Jennifer Jackson
Assistant Editor
“The Duff” is a charming teen comedy based on the novel by Kody Keplinger, featuring Mae Whitman (“Arrested Development,” “Parenthood”) as the main character, Bianca.
Bianca is a spunky high school senior whose world turns upside down when she finds out she is known by the student body as a “duff.”
Duff is an acronym for “designated ugly fat friend.” A duff is someone in a group of friends that is the least good looking and the most approachable. The duff is used to make the surrounding friends look better.
Upon learning of her new identity as a duff, Bianca questions the loyalty of her two best friends and decides to “unfriend” them from every social media site.
She decides to enlist help from her neighbor Wesley, a popular jock on campus, to reinvent her image and help win her a date with her crush, Toby.
Naturally, Wesley’s psycho ex-girlfriend is the “popular” girl on campus, Madison, played by Bella Thorne (“Shake It Up!”, “Blended”), and becomes jealously suspicious of Bianca and Wesley spending time together and aims to destroy Bianca’s life.
The characters in this film have stereotypical personalities and traits of high school students.
Bianca is average-sized, smart, dorky, and independent. She dresses in t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. Madison is skinny, self-centered and obnoxious; she dresses fashionably. Madison and Wesley were considered a power couple, even though neither is academically smart.
Bianca is also a writer for her school paper, and must cover the subject of Homecoming. She must choose to make the best out of the drama that she is involved in and come out stronger.
This film is heavy with stereotypical high school drama, like who will win Homecoming Queen and King, and social media references, like YouTube. An embarrassing video of Bianca was made and sent to everyone in the school by Madison and posted online with the hopes of going viral on YouTube.
Bianca learns to appreciate who she is, and apologizes to her two best friends. Her best friends tell her how everyone has insecurities that they deal with and that she is not alone.
They help design and sew Bianca a one-of–a-kind dress, and together the three girls go to Homecoming together.
This act of confidence shows that embarrassing viral videos and boy drama cannot keep Bianca from having fun and being herself.
Even though I am no longer in my teen years, I still felt I could relate to the tragedies of the average American teenager, like wanting to be noticed by a crush, or insecurities with body image.
Like most teen films such as “The Breakfast Club” or “Sixteen Candles,” “The Duff” shows how it is important to love oneself and be comfortable in one’s own skin.
This film projected a positive image for its predominant teenage girl audience. It used comedy to acknowledge serious issues like bullying, self-worth and heartache.
Girls should not be basing their beauty off of other’s opinions, and compare it with the relative beauty of their friends.
I looked up the term “duff” in urban dictionary because I had never heard of the term before, and to my entertaining dismay, it exists; however, the entries date back to the early ‘00s.
Though it’s not a term often heard, it gained the author, Keplinger’s attention when her friend was once asked if she was the duff of her social circle. This gave her the inspiration for the novel.
Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jennifer.jackson2@laverne.edu.
