By Rhodes Bray, First Year, English
Bristol is, in itself, ‘rah’.
I feel this is somewhat of a quintessential fact, due to its Russel Group status and general demographic.
The ‘rah’ stereotype is universal, it’s easy to spot, whether it’s a Ralph Lauren zip up or North Face puffer, the internet seems to condemn it one way or another.
Let’s be completely honest with ourselves, the likelihood of spotting this sort of person is, in fact, extremely likely. It is an image that seems to be synonymous with being a UoB student. Thus, it is to be entirely expected.
But why? Where does this association come from?
A fair example would be Winestock. This free-flowing, summer formal is a must. Its raucous extravagance entices students to succumb to the 'real pleasures of life' with unlimited wine and a sunny day out with new Uni friends as a way to say goodbye to first year (see also: stumbling home, blind drunkenness, aggressive hangxiety etc).
It surprisingly seems to also be a commonly accepted fact that people will go, despite the fact that the cheapest possible Winestock ticket would set you back a whopping sixty-nine pounds, without the JCR code (available only to a lucky few). Yet, they sold and the organisers knew they would sell. They also figured this was reasonable to the demographic they were catering to.
They were right, tickets were sold immediately for fear of missing out on such a discussed event. Its prevalence so great that it has replaced the summer formal for Churchill, why bother? Winestock is so legendary that it has an unmissable reputation.
What I can't quite wrap my head around is who Winestock is really catering to? It is apparently well-known that a certain portion of students would cough up a good amount of cash for this extravaganza. What with its iconic location on the Downs, it is perhaps the only event in UoB existence that is close to North Village (a novelty, really). Is this the desired demographic?
I will level with you; we all know the North Village stereotype. We are all aware of the (most likely posh) crowd that you are likely to stumble across past the Downs. This shouldn’t be a condemning fact, the same as acknowledging students from East and West Village.
I’ve noticed, throughout Freshers and beyond, a primary question to be asked is
“What accom are you?”
Fair enough, conversation is stilted, you’re looking for a reason to keep chatting, for similarity perhaps?
I worry this runs deeper. Is a person’s University halls enough to genuinely change someone’s perception of you? Why? I can’t help but note the ‘us and them’ mentality from both sides. Are the Downs really that important of a distancing factor? We are all a part of the same community at the end of the day, or is it something else?
It is true, the majority of people in North Village are Private School educated (again, good on them). Does this inflict a stereotype among them? Are they all this ‘rah’ image the internet seems to detest so much? The same goes for City Centre accommodations, there’s little to nothing to distinguish between East and West, Village. It does not seem to matter so much. So, this begs the question as to why these perceptions seem to be so entrenched within UoB culture.
Is this an issue of classism? Are these values so perpetuated that we judge and pick our friends on account of ‘where they live’ This seems redundant to me and could speak to a wider issue of classism perhaps at the uni.
It’s in our everyday interactions, it’s the spotting who gets on the bus and who doesn’t, an anxiety in revealing your halls. Winestock could have brought this underlying issue to light, but it further extends it.
Really, I feel the binary is unnecessary. I can reconcile with the range of economic backgrounds at the uni, but in actual fact these rigid divisions are trivial. Winestock can again be used as an example on account of it's universality. Everyone would want to go; this elitist viewpoint stems only from the price.
Is it possible to deconstruct an ingrained disposition? Can we ever?
It seems this may continue in universities with all fees rising. When did these institutions become places of elitism? In reality we all worked hard to be a part of it, and should be treated on account of the equal merit we've achieved.
This ruins a conversation starter, however, maybe lead with degree choices?
