Smiles, frowns, shock, and tears are what to expect when watching the extremely educational yet underrated film, Life 101. Life 101 is a direct-to-video comedy-drama film that was released in 1995. It stars Corey Haim (The Lost Boys, License To Drive, Dream a Little Dream), Ami Dolenz (She’s Out of Control, Can’t Buy Me Love), Keith Coogan (Adventures In Babysitting, Toy Soldiers), and many more. This film touches upon subjects that are very relevant in a teen’s life, the film touches upon the subjects of being a freshman in college, falling deeply in love for the first time, dealing with your first heartbreak, knowing when to have sex, and the big misconception of rape.
Ramsy Blake (Corey Haim) is a freshman in college who’s majoring in Physics. He knows no one but fortunatley gets dormed with Buck who introduces him to two of his friends, Donnie and Lance. Since Ramsy is new to the campus, Buck invites him to a party. Little did Ramsy know that at this party he would meet his first true love, Joy. Although they were both shy when they first met, the chemistry between them was very great. As expected, Ramsy and Joy start dating each other.
Since Joy is Ramsy’s first girlfriend, Ramsy has all sorts of questions about how to act in the relationship so he turns to Donnie, Lance, and Buck. One of the questions Ramsy has is how to statisfy a girl when having sex, his friend Lance makes an excellent point on how some men look at women, he says:
“The main thing you need to know is that women are people too. See, some of these jerks around here, they don’t realize that. They think that women are trophies that need to be won in some type of macho competition. You should be considerate of their feelings.”
This quote is extremely significant due to the fact that the problem with today’s society is that women are objectified, this movie, this particular scene, shuts that right down.
One scene that strikes me is the scene where Ramsy and Buck discuss rape. There has been a rape on campus and Ramsy suspects it’s Donnie due to the way the rapist was described. However, Buck reassured Ramsy that you can’t assume someone for committing such a serious crime so fast. He points out a misconception about rape that is important for all to hear: “Rape has nothing to do with sex. Rape is an act of violence. Some people think that women fantasize about being raped, that’s bullsh*t”. The line “rape has nothing to do with sex” is so relevant and it teaches society a lesson.
Throughout the film the audience sees how deeply Ramsy and Joy fall in love and how quickly Joy falls out of love. Joy ends up breaking up with Ramsy because she wanted a change in her life. Extremely heartbroken, Ramsy couldn’t just let Joy go. He wanted her back and he was willing to do anything to get her back. Although Ramsy wanted Joy in his life, he understood that him and Joy just weren’t meant to be together. At the end of the film, Ramsy says: “Watching her [Joy] walk away, I realized I wasn’t going to ask her out. Joy was wonderful but she was right when she said it was time for a change.” This portrays the message that although we may not want it, change is essential and we need to recognize that.
This film may have been made released in 1995 but it continues to speak to our generation. This film touches upon several important subjects that some may not feel comfortable talking about with others. This movie guides you in a way.. It’s an educational film that is relevant to us all.
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