“Or maybe she was just more afraid of being like everyone else.”

Park is waking up. He is starting to see through the shallow social stigmas that have governed not only his life but that of his classmates and his family. He taking the path less traveled, beginning to see the hindrances of adhering to social constructs of who the self is. Society is being represented by Tina, Steve, Cal etc. They are the “rule enforcement”, making sure that anyone who deviates from the set persona is rejected. Ensuring that they are disliked, pushed out, deemed unworthy. Outcasts. Too never be accepted, but always wanting to be. If this is the punishment for being different, then by using the fear or rejection, society or Tina can control the way you behave and act. The fear is their power.

It feels as though Park is beginning to realize this though. He is beginning to understand why Eleanor wears the flamboyant clothes and ignores the bullying. Eleanor has it all figured out. She is the rebel without even knowing. She will not let Tina or society ever know that they have won. I think that’s why she hated it when Mindy gave her the makeover. She kept saying “it’s not me”. Park knew he had always been different. He knew that he would never fit in with the cool kids or be Mr. Popular. So, he shut down himself and was like a robot following a program. Automated. Doing what protocol dictated but never really being himself. That is why Park wore the eyeliner. It was a statement of self-expression, or rebellion against the rules.

I think that is what attracted him the most to Eleanor. Once he started to see the cracks in her armor, he began to understand that she was different and almost proud of the fact. She was a reflection of what he wished he could be. She showed him what courage was. And he loved it, reveled in it, couldn’t get enough of it. He saw the beauty that was individuality.