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Adolescence is a time for emotional growth as well as physical. Along with that growth, there is also socialization with peers that becomes a support system for your adolescent years. However, like with most things, there comes the bad with the good. The Duff provides an example of how socialization can impact an adolescent. The movie is based off the book which was written by at the time, 17-year-old Kody Keplinger. The story is about a 17-year-old senior in high school who finds out she is the Designated Ugly Fat Friend (DUFF) for her two best friends.
The story follows her through her internal conflict of finding out how the rest of school sees her, and she ends up pairing up with her childhood friend, Wesley to get rid of her Duff status. During their time together, they ended up falling for each other. While this is a very exaggerated story, the film does a good job of representing the social interactions between peers at this age.
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The film touches on things like: self-esteem, dependence on social media, popularity, cyber bullying, and even peer groups.
However, since it’s a film, there is a unique addition to that about the age of the actors that play these 17-year-old high schoolers and the effect that it has on real adolescents. While The Duff provides a humorous and relatable story, there are some gaps between the story and reality for most adolescence and some negative impacts that the film could have. Self Esteem For many adolescents, self-esteem is always a constant battle that they fight.
In the film, Bianca, the main character gets a self-esteem blow after finding out how the school sees her as the designated ugly fat friend. Adolescent girls are more concerned with their weight than adolescent boys, this follows them throughout life. The film however did not have unattractive people, and that is one of the problems with having adults play teenagers. When teens watch this, they could have this new idea of what they are “supposed” to look like. This is dangerous for adolescents because of how detrimental the effects of weight concerns and low self-esteem can be on someone. Not only did the film have adults playing teens, the film also had attractive people in each role. Even Bianca, who was the “DUFF” was an attractive woman, who was not overweight in any capacity, and developed far beyond most teens. The woman who played Bianca at the time the film was released was 27. That’s a 10-year age gap between what age she is supposed to be playing and the age she actually is. The illusion this displays is that at this age, you are going to have perfect skin and be fully developed. While this is more dangerous for girls, it can also give boys a very negative self-esteem with how they look versus what they see in the media. The long-term effects of a negative self-esteem can lead to many detrimental effects.
An interesting dynamic seen within this film is how Bianca’s mother doesn’t help with the self-esteem battle that she was experiencing until the very end after Bianca has figured out who she wants to be and goes through her transformation. While parent responsiveness cannot interrupt the cycle of low self-esteem and future weight concerns/issues, it’s worth noting that girls’ benefit from a mothers’ responsiveness regarding self-esteem. In this film you don’t see very much intervention from parents to their teen’s poor behavior in the school. This is another reason where it may not be as relatable to real life for these adolescents watching. Overall, adolescents should be played by adolescents in films and not by adults. While the film shows dips in self-esteem, it doesn’t show the long-term effects of it nor does it express how severe the effects of low self-esteem can have on an adolescent. Self-esteem can affect multiple parts of an adolescent’s life and future development.
Peer Groups Socialization is an important part of a teen’s development. Part of that socialization typically includes a peer group. The peer group becomes the source of support and can help with forming one’s identity. Bianca’s peer group were her best friends that supported her through all of her endeavors but, once they got into their argument, her peer group was no more. She did not have anyone except for her frenemy. Peer groups help with a teens self-esteem as well as gives them a sense of belonging. However, within peer groups there’s usually some sort of hierarchy of each member place within the group. Within The Duff it was expressed that the members of each group were higher up the hierarchy based on their attractiveness and the member who was labeled as a “DUFF” would be at the bottom of the chain. Within groups there are typically differences in self-esteem as well which is something that was seen in the film. Having a peer group gives this new sense of respect that is deserved based on being a member of a group. This was seen with Madison, who was on all accounts the top dog in the school. She was responsible for a majority of the bullying done toward Bianca and established herself as the top of the hierarchy. With social comparison theory, it elaborates on the concept of being an outcast. If you are a member of a peer group your self-esteem will be higher than if you see yourself or others see you as an outsider. Being considered an outsider can lead to a decrease in self-esteem. The film provided an accurate representation of how important peer groups are to the development and emotional health to teens. However, the drama and the bullying were problematic when looking at adolescents now in today’s society.
Dependence on Internet In recent years there has been an increase of social media and internet use which has led to an increase of cyber bullying. The internet has brought people together from all over the globe, however along with that, the addiction to social media and the internet has caused a variety of problems with adolescents today. During the time of adolescence, socialization is so important and finding your peer groups are milestones for your development. In the film, there is a scene where the principal decides to take away everyone’s access to the internet for the day due to an embarrassing and incriminating video of Bianca being released. It caused an uproar among the high school. The amount of internet use can be concerning when looking at how addictive it can be. The dependence on the internet has caused a difference in how adolescence interact with peers as well as caused concerns with how the internet can be used. With the film, it was clear that your social status and worth relied on how others saw you on social media. It also promoted ideas of cyberbullying in the film.
The internet has positive components to it, however it also has not so positive impacts on adolescents. With the increased use of the internet, it has given an even more aggressive way for bullies to have access to those they want. Typically, adolescent girls are the ones who are responsible for the cyber bullying that occurs. The Duff presented how fast negative things can spread. The video of Bianca in the store where she was dancing and acting inappropriately with a mannequin, was edited and then posted everywhere. The whole school knew about it within a few hours and the views kept coming in. This is a great example of how cyberbullying could manifest and the impact it can have on someone. However, in the film Bianca reconnected with her peer group and then one of her best friends who is tech savvy was able to get the video taken down by hacking the system. Unfortunately, this is not realistic. Usually when a video or a picture are released, it’s nearly impossible to take down. It can follow an individual around for years. In the film, the video was taken down. In real life, this typically doesn’t happen. The school eventually forgot and moved on from the video. What the movie didn’t show is the negative bullying and rumors that can take place and how that can lead to a negative self-esteem and poor mental health. Teens have taken their lives due to the negative impact that cyberbullying had on them. With the access to social media platforms at their fingertips and a screen to hide behind, it’s no surprise that cyber bullying is on the rise. While the film provided a good insight on how fast social media works and how fast cyberbullying can happen, since the video was taken down, there was little to do with it past that part in the film. Madison, the popular girl in the film, was the one who was responsible for a majority of the cyberbullying which kept her at the top of the hierarchy.
When talking about adolescence, it is easy to think of the hierarchy that takes place within peer groups and with the age group as a whole. The psychology of popularity is very interesting in the sense of how obvious it seems. As humans, we want to be with people we are similar to and that is no different for an adolescent. People in this age group are more likely to choose to be around people who are the same gender as them. Related to peer groups, popularity of an individual is influenced by their peer’s popularity. Along with that, popularity can lead to a higher self-esteem. This was shown in the film with Bianca and her friends. She was invited to things because her peer group was popular as well as she was sort of known by the school because of who she hung out with. This is a perfect example of how peer groups and popularity can influence and interact with each other.
Overall, The Duff was a humorous and insightful take on adolescence and the way that peers interact with each other. While every experience is different, the film gave an interesting perspective on the transformation of Bianca and her becoming confident with who she is. However, the fact that adults were playing the roles of high schoolers can lead to some problems. Teens who watch the film will see how developed the actors are and relate that to how developed they should be at X years old. Not to mention: acne free, fully developed, perfect hair, skinny, etc. This can lead to lower self-esteem which leads to a whole other list of problems. It’s important that when making films about adolescents, the cast includes main cast members of that age. When looking at the different themes of this movie, they all relate to each other in some way. This is similar in real life. Different aspects of a teen’s life can influence their self-esteem. Adolescence is a strange time for development and growth and it’s important to recognize all of the factors that can influence teens during this transition.
Different Aspects Of a Teen’s Life in The Duff Movie. (2024, Feb 04). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/different-aspects-of-a-teen-s-life-in-the-duff-movie-essay
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