Tuesday, June 2, 2015

DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)

I recently acquired a copy of the movie “The DUFF”. Watching that movie, I felt a lot of feels and there was just this weird vibe of emotions flowing upon me. I don’t know. I personally think that the movie was like any average silly teen movie, but it was very relatable to me because it was definitely something I experienced going through high school.

Like any other teenager, I was a very curious teen who wanted so much adventure in life. It was a little hard considering that I am a very conservative and introverted person. It took a while for me to find the courage to just break free. To be honest, the stage of breaking free only occurred to me now that I am in college, but it definitely began when I was in my senior year.

In the movie, Bianca Piper was labeled as the DUFF of their group. Honestly, I never thought that a DUFF was a thing. I mean, I always noticed that among all my other friends, I was the least attractive. And I do have experiences where people would approach me just to get the details about a person in my group of friends. It was fine by me. I actually thought that it was a pretty cool thing because that meant that I had all their secrets. So for all those people out there hating on the movie because it looked unrealistic, I am here right now admitting that I WAS THE DUFF OF OUR GROUP. And it definitely was never a bad thing. DUFF is just a label, a stereotype. It’s not necessarily 100% accurate. Not all geeks have big glasses and braces. I mean, it’s the 21st century everybody!! Since when was stereotyping still a thing?!

I didn’t have to be ugly to be the DUFF, I just had to be the lesser and naïve one. And I was. High school was a great experience for me. Although, I had a hard time fitting in and finding the real “me”, it was great because I had all these friends that knew me so well. And they’re all still my friends now. And it’s great. But watching the movie, it reminded me of how terrible my ex-best friend was to me. That was what really made me shed a tear.

“Please, Wes. You’re embarrassed to be seen with me at school. Okay? It’s just— This is an experiment. And it worked for you, but it didn’t work for me, so let’s just forget it, okay?” – Bianca to Wes

This was the scene that truly reminded me of high school. I had a best friend once who was a basketball player. He was a great guy. He was captain, MVP and a chick magnet. A lot like Wes, but more serious and clever than his character. This scene completely devastated me because it really did happen to me. My best friend was really embarrassed of me because he doesn’t want to be seen with me (a DUFF). He was so terrified that anyone would find out the truth that he actually asked me to lie to people about our friendship. It was TERRIBLE. Thinking about what happened actually makes me want to cry until this day. It wasn’t the most amazing friendship of my life. To think that we actually treated each other as best friends yet no one could know. It sucked.

I’m no longer friends with him now. Honestly, I don’t know where he is anymore. Maybe he’s dead? I don’t know. All I know is that he wasn’t a very good friend. I still want the best for him, but— I’m over defending him. I’ve been defending his actions for over seven years now. I’m stupid. And now, I’m not anymore. I hope that one day he learns how terrible of a person he used to be.

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