Let’s be frank: trying to make friends in high school is no joke. Kids can be very cliquey and straight up don’t want to add strange new people into their tight-knit groups. High schoolers can be mean to others because high school is a giant pit of hormones and insecurity, and some kids try to bring other people down to make themselves feel better. It can be hard to find peers in high school who share your interests because teenagers aren’t very open-minded. However, when you get to college, it’s all a different story. Students come from all walks of life, so you’ll be sure to find at least someone that shares your interests, people have no time for petty drama anymore, and people have to reach out and make new friends because they are in a group of all new people. But best of all, you get to reinvent yourself and find friends who will truly accept you no matter what. The difference between making friends in high school and making friends in college is represented beautifully by the Simpsons’ episode, “The Summer of 4 Ft. 2.”
On the last day of school, Lisa Simpson is heartbroken when no one signs her yearbook, while Bart gets autographs from everyone. She feels devastated that despite all her achievements, she is not considered “popular,” and feels very discouraged and friendless. This is illustrative of what trying to make friends in high school is like because sometimes, it feels like despite everything you do, despite all you accomplish, it’s still not enough for other people and they don’t actually care enough to try to give you a chance and get to know you. People in high school can be pretty closed-minded, or since everyone has gone to school together since kindergarten, have a preconceived notion they’ve built of you over the years. It can be pretty discouraging because it feels like you are fighting an uphill battle against everyone’s idea of you, and no matter how hard you try to break out of that box, it doesn’t work.
Later on, while getting ready to go on vacation, Lisa asks her mom why she has no friends. Marge says that she could be Lisa’s friend. While Lisa appreciates Marge’s offer, she says that she needs friends her own age. Marge assures Lisa that she’ll make plenty of friends, she just has to be herself, to which Lisa remarks, “I’ve been myself for eight years and it hasn’t worked.” This is relatable because a lot of times, when we’re struggling to make friends and fit in in high school, a lot of times, adults will tell us, “Oh, just be yourself and you’ll be fine,” and while that advice is well-meaning, adults tend to forget how hostile the social scene in high school can be. There is a lot of pressure to change who you are to fit in and conform to the social standards set to be accepted by other kids. Also, when you’ve been yourself, and it still seems like no one wants to be friends with you, you can feel hopeless. It can make you feel like there must be something wrong with you, that no one wants to be friends with you. Lisa decides to unpack her bag by getting rid of all the stuff she decided to bring and angrily questions all of it. After all, what’s the point if all the stuff she likes hasn’t won her any friends?
Later on, when the Simpsons are on vacation, Lisa tells Marge that she oh-so conveniently forgot to pack. Marge takes Lisa to the store to get her some new clothes for the beach, but all of the clothes she’s suggesting are for little kids, which Lisa is trying to avoid. She manages to get a cool new look and goes off to find some kids. She manages to find some, and after a bit of a rough start trying to introduce herself to them, she manages to hit it off, and they hang out a lot together throughout the course of that vacation. They skateboard, Lisa shares her love of nature with them, and one of them even gives Lisa a friendship bracelet, which Lisa appreciates since she feels like finally has real friends.
Unfortunately for Lisa, Bart is lime-green jello because he’s used to being Mr. Popular, and he’s suddenly considered second-fiddle to Lisa. His jealousy reaching a peak, he attempts to ruin Lisa’s friendships–and her popularity, by exposing who she really is to her friends by showing them her yearbook. Humiliated, Lisa runs off in tears.
The next day, Lisa still feels hurt about the events of the night before. She confronts Bart about what he did to her, and he tries to defend himself. Her family goes to the carnival, where she and Bart continue to fight. Finally, feeling sick of her brother being mean to her, she leaves. She feels like she was never meant to have friends, and that Bart will never let her shed her nerdy persona. However, when she gets back to the beach house, she finds out that her friends have decorated her family’s car with seashells! When Lisa asks why they would do such a thing for her, they say, “Look, we don’t care who you were, you can’t fake the kind of good person that you are.” This leads me to what it’s like to make friendships in college. In college, people don’t care about petty things like past drama or trying to be “popular.” The person that you were during your high school years doesn’t matter to them. It doesn’t matter if you were an unpopular dorky nerd, all that matters is your personality, and if you actually are kind to people. Also, people from college come from all walks of life and have all kinds of interests. With such a diverse group of people, sooner or later, you’ll find people who share the same interests as you.
To sum things up, “The Summer of 4 Ft. 2” represents the difference between making friends in high school versus college because it shows how in college, people are more willing to accept you for who you actually are. When Lisa realized how unpopular she was because no one signed her yearbook, that represents how in high school, people don’t bother trying to get to know the real you, all they care about is their preconception of you. When Lisa’s beach friends still accept her even after they learned about her true nerdy self, that represents how in college, people don’t care about dumb petty stuff like your social status, all they care about is the person you are. So if you had a hard time making friends in high school, don’t worry, sooner or later, you’ll find your people in college.