7 — Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Moth event unites 
through storytelling

By BENJAMIN ROSENSTOCK

For The Daily

If nothing else, “The DUFF” 

illustrates the ability of truly 
capable actors to redeem limp 
comedic mate-
rial. In almost 
every way, the 
new film from 
director 
Ari 

Sandel 
(the 

Oscar-winning 
short 
film 

“West 
Bank 

Story”) is forgettable, peppered 
with teen movie clichés and 
recycled rom-com plots, but 
its cast elevates even the direst 
jokes.

Written by Josh A. Cagan (the 

underrated “Bandslam”), “The 
DUFF” puts forth the idea that 
each friend group in high school 
includes a “DUFF”: the “Desig-
nated Ugly Fat Friend.” Mae 
Whitman (“Parenthood”) plays 
Bianca, who discovers that she 
is the DUFF of her group, and 
cuts off all ties with her best 
friends, Jess (Skyler Samuels, 
“American Horror Story: Freak 
Show”) and Casey (Bianca A. 
Santos, “The Fosters”). Seek-
ing to become successful in 
her own dating life instead of 
simply being the approachable, 
less attractive friend, Bianca 
arranges a deal with childhood 
friend and football quarterback 
Wesley Rush (Robbie Amell, 
“The Flash”). In exchange for 
Bianca’s 
help 
with 
passing 

chemistry, Wes will teach her 
how to land her crush.

If you think you know where 

this is going, you’re probably 
right; Bianca begins to wonder 
if Wes is actually the one for 
her, and the standard rom-com 
beats follow. Luckily, Whitman 
and Amell are fantastic in their 
roles, each lending a self-aware-
ness to offset their stereotypi-
cal roles: the flannel-wearing, 
Japanese-cult-horror-movie-
watching quirky girl and the 
obnoxious jock man-whore (a 
phrase the film uses a number 
of times), respectively. Bianca’s 
scenes of nervous mumble-
flirting could be grating based 
on Cagan’s script, but Whit-
man makes the character both 
self-deprecating and genuinely 
concerned about her social 
image. Her facial expressions 
and physical movements alone 

are enough to make the char-
acter immediately endearing. 
Every scene between Bianca 
and Wesley crackles with unex-
pected chemistry, assisted by 
Wes’s continual failure to stifle 
his laughter when Bianca makes 
dumb jokes.

One begins to wish the movie 

could just be 100 minutes of 
Bianca and Wesley hanging 
out, because most of the film’s 
conflict feels forced. Jess and 
Casey never suggest any malev-
olence in their friendship with 
Bianca, so the disintegration of 
the group dynamic feels hol-
low and pointless. Jess’s sole 
distinguishing quality is that 
she’s a future fashion design-
er, and Casey’s one quality is 
that she likes hacking. These 
hobbies, instead of suggesting 
inner lives for the characters, 
function as plot conveniences. 
Same goes for Madison (Bella 
Thorne, “Shake It Up”), Wes’s 
on-and-off girlfriend who never 
achieves complexity like Regi-
na George from “Mean Girls” 
or other queen-of-the-school 
characters 
in 
teen 
movies. 

Madison is a bland antagonist, 
stirring up trouble and embar-
rassing Bianca whenever she 
gets the chance, and she’s so 
unlikable that it’s impossible to 
find her “what the shit” catch-
phrase or desperate desire for 
fame remotely funny.

Sandel cultivates an amica-

ble energy to the proceedings, 
though he generally doesn’t do 
much to give the film its own 
distinct personality aside from 

occasional over-the-top fanta-
sy sequences. His scenes with 
Whitman and Amell, though, 
seem more genuine and real, 
relying on fun banter and fly-
ing sparks instead of pandering 
quirks like the name-dropping 
of social media apps. One might 
be tempted to read into the 
inherent misogyny of a man 
teaching a woman how to dress 
and be more appealing to men, 
especially because the other 
end of the deal — Bianca lend-
ing Wes her chemistry notes 
— hardly equals the extensive 
training Wes gives Bianca. The 
early scenes reflect this imbal-
ance; Amell is much taller than 
the 5’1” Whitman, and as they 
walk together on the track, 
Bianca begging Wes to help 
her, he towers over her in the 
frame. Luckily, their dynamic 
changes. The film’s best scene, 
in which Bianca and Wes sit 
together on ‘Think Rock’ and 
have a deep conversation, is 
framed so that Wes and Bianca 
are level with each other. This 
ups the sexual tension due to 
their proximity, but it also sub-
tly shows how their dynamic 
has shifted.

The movie culminates in a 

bland ‘be yourself’ scene at the 
homecoming dance, like “Mean 
Girls” but without the punch 
of catharsis. It’s a shame that 
“The DUFF” brings nothing 
new to the table, but it should, 
at least, send a clear message 
to comedy writers everywhere: 
put Mae Whitman and Robbie 
Amell in more movies.

LIONSGATE AND CBS FILMS

“Her?”

FILM NOTEBOOK

By JACOB RICH

Daily Film Editor

This was the year I was going 

to be ready for the damn Oscars. 
For the first time ever, I had seen 
every single Best Picture nomi-
nee. I filled out a predictions 
checklist. I ordered pizza. I even 
invited real, talking, breathing 
people over to my house (a rar-
ity) to watch it with me. I was 
ready for everything. Everything 
except for the Oscars being total-
ly boring. 

Did the event even have a host? 

Neil Patrick Harris was certainly 
in attendance, but his charm, 
wit and soul were all painfully 
absent. His pun-heavy jokes were 
entirely lame, and his “predic-
tions” shtick with Octavia Spen-
cer, while first appearing to be a 

cool Barney Stinson-esque string-
along magic trick, went absolute-
ly nowhere. The one truly funny 
gag he pulled (the very clever 
“Birdman” 
and 
“Whiplash” 

mash-up skit with Miles Teller) 
lacked NPH flair; any Oscar host 
could have performed it. His safe, 
unfunny performance was espe-
cially disappointing in compari-
son to his fabulous track record 
hosting the Tony Awards, where 
his immense talent can be unfil-
tered, rather than tragically held 
back by an Academy somehow 
still reeling from a way-out-there, 
actually funny Seth MacFarlane 
in 2013. 

But it wasn’t just the host who 

was boring. The awards them-
selves were underachieving. The 
only picks that were remotely 
surprising were “Birdman” ’s 

many wins over “Boyhood” (not 
even that surprising given “Bird-
man” ’s late-game dominance 
at the SAG Awards) and the vic-
tory of Alexandre Desplat’s “The 
Grand Budapest Hotel” score 
over the others. Every other vic-
tory was given to the safe and 
sensible choice. Perhaps that’s a 
good thing. It’s good to see the 
Academy voters give out awards 
to recipients that pretty univer-
sally make sense. Selfishly, I was 
hoping that a few more black 
sheep would win big, but alas, it 
seems that this year especially, 
the Oscars are about as main-
stream as awards shows get. 

There was a grand total of one 

thing that surprised during the 
2015 ceremony, and that was Lady 
Gaga. Her mind-blowing surprise 
tribute to Julie Andrews for the 

50th anniversary of “The Sound 
of Music” was not only incredi-
bly on-point musically, but clear-
ly heartfelt — you could feel the 
amount of love and respect Gaga 
had for Andrews’s work emanat-
ing from her set. The normally 
flamboyant, 
overly-sexualized 

Gaga was simply poised and 
powerful here, showing a com-
pletely different side of her tal-
ent than the public is used to. 
Consider me now vastly inter-
ested in her recent work with 
Tony Bennett — according to my 
girlfriend, similar levels of non-
pop Gaga talent are showcased 
there. Anyway, the moment was 
only sweetened when Andrews 
herself stepped out and the 
crowd went absolutely bonkers. 

Despite the show’s stubborn 

insistence on being unmemo-

rable and staid, certain award 
recipients decided to actually 
take on a bit of daring, deliver-
ing some powerful acceptance 
speeches. Notable ones included 
Common and John Legend’s 
(Best Original Song, “Glory” 
from “Selma”) rousing com-
mentary on current activism, 
as well as Patricia Arquette’s 
(Best Supporting Actress, “Boy-
hood”) plea for equalizing the 
gender pay gap. Most salient 
of all was Alejandro González 
Iñarritu’s 
(“Birdman”) 
clos-

ing Best Picture acceptance 
speech, in which he encouraged 
the nation to think differently 
about Mexican immigration — a 
rare message indeed to hear on 
mainstream television. If the 
show itself had been half as dar-
ing as these inspiring speeches, 

it would have been one of the 
better shows in Oscar history. 
Unfortunately, the awards tried 
far too hard to please everyone, 
ending up a total snore. 

P.S.: Where the hell was the 

remembrance for Joan Rivers 
during the “in memoriam” seg-
ment? What a horrible, disre-
spectful oversight.

IFC FILMS

Daydreaming of losing big at the Oscars.

Monthly Ann Arbor 
event a showcase for 
personal narratives

By KAREN HUA 

Daily TV/New Media Editor

Fluorescent colors illuminated 

the ice as they steamed from neon 
signs. Even before the show, Cir-
cus Bar had us wound up in a line 
that stretched down the block, a 
line of locals eager to wait despite 
the chill of midweek blues.

I met my English class and my 

professor as the day was grow-
ing dark, but Circus was light-
ing up. We were lucky to have 
tickets in hand already because, 
as one of Ann Arbor’s hidden 
gems, the Moth StorySLAM sells 
out instantly every month. As 
a University student, it’s espe-
cially easy to get caught up in 
the “Michigan bubble” (the fur-
thest I’ve ventured from campus 
is probably Main Street). But, for 
that Tuesday night, I felt like a 
local among the eclectic crowd, 
simply gathered by the fascina-
tion of storytelling.

Cradling our sodas and pop-

corn bowls, we squeezed around 
to find seats despite arriving an 
hour and a half early. The bar 
emitted a welcome vibrancy from 
the frigidity of the outdoors, an 
enthusiasm that embraced us in 
warmth. Next to us lounged a 
rambunctious guy who cussed 
every other sentence; behind us 
sat two elderly girlfriends on their 
GNO; by our right was a group of 
alternatively-dressed college stu-
dents. It was a snug venue for the 
popularity of the event, but our 
physical proximity forced us all 
to small talk and share our own 
minute stories while we waited.

The idea of StorySLAM is 

simple: real people face a live 
audience to tell a true story about 
themselves in just five minutes. 
The event is hosted by NPR’s 
Moth radio hour, and in Michi-
gan, the event comes to Ann 
Arbor’s Circus Bar every third 
week of the month and Detroit’s 
Cliff Bells club the first week of 
each month.

There are usually 10 perform-

ing storytellers among 300 in the 
audience, where most attendees 
are either regulars or newcom-
ers. Throughout the entire night, 
the audience remained recep-
tive, clapping heartily for every 
performer and reciprocating the 
same energy that radiated from 
the stage. For storytellers, both 
first-timers and veterans, the 
experience can be daunting – but 
the audience was there to pro-
vide support rather than critique. 
After all, the theme of the night 
was “adventure.”

The general public’s under-

standing 
of 
“storytelling” 
is 

muddled – appreciated by some, 
ambiguous to others. The oral 
tradition lies at the root of the 
written word: what we read in 
print, on screen, on social media. 
However, storytelling is often an 
overlooked art, overshadowed 
by digital media’s domineering 
presence. Thus, the Moth aims 

to spread awareness about story-
telling’s growing prevalence – to 
debunk myths about its archaic 
nature.

At the core, the event spreads 

poignant stories that need to be 
shared. In doing so, people may 
learn how their mundane lives 
can evoke primal understanding 
from larger audiences. In their 
ordinary lives, there may be inspi-
ration for others. In turn, these 
storytellers may gain a newfound 
understanding of themselves.

Patricia “Patty” Wheeler, the 

Michigan StorySLAM producer, 
introduced us to the concept 
with an infectious vivacity. Dou-
bling as emcee for the night, she 
encouraged 
audience 
interac-

tion by asking for anonymous 
contributions in response to the 
prompt: “Tell us about a time 
you had no idea what would hap-
pen, but you went for it anyway.” 
Between performances, she read 
the micro-stories aloud – short 
but earnest anecdotes of find-
ing future spouses, discovering 
beauty amid the chaos of par-
enthood and other life-changing 
experiences summed up in two 
sentences. 

First to perform was Grace, a 

stout middle-aged woman who 
fervently recounted her – tragic, 
albeit hilarious – diarrhea experi-
ence in Mexico as an adolescent. 
The irony between her maternal 
appearance and her zany tone set 
the vibe for the night – an atmo-
sphere of honesty and mutual 
acceptance. 

Many stories proceeded to 

narrate comedic misadventures 
like hers – study abroad experi-
ences gone awry, evading respon-
sibility or inciting debauchery as 
adults. It became difficult to dis-
cern the novices from the veter-
ans, as the environment allowed 
for a comfort among all parties. 
Each performer carried a natural 
ability to speak candidly with-
out concern of being rehearsed 
or well-versed. What mattered 
most was the story delivery over 
content. Simple stories were often 
the most affectively complex. 

Such was Emily Elizabeth 

“E.E.” Scott, whose story added 
a deeper dimension to the night’s 
predominantly humorous vibe. 
She spoke sincerely about her 
mother’s memory loss, a tragedy 
turned into an “I fear no fate” 
tattoo. Her performance elic-
ited tears, but also occasional 
chuckles of recognition – dual 
sensations that left us in speech-
lessness afterward. For Scott, 
a young Ann Arbor regular but 
first-time storyteller, her ease 
onstage convinced us all she had 
done this dozens of times before.

Scott explained, “Storytelling 

in person is different from any 
other type, because it’s almost 
like you have less control and 
you might not know what’s going 
to happen. You might surprise 
yourself in your words, whereas 
in writing, you know what you’re 
going to do, or you have the power 
to edit, at least.” 

Scott proved that storytelling’s 

heart lies in its primal nature. 
Most of the audience probably 
had never had explosive diar-
rhea in Mexico or a mother fading 

away with memory loss – but we 
did have our individual experi-
ences with love, loss and adven-
ture that translated into shared 
understanding. 

Wheeler started as an essay-

ist and Moth volunteer three 
and a half years ago. She men-
tioned how just after attending 
one event, she saw the three-way 
link between the writer and the 
speaker, and the importance of 
hearing the story as a listener. 
Writers and speakers alike are 
storytellers, but sharing expe-
riences aloud for a responsive 
audience can be cathartic and 
revitalizing in ways writing in 
solitude cannot.

She told us, “When you hear 

somebody and you see their face 
… hearing the emotion in some-
body’s story helps connect to your 
own life and the emotions that 
you have.”

As evidenced by the night, 

there’s so much to be learned 
from fellow human experiences. 
With live, spoken-word stories, 
there’s an immediacy and an inti-
macy, a holistic sensation that 
accompanies each tale told. By 
seeing and hearing the speaker 
face to face, their emotions are 
unadulterated by our own inter-
pretations when we read. 

Theorist 
Walter 
Benjamin 

calls “the author as producer,” 
referring to how oral tradition 
gives authority back to the story-
teller. In true tales, the facts will 
remain, but storytelling inspires 
communication with listeners 
and control over the presenta-
tion. Whereas novels and written 
word distance the reader from 
the writer, storytelling has an 
accessible closeness.

“Everybody has stories in their 

lives that have stuck with them, 
and if we give the opportunity 
for everyday people … to get up 
and tell true stories … that helps 
everybody else know that their 
lives are also special and dynam-
ic, and that they have stories that 
are worth sharing,” Wheeler 
said.

Though many bemoan the 

decline of the oral tradition, 
events like StorySLAM attest to 
the revival of true stories, and 
how they are becoming increas-
ingly important in our technolog-
ical age. Ultimately, the Moth’s 
greater mission is to elucidate 
how we all can be storytellers, 
and then to use digital means of 
storytelling to share this honesty 
we put forth. Wheeler noted sim-
ilar foundations – 2nd Story in 
Chicago, massmouth StoriesLive 
in Boston, the National Storytell-
ing Network in Tennessee – and 
many more with aims akin. 

“There’s this giant resurgence 

of oral storytelling that’s happen-
ing all around the country and all 
around the world,” Wheeler said. 
“It’s only going to get stronger 
and stronger through commu-
nity experiences like this.”

At the end of the event, we left 

buzzed from the heartwarming 
vibes of good people, good art 
and a good night. As we departed 
for the cold outdoors, many of us 
vowed to return next month to 
add our own kindling to the fiery 
passion for stories.

Oscar night in review

Chemistry can’t save 
mediocre ‘DUFF’

I was hoping 

that a few more 

black sheep 

would win big.

FILM REVIEW
EVENT REVIEW

B-

The DUFF

Rave & 
Quality 16

Lionsgate and 
CBS Films

