I've had mixed feelings about the movie The Duff since I first saw the trailer about a year ago. While I usually love a cheesy teen movie, I couldn't get past a phrase that kept being repeated.
Duff.
Designated Ugly Fat Friend.
Since when has this been a thing? Are there really girls out there that think this way, or was this some sort of Hollywood ploy to make sure this film became culturally relevant, by inserting a new slang word into everyone's vernacular?
I've always been an over thinker, so I just assumed I was just overreacting and forgot about this movie. Until, I saw this:
In what world is Kylie Jenner anyone's ugly fat friend?
When The Duff hit theaters, I knew I had to see it. Not because I genuinely wanted to, but because I needed to see if it was as terrible as I thought it would be. I wasn't expecting it to have any redeeming moments, but I was surprised. There are lots of funny bits with Ken Jeong, who plays the lead character's favorite teacher, and with Alison Janney, Bianca's motivational speaker of a mother. Although there were these few redeeming moments, this movie still fails to convey a mixed message about self-acceptance.
Bianca, played by Mae Whitman, is a carefree and quirky high school senior. Although very confident at the beginning of the movie, Bianca's pride takes a serious blow when she is told by the stereotypical hot jock/boy next door Wesley that she is the DUFF to her two best friends. In order to “save" her senior year, Bianca makes a deal with Wesley: In exchange for some tutoring, he must agree to “Un-duff" her.
These are some of the observations I made while watching The Duff. Yes, I took notes while watching this movie. I know, I am a loser.
What kind of high school do these kids go to?
Girls are rocking crop tops and wedges. Couples are randomly having hot and heavy make out sessions. What kind of weird, over-sexualized high school do these kids go to? I may have gone to high school in the Bible Belt, but I never witnessed anyone act like this during school. Do they not have a dress code? Do they really wear heels to class? I guess this unrealistic version of high school is what happens when out of touch forty year olds try to write movies for younger generations.
The Duff wouldn't be the traditional high school movie without the archetypal mean girl. Madison isn't just a mean girl though: She's a full-blown sociopath. She is horrible to her friends and only uses her boyfriend for attention. To make her even crazier, she releases an embarrassing video of the main character, Bianca online that ends up going viral. If something like that happened in real life, there would be expulsions and lawsuits. Instead there are just a bunch of hallway high-fives.
The Ugly Duckling trope is getting old.
The let-the-hot-guy-give-you-a-makeover story has been around for a while. Think Pygmalion. Or My Fair Lady. Or She's All That. Even Clueless. I could give you an entire list of chick flicks that follow this cliché format. I understand that this is an easy trope to write, but why aren't we getting tired of seeing it? Why are we still making movies in which the female character is only seeking to improve herself for some bum ass dude? Bianca is smart. She is passionate about science, loves gory zombie movies, and has a penchant for plaid shirts—something I can relate to on a spiritual level. Bianca is the most three-dimensional character of the entire movie, but she wants to change to win the favor of a guy.
Bianca is neither ugly nor fat.
I've had a severe girl crush on Mae Whitman for as long as I can remember (RIP Parenthood). One thing I've always liked about Mae is that she isn't the most conventional Hollywood actress. She's about 5'1" and somewhere between 120-130 lbs. She is tiny. Let me put this in to perspective for you: The average—and I use that term very loosely—eighteen-year-old girl is around 5'6" and weighs around 140-160 lbs. Bianca is smaller than the majority of The Duff's target audience.
What kind of message does this movie send a girl struggling with accepting her own body image? What does it say to a girl who may be larger than 5'1" and 130lbs that this is the new standard of what Hollywood deems fat? With all of the scrutiny the media has faced for body shaming, you would think that they would avoid perpetuating negative body image. However, deeming a woman who has a smaller than average build, “fat" does a lot more damage than the producers could have intended.
We have a long way to go.
At the end of the movie, Bianca stands up to the bully, owns who she is, and gets the guy. Awesome. You go girl. While I'm glad that Bianca stood up for herself, the message is still muddled. Instead of putting a stop to this hurtful label, instead of encouraging her peers to be proud of themselves, she tells them that they are ALL duffs as well. Then ensues everyone in the crowd embracing their “duffness." Seriously?
It's 2015. Granted, I think that it's great that Bianca realized she was more than an accessory to her traditionally attractive friends. But why are we still writing movies that do this? Why couldn't Bianca have embraced her awesomeness earlier on in the movie? And why did her validating moment happen at the “Big Dance," like every other movie about high school ever?
Look, I get it. I'm sure that this was intended to be a movie about embracing one's flaws, about being comfortable in your own skin. But the film really missed an opportunity to address the negative body stereotypes seen in Hollywood.
