As mine, and many others, freshman year of college comes to an end, Netflix’s new movie Roommates had one, or many aspects, that every freshman could relate to. Whether it was not fitting into your pre-o, struggling to make it into the groupchats, trying to get into parties, having a situationship that seems like the end of the world, or just wearing the classic white going out top and jeans.
The movie starts off with Devon just wanting to meet her ‘ride or die’ best friend and find her people, and it was definitely a feeling I experienced over this year; coming to college and thinking you’re going to meet your people and feeling this immense feeling of desperation.
While TikTok is blowing up with how relatable Devon was, it also taught me so many crucial things about being a freshman I can testify to being true, and wish I knew before hand.
At the start of the movie, Celeste and Devon seemed like the perfect duo, but that did not make them the perfect roommates, and while there were various factors that contributed to the downfall of their relationship, by Devon being so excited to meet her forever best friend in college, she often failed to communicate her boundaries because she was scared to lose her ‘best friend’.
For instance, at the start of the film, Celeste posted a photo with Devon’s anti depressants she had already mentioned was not something she wanted publicized, but Devon never explicitly told Celeste after the photo had been posted how that made her uncomfortable. The idea of being upset with someone you care about and not knowing how to effectively communicate it is HARD, especially when you’re living with them! It becomes second nature to keep telling yourself ‘it’s not that bad…’ or ‘I’ll say something next time’, and it’s hard to understand how to effectively communicate when you’re constantly sharing a space with that person.
As a freshman, the experience of sharing a room with someone who is not a family member is completely unfamiliar, and there isn’t a ‘guide’ on how to navigate it, but Roommates come pretty close to knowing what red flags to look out for!