Duck Man
Man, the things that come to us in the middle of the night.
In Pretty in Pink, Ducky is stuck in existential crisis. He’s deeply in love with his best friend, but she’s unable to reciprocate.
So, he does what any faithful friend would—he just loves her.
In his case it means orbiting her like a satellite gleaning whatever signal he can, whenever he can. Little bursts of affection that charge him for another pass around planet Andie.
When Ducky gets mad at Andie because she’s going out with— “Blane? His name is Blane? That’s a major appliance, not a name!” —it just unhinges John Cryer’s character. He could live with her giving her heart to another, as long as he deemed the subject of her affection worthy.
He holds Andie in too high esteem to just let any knave use her up and toss her aside.
About halfway through the movie, she and Blane join Ducky and Iona at club Cats and Andie comments on the Duck’s overt efforts to ignore her, “he’s sulking—“.
And Annie Pots delivers one of my favorite lines in film, “he’s not gonna ride his bike by your house ANY MORE!”
First of all, I used to do this with objects of affection. Out for a cruise on my old busted up black and white 10-speed on a fall evening, I’d pass by feeling that gravitational pull on my body as I got closer. Brushing her orbit like a comet kissing fire.
And in the context of the scene is just a great juxtaposition to the maturity of the setting. Ducky is far too young for the bar and this line just reminds us of that fact. And that his unrequited love for Andie was expressed in ways unique to his world view.
It’s so childish and sweet. I use now it as comic shorthand to feign insult or pouting.
And, I’m a little embarrassed to say that even as an adult I may have done this a time or two with someone who has a particular hold on my heart.
The romantic in me says it’s a harmless gesture. The pragmatist snidely comments, ‘stalker.”
It’s a matter of perspective.
And mental health.
I feel like Ducky a lot of the time. Oddball, outcast, a step behind what is really going on. I bet you do too.
I think that’s because Duck’s an archetype.
• The Jester – eccentric, attention-grabbing, comic relief
• The Underdog – lovable but perpetually underestimated
• The Tragic Romantic – brave in love, doomed by circumstance or incompatibility
We can relate because part of you and I are the joker, the underdog and the romantic. But that’s not all we are.
You aren’t a movie character.
Did you know that in an original draft, Ducky and Andie ended up together?
Yep.
But it was more dramatic to write him as rebuffed and lovesick.
We aren’t written the way we are. We just become through experience and decision. And sometimes make us into tragic characters.
But sometimes they make us happy. Sometimes they make us fulfilled sometimes they make us whole.
Sometimes they make us heroes.
So, what do you do if you find yourself the Duckman, in need of someone like you need iron or potassium?
Well, riding your bike by their house might help in the short term—but bigger picture?
I don’t know.
Patience no doubt. And pray for peace and contentment. Focus on the good in your life. Lean in on your ‘Iona’.
And prayer. Pray for a willingness to accept the hero status. That is: what’s right because it’s right even if—especially if—it requires great sacrifice.
Then, once in a while when your out for a ride on your bike in the middle of the night and your ride by their house, or look up at the moon and wonder if they are too—well, these things happen. Just remember to nod and wave when you pass Ducky going that other way.
Follow up
I don't remember writing this. I mean, I KNOW I did. And I have some vague recollection of thinking about Pretty in Pink in the middle of the night. But It feels like something from last week, not twelve hours ago. It's a weird feeling.
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