Last Saturday, I woke up at 5 PM. I had somehow managed to sleep through being texted by about a dozen different people and called by a few as well. I quickly downed the pills I had missed taking that morning, and began to accept that it would be nothing but an unproductive day in my dorm. That is, until I checked my text messages. My friends Mike, Kelsey, and Alex, all in the Honors Program as well, had texted me an invitation to come out with them to the Campus Center Theatre to see a movie. Little did I know, this would not be just any movie. This would be Sausage Party. Ah, but I get ahead of myself. I would first, before diving into the movie, like to state how much I appreciate that Stockton University has movie screenings like this. As all of us residential students know, campus gets very dead on the weekends, and it can be depressing. The fact that people go out of their way to screen these movies for us really says something about Stockton University, and the way it takes care of its students. I am truly grateful.
I’m sure every reader is wondering by now about Sausage Party. I assume most people at least saw commercials for it, but if you haven’t, I recommend you do so that you understand the nature of this movie. If there was one word to sum it up: raunchy. This movie pushed boundaries. Yes, I was brought up in a conservative Christian home, so any raunchy movie would have been a culture shock for me – but this was different. This movie was at the very end of the spectrum, or at least as far as you can go without getting pornographic. There was no lack of purposefully-poorly-hidden innuendos, especially at the end. There was uncensored cursing – even the F word – and I was fairly shocked that a public university was allowing this to be screened. Maybe the people in charge aren’t aware of how wild this movie is! Don’t tell them.
Yes, this movie is raunchy and absolutely not something to show the kids, but believe it or not, it was more than that. Behind the 4th-wall-breaking, naughty, and dark humor, there was a deep message – a social commentary. No, I’m not crazy. If I were next door in Atlantic City, I’d bet on a lot of money that this was a commentary on the somewhat pointless divisions we draw between ourselves based on religion. Specifically, the commentary is on the extent of how pointless they are in the opinion of the movie’s producers and writers. To fully experience how this is played out: watch the movie. I warn you, it’s very dirty, but if you can take it, watch it. However, I can tell you, the movie’s thrilling conclusion is reached when the characters unite together and reject the ideas of blindly following their religions and of allowing themselves to be divided by them. Overall, ask anyone who saw this movie: it was a wild ride.