by Mallory Carlson ’19

With the senior prom coming up in less than two months, it seems timely that the theme
would be announced so that students can begin to think more about and get excited for the night
and what they will wear and what the decorations will be like. What does not seem timely is the
theme itself – “A Night in Hollywood.”

Hollywood has been in the news more than usual for months, and it often has not been
because movies have been better than usual this year. It has been because of sexual harassment
and assault accusations against many prominent figures in the film and media industry. The
topics have been dominant in popular culture since October, with stories in news publications,
emergence of social media movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, and multitudes of other
media outlets creating their own content about the issues. Perhaps most memorably was Saturday
Night Live’s “Harassment Awards” skit which mocked the Oscars and consisted of the opening
lines, “and now, The Academy of Sexual Harassment and Misconduct in Hollywood presents …
The Grabbies! Celebrating this year’s worst behavior in entertainment!”

Of course those in charge of choosing the theme did not purposefully select an insensitive
one. But perhaps “Under the Sea” would have been a safer, albeit not too exciting, way to go