Perks
Mind Over Pop Culture: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
September 5, 2013
Trauma has come up a lot in this blog. Movies use it, and grief, as a quick way to create tension and conflict in plots. Some works handle it better than others (in particular, Iron Man 3), and others mention it in passing. However, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the first time I’ve seen it used so effectively.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of Charlie, a freshman in high school. He is uncomfortable and out of place. However, he becomes friends with a group of seniors who call themselves Wallflowers, especially Patrick and Sam. Step-siblings, they become Charlie’s best friends. Throughout the movie, we learn that Charlie’s middle school best friend completed suicide the year before, and he spent time in a mental hospital. While he struggles with the pitfalls of classes, cliques and dating, he deals with the issues in from his past, including sexual abuse.
This movie reminded me a lot of Ordinary People. The focus of this is much more on Charlie’s friendships rather than his family, but the understanding of teenagers has the same feel. Charlie deals with the “regular” issues of high school while trying to deal with the added trauma, which Ordinary People’s Conrad faced as well. Charlie’s family is much more supportive, but in both movies, the main support comes from the friendship the main character gets from people his own age. Both even have an adult figure who understands them; in this movie, it is Charlie’s English teacher.
I was really impressed with the way Charlie’s character is shown in different phases of recovery. At the beginning of the movie, he’s out of the hospital and in a good place, despite not having any friends. As the movie progresses, he runs into situations that mirror the abuse he survived, and his ability to cope frays. His inability to separate love from pain causes him serious issues that everyone in the movie takes seriously, (and is mirrored
September 5, 2013
Trauma has come up a lot in this blog. Movies use it, and grief, as a quick way to create tension and conflict in plots. Some works handle it better than others (in particular, Iron Man 3), and others mention it in passing. However, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the first time I’ve seen it used so effectively.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of Charlie, a freshman in high school. He is uncomfortable and out of place. However, he becomes friends with a group of seniors who call themselves Wallflowers, especially Patrick and Sam. Step-siblings, they become Charlie’s best friends. Throughout the movie, we learn that Charlie’s middle school best friend completed suicide the year before, and he spent time in a mental hospital. While he struggles with the pitfalls of classes, cliques and dating, he deals with the issues in from his past, including sexual abuse.
This movie reminded me a lot of Ordinary People. The focus of this is much more on Charlie’s friendships rather than his family, but the understanding of teenagers has the same feel. Charlie deals with the “regular” issues of high school while trying to deal with the added trauma, which Ordinary People’s Conrad faced as well. Charlie’s family is much more supportive, but in both movies, the main support comes from the friendship the main character gets from people his own age. Both even have an adult figure who understands them; in this movie, it is Charlie’s English teacher.
I was really impressed with the way Charlie’s character is shown in different phases of recovery. At the beginning of the movie, he’s out of the hospital and in a good place, despite not having any friends. As the movie progresses, he runs into situations that mirror the abuse he survived, and his ability to cope frays. His inability to separate love from pain causes him serious issues that everyone in the movie takes seriously, (and is mirrored