Burning Sands 2 Netflix

[Analisa Wack]

Netflixs new film Burning Sands is a fictionalized inside look into the fraternity pledge process at a historically black college. The film brings the lives and struggles of five pledges of the fictional fraternity, Lambda Phi, to the screen as they try to cross the "burning sands" of their last week of the pledge process while being hazed by initiated members of the fraternity.

Burning Sands takes place at a fictional historically black college and follows Zurich (Trevor Jackson) as he tries to survive his fraternity's hell week. Zurich is torn between following tradition and speaking out against what's happening during the underground pledge process.

Burning Sands director and co-writer Gerard McMurray wanted to show audiences the experience of attending a historically black college or university (HBCU) and pledging a BGLO by drawing from his own experiences pledging Omega Psi Phi at Howard University.

While McMurray sought to give the world a peek behind the curtain of the fraternity pledge processes, the intensity and reality of the hazing depicted in the film has been widely debated on social media.

Some say it shows BLGOs in a negative light and that the type of hazing shown in the film doesn't occur in the nine predominately black fraternities and sororities that comprise the "Divine 9" organizations of the National Panhellenic Council (NPHC).

The five fraternities and four sororities that make up the NPHC outlawed pledging, which had become associated with hazing, in favor of a membership intake process back in 1990. But underground pledging and hazing still reportedly occur at colleges and universities around the country.

In 2010, for example, a Phi Beta Sigma pledge at Prairie View A&M University died in a hazing incident involving a extraneous workout, violating not only fraternity policy but also state laws, according to the Dallas News.

Many point out that hazing, which is often associated with Greek life, isn't limited to these organizations -- it was a 2011 Florida A&M University incident in which a student died after a hazing ritual involving not a fraternity but the university's marching band that inspired McMurray to write Burning Sands, according to the Fader.

Wolfgang Bronner, a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha at Tennessee Technological University, said he thought the message of Burning Sands was a misrepresentation of the values and concepts that Greek organizations represent.

"BGLOs are about brotherhood. In my opinion, the history behind each organization only matters 25% of the time. But the brotherhood, developing leaders, community service -- those are really what makes BGLOs what they are," Bronner told USA TODAY College.

While McMurray said he sought to portray fraternities "even-handedly" in Burning Sands, Bronner felt the film focused too heavily on the negative aspects, like hazing, that are often associated with Greek life.

"What would I like to see is people quit focusing of the hazing aspect, because NPHC knows it goes on, and we do what we have to do to address it," Bronner said. "I know for Alpha in particular, we always have conventions on hazing and its negative impacts." He added that he'd like to see more media representation of the "good work" that the organizations do and the leadership skills they help their members build.

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