"Rites of Passage" on TLC
 

FYI...

From fraternal News listserv....

April 29, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Eyes Multimedia Productions' new documentary
Rites of Passage to debut across North America on TLC

VANCOUVER, BC - The Eyes Multimedia Productions Inc., a subsidiary of
Peace Arch Entertainment Group Inc. (AMEX: "PAE"; TSE: "PAE.A",
"PAE.B"), is pleased to announce that its newest documentary, Rites
of Passage, will make its world debut on TLC. Rites of Passage is a
one-hour documentary that takes a provocative and fascinating look at
contemporary male initiation rites in North America. This compelling
documentary will air across North America on Friday, May 3rd at 7pm
and 10pm PT (10pm and 1am ET).

Rites of Passage uncovers the unusual twists young men experience in
the pursuit of an ancient calling in today's societyŠthe initiation
of becoming a man. Three coming-of-age rituals are covered in depth.
Combining real inner-city footage and stylized reenactments, Rites of
Passage explores the violent "beat-in" initiations of Southern
California street gangs. The program also reveals the elaborate
hazing ceremonies conducted by some college and university
fraternities, illustrating the bizarre rituals that have been closely
guarded and controversial secrets. As well, Rites of Passage depicts
the rigorous tests of physical and mental endurance military recruits
must undertake as part of their transformation into warriors. The
documentary follows a young Marine Corps recruit from his going away
party through to boot camp and finally his graduation. The tragic
terrorist attacks of September 11th occur midway through this
transformation, adding a new sense of urgency and purpose to the
recruit's journey.

"The crew really got caught up in the subject of this documentary,"
commented Stan Feingold, who produced the program and is Creative
Director for The Eyes Multimedia Productions Inc. "At times, we felt
as though the production process itself was a 'rite of passage'. We
were on police ride-alongs in Compton, in the most dangerous
neighbourhoods of Watts, and in the trenches with the US Marines at
Camp Pendleton."

TLC, a division of Discovery Communications Inc., reaches 6.8 million
homes in Canada and more than 83 million homes in the United States.

The Eyes Multimedia Productions Inc. is a subsidiary of Peace Arch
Entertainment Group Inc. Peace Arch creates, develops, produces and
distributes proprietary television programming for worldwide markets
and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Additional
information on its award-winning television series, feature films and
documentaries can be found on the Company's website at
www.peacearch.com.

- 30 -
For media inquires, please contact: For investor inquiries, please contact:
Carole Appleby, Media Relations RJ Falkner & Company, Inc.
Peace Arch Entertainment Group Inc. Investor Relations Counsel
Tel: (604) 681-9308 Tel: (800) 377-9893
Email: cappleby@peacearch.com Email: info@rjfalkner.com

This documentary sounds pretty interesting........

it is sad that people actually think that initiation has to do with hazing...they need to watch DU's open ritual because it is not that different than anyone else's except that it is not secret. I hate the media!

I'm watching this program right now. They showed a fraternity and its hell night. It seemed pretty awful to me.

I watch the "Rites of Passages" documentary last night. I t hoough it was really good and was very informative. In regards to the "greek" portion, I though it was presented very well, especially considering you had a member of DKE giving his own account of what happened. I liked the documentary too because it say whethers these rites of passges were right or wrong, good or bad. It just presented you with the information.

Good job TLC!

I watched the show too and though to myself, "man I'm glad I'm not a DKE". I wondered if DKE's headquarters were just fired up and angry about this.....would you want your organization portrayed this way?

Whether it's good or not, doesn't matter, that's terrible PR for every fraternity. What about any DKE's, I'm sure that what we saw on that program is not what the DKE founders intended for their members. I'm sure that the things we saw are not in their ritual books.

Those type of hell weeks, I weeks, whatever you call them are all over the country with many different fraternities. That's not what any of us want to portray fraternities as. I thought that kid looked like an idiot and he sure showed he has no respect for his fraternity. You don't put on a primetime show the stupid things that you do, just becausem and laugh about it and tell everyone how funny you thought it was. I'm sure that Delta Kappa Epsilon did not approve this before it went on air.

Just my thoughts...

Point well taken, but I do not think this was a "fraternity bashing" documentary. It was about rites of passages and in some GLO's this is still considered to be a rite of passge. TLC gave an account as to what it was. I honestly don't think the intent was to say" hey look at this, this is all that greeks do, yada yada". It was just about Rites of Passges (because it did featured gangs and the military), not Greek Rites of Passages.

And honestly, I would be more concerned with why something like that is still happening today more than anything else (the part with the DKE, because the other part with the guys tossing the pledge into the pool looked like footage from the early eighties).

That's the entire point of my post. If we are letting these things on television, number one: we are downgrading all of our founder's ideals, thoughts and missions.

I did my masters thesis on hazing and first we must stop the negative PR to our groups, so no....the INTENT of the program was not fraternity bashing, but in turn in did. Of course the lay man would think, "this is what fraternities do, I'm not letting my son do that" I did watch the entire program, specifically for the fraternity part, being a professional in higher education it is of great interest to me.

Of course our number one mission should be to stop that, but portraying it on TV by a past undergraduate that is laughing about the experience is not any way to start the mission of reducing this behavior. I hope that DKE takes the opportunity to make sure that this doesn't happen at other chapters, and that all fraternities do that today (notice that his chapter was closed due to their stupidity). But, laughing about it and recounting the "good ole days" on television is not the first step in that process.

I'm not disagreeing with you that it was on tv, that the show was about the rites of passage, I'm saying that the DKE there did a terrible portrayal of fraternity men and their ritual today.

I saw the show. I think it has the potential to be devistating for that chapter, and was terrible for fraternities as a whole.

I do agree that it was done very well -- as you would expect from TLC/Discovery.

Thank goodness it wasn't produced by MTV.

Media coverage is not the problem. I take no issue with the media actually featuring these things and spotlighting them.

If your car has a flat tire do you get out of the car and look at the three good wheels and focus all of your attention on the wheels that are working just fine? Or do you focus your attention upon the flat tire?

Those of us that perpetuate these old traditions are the cause of this coverage, NOT the media. If we really want it to stop, it stops with us.

LHT
Kevin

Exactly! Read what we all said again and go change your own fraternity (not saying yours is bad, but I'm sure this happens at yours too)! Take it upon yourself.....if that DKE on the show did, we wouldn't have had anything to watch. Hope that makes sense.

Why is everyone picking on me ??? j/k

Honestly, I think the DKE Chapter in question here are VERY deserving of the Darwin Award (if I'm reading this correctly they had their charter yoinked by their HQ).

I think ANY national GLO has its 'problem' chapters. It's unfortunate that these guys had to prove their lack of worthiness it to the entire world but that's what happened.

If we are to represent what our founders wanted, I think it would be to have great dignity in what they left to us. To treat it as a gift that we are the stewards of, we are NOT the owners.

Really, HQ's can't do anything about these bad chapters. It rests with us, actives and alums. We need to all be proactive and do the most we can to ensure that 10 years down the road we don't end up with a bunch of yahoos that wind up losing that charter (I'd be particularly upset since my name is on our charter!)

We can complain all we want, but at the end of the day this is just complaining. We need to hold eachother accountable.

Sorry Trisigma didn't mean to sound like I was picking on you I guess we did have the same point really =)

Forgive me?

LHT
Kevin

Absolutely!!!!
As a Greek Advisor and National Officer, you cover all points perfectly, now if there were more like us out there...

I just installed a new chapter on a campus last weekend and they happen to be the only chapter not on social probation on that campus, very very interesting.

Thanks ktsnake for your thoughts and progressive attitude. Now, on to preserve our own.

I completely agree with you TriSig. The only way to really stop the bad media is to not give them anything to report. The only way to do this is to hold ourselves and each other responsible for our own actions.

However, I do think the media influence goes alittle deeper than earlier discussed. This behavior is consider "ok" by these groups because that is what they see. Nothing is ever, or rarely, said about greeks that is positive. At least not the general public....the bad stuff sales better!

Anyway, I do think part of the problem is the media. The other is ourselves!

I really wanted to watch this will it be on again ? Just curious ? thanks for the help !!