It shows us how they prepare for bid day back in the summer of 2022 when they find out if they get invited to join a sorority.
How does rush work at the University of Alabama?
When rushing a sorority at the University of Alabama, students visit each sorority house and participate in conversations and events there. Both the sorority members and the rushees rank each other in terms of how they get along over a period of days. As a result, it is a mutual selection process where a potential new member chooses which sorority houses they want to visit the next day and the sorority also chooses who they would like to invite back. If there is a match, the rushee will return and continue on with this process until the final day.
Truthfully, the process is quite complicated if you’re unfamiliar and there are many rules and regulations to these proceedings, but also a lot of loopholes. It’s hard to know exactly how each sorority ranks potential new members, so that is a huge reason why the documentary was heavily anticipated to take a closer look.
Bama Rush Documentary Review: Totally Disappointing
After watching the documentary, we can now see why it missed out on all the drama that could have been covered. The whole rush process is controversial and we wish more than anything else that we got to see the behind the scenes of it all. Alongside the leaked emails, racist official and unofficial Greek practices, and the extreme cost of having a Greek life, there is friend drama and judgement coming from both parties. I mean how do you “rank” someone anyways? Rumor has it that the cost of Greek life is four to five thousand per semester.
The film did not dive into any of these aspects in any kind of depth. Instead, they spent most of the time on the director Rachel Fleit’s struggle with alopecia, fitting in, and the sorority culture. This was a bit confusing because while her story is interesting, it’s nothing about the heart of “Bama Rush.” While the Bama Rush documentary was supposed to be about the four girls and their experience, it seemed to switch around and we didn’t get what we were promised. Based on other reviews, we can see that no one thought this was a hit. Instead of sorority dish, we got the director’s personal story.
Will we ever know the truth about Bama Rush?
The truth is that you will notice that nearly all sorority hopefuls are white. You might think that’s just an accident, but it isn’t. The University of Alabama started desegregating its sororities in 2013. That was only after a university student published a story in The Crimson White about a Black student attempting to rush a sorority. The student had been receiving high scores during the recruitment process, but never received a bid.
Members of the sorority claim that her name was removed from the pool before they could vote on her acceptance. Other members blame the alumni who said they were pressured to remove her name from the list. Some even go as far as saying they were being threatened with their financial aid if they accepted her. There is so much more to know about “Bama Rush” and our questions regarding the underlying racists principles and societal standards are unanswered. Given that we didn’t get more of a glimpse into these factors from the documentary, it is left up to us to do the research and hear personal testimonies.
How did Bama Rush get popular on Tik Tok?
“Bama Rush” got popular on Tik Tok by potential new members sharing their outfits of the day every day during rush week. While we selected this one for the fun of it, there are other videos where girls tell their horror stories of rush and how it took a toll on their mental health and self confidence. Some of these videos are truly striking as they reveal the reasons why they were not chosen by a sorority or the ways in which someone can get eliminated. There are two sides to the story of “Bama Rush” and we don’t seem to get the side that shows the unedited version.
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Conclusion
Sadly enough, our Bama Rush documentary review is not a positive one. This content needed to cover the importance of Bama Rush and what it means to the campus of the University of Alabama. The documentary’s trailer showed something different than what we got in reality, leaving us with tons of unanswered questions. We don’t recommend the documentary because we think you’ll find it disappointing if you’ve been following any of the social media coverage. The secrets, judgments, and truth behind Bama Rush remain untold.