User blog:ThatScrewyDuck/PG Removal: John "Bluto" Blutarsky



So, after occasionally using this wiki for a few months now, I'm finally attempting a Pure Good-related post... and it's a removal... pertaining to a character from a movie I haven't even seen. That said, I'm pretty much positive the character doesn't deserve to be there, which if anything, is an indication of how clear of a mistake it is that he's labelled as such (unless I'm missing something major that isn't even mentioned in plot summaries of ths film). Anyway, this will be very short by my standards due to my lack of familiarity with the work, but I'll try my best to summarize all the important points.

Here's a link to his page for those looking for more information: https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/John_Bluto_Blutarsky

Who is he?
John "Bluto" Blutarsky is one of the main protagonists of National Lampoon's Animal House. He's the wild, crazy member of the Delta fraternity, who are collectively despised by Faber College's Dean, Vernon Wormer, along with the much more conservative and clean-cut Omega fraternity for their collectively rowdy, bawdy and anarchic antics, to the extent that they conspire to get them expelled. He's mostly defined by his borish, party animal personality; among other things, he's a heavy drinker, curses regularly, and enjoys watching women in various states of undressing.

Why I think he doesn't qualify
Good grief, where do I even start? As stated above, he's mostly defined as a wild, vice-heavy pary animal who gets involved in various wacky hijinks that only increase the Dean's and the Omega's animosity towards the Deltas, like a prank-related accidental death of a horse belonging to Omega member and Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadet commander Douglas C. Neidermeyer. While it's obviously not a requirement for Pure Good characters to not have any flaws or unpleasant qualities whatsoever, in Bluto's case, his borishness and frat-boy antics are practically his defining qualities, even if he doesn't often do it out of malice. In fact, I'm struggling to think of any actual "heroic deeds" he does. For instance, instead of actually trying to improve his grades, he and D-Day apparently steal the answers to an upcoming test from the trash, not realizing that the Omegas have planted a fake set of answers for them to find, which causes them to fail the exam, Apparently, when the Deltas do give the Dean enough reasons to get them expelled (with their awful midterm grades sealing the deal), he gives them an impassioned, if comically historically inaccaurate speech to raise their spirits to get revenge on the Dean, the Omegas and the college itself. They do this by converting Flounder's damaged car into an armored vehicle and hiding it inside a cake-shaped breakaway float while sneaking into the annual homecoming parade to wreak havoc on it.

Based on the film's reception, I'm sure that and many of the other antics are genuinely hilarious, provided of course you like that sort of humor, but speaking seriously, this is no way admirable or heroic. It's getting revenge on those that wronged you and your pals, plain and simple. I suppose it's worth noting that he went on to become a United States senator (goodness knows how) in the often-used "Where Are They Now" epilogue, but if anything, I imagine even that's played more for comedy precisely because it seems so improbable that a guy like him would go on to be so successful and have such a respected position that requrie the type of discipline he almost never displays in the present tense of the movie. And yes, the Omegas do seem to be portrayed as quite snobby and dismissive of those who don't live up to their standards, whereas he and his fraternity were more accepting to a pair of freshmen named Lawrence "Larry" Kroger and Kent Dorfman, even giving them their own nicknames and what not, but again, I don't see how havign mildly positive traits like this can possibly qualify a character single-handedly. Besides, Kent apparently had a "legacy"  they couldn't reject due to his brother Fred having been a member.

What's the verdict?
An easy, easy cut in my opinion. I'm still flabbergasted at how on Earth anyone could confuse him for Pure Good. He's an Anti-Hero at ''best. ''I can only hope he was added in the first place as some sort of prank. And if you object, please give a good reason, not just "he's hilarious and generally doesn't any mean harm aside from getting revenge on snobs who were trying to get him expelled". Snobby or not, and as great and hilarious as John Belushi's performance is supposed to be, he and his fraternity's own infamous and repeated antics are the reason Omega and the Dean had enough of them to begin with.