The Film Wall

The average human being spends about 15 minutes every day using the bathroom, and here at the University of Tampa a handful of students chose to put this time to use by creating and contributing to an unorthodox little project which has come to be known as “The Film Wall.”

The Film Wall, or The Wall for short, had humble origins, beginning when the words “this is the film wall” appeared neatly printed over the tan paint above the urinal in the second floor restroom in the Cass Communications Building. A few days after this text showed up, someone felt the need to elaborate on the anonymous inventor’s statement by adding “we do film here”. “Bride of Frankenstein” was penned in, claiming the spot as the first movie title on the wall. It was soon followed by a greater than symbol and “Blair Witch”. “Paranormal Activity” was the next film to fall, only managing to salvage a little dignity by receiving the greater than over “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” a movie someone clearly believed fit in horror genre.

As The Wall gained contributors, the focus of the writings drifted away from movies titles and on to the film industry as a whole. Transformers director Michael Bay received the commendation “Michael Bay is your god,” only to be promptly shot down with the response “I think not,” and days later, an arrow connecting “I think not” to “Michael Bay’s motto.” This low blow was punctuated by a bolded and underlined “BOOO.”

After the potshots at Bay had lost their humor, the focus of the wall evolved again, several students made the small leap from criticizing directors, to becoming them, jotting down prospective movie ideas. One student pitched a movie titled “To live and Die in Tampa,” while another called for a sequel to the 1980s film “Heaven’s Gate.” The coup de grace of this exercise came when someone wrote “The Passion of the Christ II: He won’t be crossed again” a title which received an appreciative “Nice!”and a rather shakily-written “lol.”

After the collective realization that no one could make a movie title that lived up to the high standards set by the “Passion of the Christ” pun, the students moved on to the stars. Nicolas Cage received the title of “hero” and Jessica Alba’s beauty was praised… A lot.

For some period of time after naming movie stars became boring, The Wall remained unchanged. No one came up with anything clever, and the writing turned away from social commentary to schoolboy scribbling about bodily functions and women, specifically women’s anatomy. One student ventured to make the philosophical statement “Life is a state of mind,” but no one responded, leaving The Wall stagnant, in both content and the general smell of the urinal.

But after several months of boring trips to the urinal, one student decided to write what everyone was thinking: “This blog is getting stale.” After one tart, and rather impractical, response of “Why don’t you pass the time by playing solitaire?”, someone finally took initiative, writing “The Godfather” as the start of a new movie list.

While it might be a bit of a stretch to say that students are ecstatic, everyone seems to be happy to see the writing on The Wall.

Nathan Witte, a junior majoring in film and media arts, says that he certainly is.
“I have waited to use the urinal to read the new ‘posts’,” Witte said. “I've seen others do the same and some even stop to read it even if they didn't use the urinal.”

Witte says The Wall is one way students can show their creativity, even if it probably is qualified as damaging University property.

“I've never written on it,” Witte said. “But I know people who have. I just think that watching it develop has been quite interesting.”

But not everyone is so appreciative of the film wall. Senior advertising and public relations major Matt Carley had one word for it.

“Tacky,” Carley said. “But at least it does liven up the windowless Cass Building a tad.”

A sentiment with which any student with classes in the Cass Building can identify.