Smith College - Smith College in Popular Culture

Smith College in Popular Culture

References to Smith abound in literature. In Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, the protagonist Esther Greenwood attends Smith College. In Running With Scissors, a memoir by Augusten Burroughs, the author details how he and his foster-sister, Natalie, took walks together on the campus. The fictional Catamount College in the novella Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates is based on Smith College. The character Chenault in The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson went to Smith College. Commencement, a novel by J. Courtney Sullivan was published in 2009 and recounts the friendship of four Smith College classmates.

Smith has its place in films as well. The 1954 film White Christmas referenced Smith. Jean Simmons plays a recent Smith grad in 1957's "This Could Be the Night". The 1966 movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 1993 movie Malice were both filmed on the Smith campus. In the 1971 film Carnal Knowledge, Candice Bergen's character, Susan, is a Smith student, and portions of the film take place on the Smith campus. The character Joanna Kramer, played by Meryl Streep in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer, is a Smith College graduate. In the movie The Nanny Diaries Mrs. X is a Smith alumna. Spike Lee also has a reference to a Smithie as a lesbian paying an ex-biotech exec to inseminate her and many other homosexual women in the movie She Hate Me. Sadie (Nicole Vicius) from 2007 lesbian-comedy Itty Bitty Titty Committee dropped out of the college after meeting her partner, a guest lecturer at Smith.

Well-known television shows integrate references to Smith into character plot lines. An episode in the second season of the series Felicity (TV series) has a Smith College graduate who refuses to serve as an egg donor for Javier because he is gay. Charlotte York in the show Sex and the City is a Smith College graduate. In an episode of The Simpsons—"I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can"—Lisa Simpson is tempted by the Siren-like representatives of the Seven Sisters (and George Plimpton), who offer a scholarship to the Sister school of her choice (and a George Plimpton hot plate) if she will throw a Spelling Bee. Dr. Cristina Yang, a surgical resident played by Sandra Oh on Grey's Anatomy, graduated from Smith College with degrees in French Literature and Chemistry, and lived in Chapin House. Ainsley Hayes (played by Emily Procter), the conservative lawyer hired to work in the White House Counsel's Office on The West Wing, graduated from Smith. In an episode of Mad About You Paul's sister and her girlfriend are referred to as "The Fighting Lesbians." Paul (Paul Reiser) replies, "No, that would be the name of the Smith College Ice Hockey Team." Emily Gilmore in the show Gilmore Girls went to Smith and majored in history. In season two of "Nip Tuck"- episode "Julia McNamara", Julia gets anesthesia before her facial surgery. One of the dreams she has is that Dr. Liz Cruz's made-up daughter will be attending Smith that coming fall. In the third season of ER, Dr. Doug Ross (played by George Clooney) mentions he is dating a Smith graduate. Nurse Carol Hathaway makes a joke about Dr. Ross's normal dates being unable to spell Smith. A very similar joke was made in the movie White Christmas, which starred George Clooney's aunt, Rosemary Clooney.

In the 2009 Heroes episode "A Clear and Present Danger", the Smith College viewbook is displayed prominently at the top of a stack of college materials Claire Bennet is apparently reviewing. Angela Petrelli asks Claire if she's found a favorite, to which Claire replies, "Hamilton, Smith, Georgetown, they're all the best schools in the country."

The webcomic Questionable Content mentions Smith College (usually referred to as "Smif" in the comic) as the place where one of the main characters, Marten, is employed as library staff, and several of the minor characters attend. Ellen, studies marine biology. Tai, Natasha and Cosette are also students. Jeph Jacques, the author, went to Hampshire College, one of the neighboring schools. Some characters from the webcomic Minimalist Stick Figure Theatre, set primarily in Northampton, are students at Smith College.

In a recent Hallmark Channel original movie titled "Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith," Cybill Shepherd stars in a story about a woman in her 40s who returns to Smith College to finish her bachelor's degree. Smith alumna Susan Rice '63 wrote the script for the film, which aired August 1, 2009.

In Grace Metalious's 1956 novel Peyton Place, the school teacher, Miss Elsie Thornton, is a Smith alum. In Grace Metalious's 1960 novel "The Tight White Collar" the character Margery Cooper attends Smith College.