It is almost Spring Break and all students are buzzing with excitement! My roommates and I are particularly excited for the week off this year because we are traveling “across the pond” to have a grand British adventure. My exposure to British culture has come from a variety of people and places, obviously including One Direction, the Kensington Royal Instagram and The Great British Bake Off. However, like many others, my greatest source of life advice and experience of British culture during those gracefully awkward middle school years was Nickelodeon’s finest film, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
The movie follows its undeniably lovable protagonist, Georgia, who always seems to find herself in the most embarrassing situations. She’s uncomfortable in her own adolescent skin and has many different insecurities that the young female audience could relate to. When a transfer student arrives at her school from London, she makes it her mission to make him fall in love with her. She faces a multitude of unconventional obstacles and makes a fool of herself on more than one occasion, but she’s just so dang lovable that we see past her character flaws. The movie discusses all the middle school hot topics that have to do with crushes, friend groups and puberty. It is hilariously awkward, yet it taught us so much.
Lesson 1: First and foremost, Angus is her cat (the girl’s name is Georgia) and snogging is British slang for kissing.
Lesson 2: Aaron Taylor-Johnson has always been cute.
Lesson 3: Calling your significant other “muppet” is both endearing and insulting.
Lesson 4: Too much PDA is gross. Everyone please stop.
Lesson 5: All boys are the same and they are ridiculously confusing. Do they even know what they want? Sometimes you just need to cry about it while Mom plays with your hair.
Lesson 6: We were all the same middle school girl.
Lesson 7: We were/are also all insanely dramatic.
Lesson 8: There is more to life than the size of your waist, the color of your hair and the bra you wear.
Lesson 9: Don’t self-tan if you don’t know what you’re doing. You might end up with Cheeto Puffs for legs.
Lesson 10: Selfishness is unattractive. Sometimes your scheme to get the guy turns you into a person that neither of you like anymore.
Lesson 11: You probably shouldn’t dress like an olive for Halloween. You will definitely make an entrance, but maybe not the kind you were expecting.
Lesson 12: Do not, I repeat do not, take kissing lessons no matter how desparate you are to learn. Wikihow exists for a reason. Please do not let sweater vest kid teach you about french kissing.
Lesson 13: Find a boy that will have a full air guitar rock concert with you. You want a goofy guy that will be himself.
Lesson 14: Get yourself a girl group like this one. Don’t be afraid to be silly and dance. Spending life being constantly embarassed is such a boring and limiting way to live.
Lesson 15: SELF LOVE. You are perfect just the way you are. You look perfect simply because you look like yourself. There is no need to change your appearance to please anybody else. You will find someone who loves you as you are.
Thank you to this iconic movie for teaching our middle school selves so much about the world and what it means to be confident. It also gave us plenty of both good and bad tips for navigating the world of young love and new relationships. We hope someday you find your very own Robby. More importantly, we hope you learn to love yourself like Georgia does—fully and unapologetically. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, what are you doing? Go watch it right now!