Angus (film) - Themes

Themes

During the film, Angus takes counsel from two people: Troy Wedberg, a small and geeky boy who attempts to turn Angus into a "large pathetic virgin with a new look" by giving Angus an edgier style and encouraging him to exercise in hopes that Angus will look more attractive; and Angus' grandfather, an assured yet narcoleptic crank who readies himself to marry a woman thirty years his junior, who encourages Angus to go to the ball by ordering him to stop caring about what everyone else will think of him and his pairing with the popular Melissa. Thus we are introduced to two opposing ideals of which Angus must choose: Adopt a new personality that would give him the long-term acceptance he longs, or overcome his shame and accept himself as a unique individual. The question is exemplified in a scene where Angus, Grampa, and Troy shop in a tuxedo store, where the only suit available in Angus' size comes in the color of plum. Troy mocks the suit ("Put it on a dead guy and bury it.") while Angus begs Grampa to buy a more "socially acceptable" black suit even though all of the store's available black suits fit him too tightly. Grampa, however, insists that the suit will benefit Angus by making him even more "different."

The film also features a recurring symbolism based around an experiment Angus conducts in hopes of getting into the science school. This is introduced in Angus's science class, where he posits that a foreign element introduced into a homogeneous system will be rejected and destroyed. He puts a drop of a red substance into an environment composed solely of a blue substance, and the red element explodes in a puff of smoke. This is later directly related to Angus's own attempts to be himself in the largely homogeneous high school crowd. In one scene, an overhead shot reveals that Angus is the only person wearing red at a pep rally full of students wearing the school color (blue).

At the end of the film, Angus further explains the experiment, in how in some rare situations the red substance is not destroyed by the blue, but overcomes it and radically alters the base which is symbolized by the plum purple tuxedo Angus wears during the climax of the film.

Noteworthy is the performance of newcomer Charlie Talbert, who was scouted in an Illinois Wendy's, as the title character and the interaction between Angus and his grandfather (Scott), whose philosophy can be summed up in his recurring line: "Screw 'em!"