A vignette in Netflix’s “The Laundromat,” a film about the Panama Papers and wealth management, has sparked conversation about how the university is portrayed by the media.
The Panama Papers are a collection of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records dating back to the 1970s of offshore fraud that were anonymously leaked in 2015.
The movie, starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, follows a Michigan widow named Ellen as she gets to the bottom of a corrupt firm’s fraudulent practices. The film is comprised of subplots that discuss issues of wealth management through symbols of wealth and privilege in Hollywood, including images related to USC.
The vignette involving USC delves into an affair between an African businessman played by Nonzo Anozie and his daughter’s college roommate. Both girls attend the university. The daughter, played by Jessica Allain, is featured in a USC sweater and has a graduation party featuring cheerleaders and decorations in cardinal red and gold.
Ellen Mirjonick, the film’s costume designer, told Annenberg Media that the actress wears a USC sweater in the scene because the script indicated that she is graduating from the university.
This is what some students had to say about the university's portrayal in the film.
Gabe Pires, a senior studying communication, said the use of USC related imagery by the film perpetuates negative stereotypes about the school.
“Although I totally get why people call us [the] University of Spoiled Children and University of Scandals and Corruption… I’m not the stereotypical presentation of white privilege. Me along with a lot of other students who attend USC worked hard to be here,” Pires said.
Many students also mentioned the college admission scandal that broke in March, where parents managed to get their children into USC through bribery and exam schemes.
Claire Kemble, a freshman studying chemical engineering, said she believes the film will have a negative impact on USC’s effort to rebrand after the scandal.
“[I] think people still perceive it as like…[a] snobby school, even though that’s not what the majority here represents,” Kemble said.
As it relates to the stereotypes USC is trying to rebrand away from, Irene Li, a sophomore studying biomedical engineering, said that people usually make a joke about the admissions scandal whenever she mentions she attends USC.
Along the same lines as the film, junior communication student Manessah Dechabert believes that the university’s reputation will continue to lower due to current scandals.
“I think [the admissions scandal has] definitely just been another thing to add on to the already negative perception of USC,” Dechabert said. “I think that just kind of solidified a lot of people's perceptions.”
Jeffrey Hirsch, a USC professor in Marketing, Branding and Consumer Behavior, said that he didn't get the sense that the film affected the school's reputation in a negative way and believes USC’s efforts to build a “Trojan family” will stand out more than its scandals.
“It’s hard to really hurt something that strong [as the Trojan family],” Hirsch said. “I just don’t see that falling apart anytime soon, even though the scandals are fairly significant.”