There’s a picture being painted by Hollywood.

Using a wide array of stereotypes, a portrait of the college atmosphere is created for those who can’t fill their own canvases.

The term “college movies” is stuck to any film that creates an image of what college life might be.

At one point in time, college movies were revered as fun, somewhat intelligent comedies with enough balance between gags and pranks, plot depth and character development for the audience to become engaged in the movie without walking away feeling like they’d sat through 90 minutes of brainless drunken antics.

But that was at least two decades ago.

Today, this subgenre is left by the wayside. Critics almost unanimously agree on the absurdity of these movies. On RottenTomatoes.com, a popular site for movie reviews, movies like “Van Wilder” and “Dorm Daze” received extremely low approval ratings – the latter has a 0 percent rating.

But what can account for the mass production of lackluster films, and how has this genre slipped into obscurity?

Nick Rogers is the former editor of the State-Journal Register’s weekly arts and entertainment section, A&E.

He says college movies take incoming students’ dreams and skew them into a plot.

“A lot of college movies play off this myth that college is some wild orgy of sex and parties,” Rogers said. “For some, this may be true, but not for the mass majority.”

Students agree with this notion of some fantasy party.

“It’s kind of like a fantasy,” said Clayton Lynch, a freshman business major. “It’s like what they wished it was like.”

Rogers divided college movies into two contexts he said the movies tend to follow: the absurd, out-of-control alcohol and sex-fueled film, and the films where characters try to blend in and are played off to be more relatable to the audience.

Rogers cited last summer’s blockbuster, “Superbad,” as a perfect blend of both camps.

“One good thing, especially with Judd Apatow’s movies, is the combination of what it’s really like with the completely absurd,” Rogers said.

Rogers said that since “Animal House,” which is often praised as one of the greatest college movies of all time, college movies have evolved into a visual show of “one-upsmanship,” saying each movie tries to be more shocking than the last.

Rogers said while the cost and risk involved in making these movies is low, the reward is high.

Rogers cited actor Ryan Reynolds as a prime example.

His role in “Van Wilder” helped Reynolds move on to star in more serious roles such as “The Amityville Horror” and “Definitely, Maybe.”

“The people that go to see these movies don’t really rely on critics,” he said. “These movies have just one goal: to make money.”

But these movies can’t be viewed on the same level as other films, Rogers said.

Some critics disagree.

Chuck Koplinski, whose work has appeared in the Springfield alternative Illinois Times and CU Cityview in Urbana-Champaign, said the movies are poorly written and poorly acted.

“They’re just bad movies,” Koplinski said. “People just go there to waste 90 minutes and have a good time with their friends.”

Koplinski said since “Animal House,” the gags and pranks in college movies have alienated audiences more and more.

“Nowadays, the gags are mean-spirited,” he said. “There’s a difference between ‘laughing with’ and ‘laughing at.’ When you laugh with someone, you tend to care for them, but when you’re laughing at someone you tend to care less about them.”

Koplinski said the future for college movies looks grim and said the genre is on its proverbial deathbed.

Koplinski said every genre runs through its cycle, citing teen slasher flicks of the ’70s and the horror revival of the ’90s. Similarly, he said, college movies’ prominence in the box office will eventually wind down to nothing.

“I don’t see much of a future,” Koplinski said. “They’ll just stop being made.”

If Koplinski is right – if these movies really are getting worse and worse – then it’s just a matter of time before college movies cease to be shown in theaters and maybe suffer the curse of direct-to-DVD movies, then rise into the spotlight once again, restoring the genre John Belushi embodied.