By Hadassa Ferreira, Arts & Culture Editor
Have you ever wondered whether it is life that mimics art or art that mimics life? Well, which one mimics which is a never-ending question, but the fact is that many artistic pieces reflect distinct spheres of human life, and with college life, it could not be more true.
College time is such an important moment in people’s lives. Many movies, TV series, music, and other types of entertainment pieces portray this moment, showing the blessings and sorrows of this phase of life, as well as raising awareness and reflecting on important themes related to this part of college.
A good entertainment piece that reflects college life so well is “All American: Homecoming.” This CW TV show depicts college life in a very unique way, reflecting on the discovery of one’s identity, sense of belonging, and cultural pride. The show follows the life of a Tennis Player, Simone Hicks, at an HBCU institution. This is a fantastic piece because it balances the main character’s challenges with her athletic life and cultural identity.
“All American: Homecoming” is a great TV show because it raises awareness about many issues that young adults face during college, such as how to deal with impostor syndrome and self-doubt, managing time between social life and creating meaningful connections by getting involved with campus events and student organizations, and even issues like the culture of hazing and its harmful effects.
Moving from screens to books, a series of books that portray college life in a very fun and light way is the “Off- Campus” series. This series of books tells the stories of four couples who are going to find love in the most unlikely way while being college students. The books follow the four best friends, Garrett Graham, John Logan, Dean Di Laurentis, and John Tucker, who are hockey players and roommates, as they fall in love with the most unexpected girls.
Unlike “All American: Homecoming,” which has a more dramatic tone and is more grounded in serious real-life issues, Elle Kennedy’s books are more about finding love and having fun while in college. Those are the type of stories that, although they raise some important reflections and discussions, are more about thinking about how cool it would be to have such a fun and romantic college experience. Those are stories you want to read, not exactly because you will identify with the main characters’ journeys all the time, but because they will make your own journey lighter by jumping into a “too good to be true” reality once in a while.
Other pieces of entertainment that portray college life in a very fun, light, and even comic way are those of the 2000s. Films like “Pitch Perfect,” “So Undercover,” “House Bunny,”“Neighbors,” “Legally Blonde,” and even “Monsters University” are comic pieces that depict specific parts of college life. Those are more unrealistic stories portrayed in a more stereotypical and even glamorized way. Those are perfect to make people laugh hard. Although those stories exaggeratedly portray college life and have a lighter tone, softly, they still transmit the messages about the importance of finding a community, reinventing yourself, and the social pressures people feel in college before finding their own identity.
Moving from screens to headphones, there are also good songs that can portray college life and youth so well, such as “YOUTH” by Troy Sivan, which is that type of song that talks about enjoying your youth to the maximum that you can, because the time to explore and live is today. It is a song that brings up different metaphors and symbols to describe spontaneous things that youngsters do.
“Vienna,” by Billy Joel, is that type of song that comes to teach one how to calm down and stop worrying about the future. As college students, there are moments when anxiety takes control of us, and we have a hard time slowing down and living in the moment. This is that song that serves as a good reminder to live in the present because the future will come regardless, so it’s better to slow down and understand that for juveniles, it’s okay to “lose a day or two.”
Judrich Raphael, a senior double-majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics, stated, “I really love this song [Vienna] because it’s a reminder to just breathe. Right now, as we’re graduating, we feel like we need to become successful right away and have everything figured out immediately. But there’s no rush, everything will happen in its own time. We have to remind ourselves that we’re still young and have our whole lives ahead of us, so ‘slow down, you crazy child.’”
But now, if you are a senior about to graduate in 2026, probably one of the songs that most defined college life for you is “DTMF” by Bad Bunny. This one is special, not only because it was released in the middle of the current seniors’ college time, but also because it tells about valuing those special moments in the present. This is the type of song that makes us understand that we should, in fact, take more pictures of everything we are living now, because 10 years from now, we will see how things were prettier and more special than we thought. We will feel like we could have done so much more.
College is one of the most expected moments in many people’s lives. Many people start dreaming about going to college when they are young, and when it finally happens, they do live special moments. There’s no doubt that this is the reason why so many pieces of art depict this moment so vividly. Overall, those stories do more than just depict college; they help students to set the tone for the college experience they want for themselves.
