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Angus

In this 1995 film about high school life and the seemingly impossible ambition of students to fit in, one teenager defies expectations and challenges the very essence of normality. This movie is important because it stresses that it is not our similarities, but our differences that keep our lives so unique and so challenging. It is also our differences that inspire us to rise above these challenges and to strive for something exceptional in life.

Angus faces the same challenges any high school teenager goes through with parents, athletics and academics. However, the number one struggle he faces is not only an inward one to find out who he is, but an outward one as well. Angus is overweight and no one in his high school, including football star Rick Sanford (James Van Der Beek), will ever let him forget it. From mental bullying to practical jokes, Rick is out to remind Angus that his difference is a bad thing. However, when he rigs a dance so that Angus becomes King, he does not realize the strength and persistence that the “fat kid” has to face humiliation and come out of it unharmed. Together with his grandfather (George C. Scott), mother (Kathy Bates) and his best friend, Angus sets out on a journey to learn perseverance, courage and most of all, how to dance.

One of the best quotes in the movie comes from Angus’s grandfather when he is describing to his grandson what true courage is. He says, “Superman isn't brave. He’s smart, handsome, even decent. But he's not brave. Superman is indestructible, and you can't be brave if you're indestructible.” Although all Angus wants to do throughout the movie is to “be normal,” through the people who he truly cares about he realizes that there is no such thing. Everybody longs to fit in; everyone dreams that the things they do not like about themselves will one day disappear. But the fact is that without our differences, we would lose ourselves and who we are. Our differences are what give us strength; our uniqueness is what encourages us and the fact that we all face the same challenge in different ways is what ultimately forms the bond between us.

Written by: Amy Hillard

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