“Wallflower” Captures the High School Experience
Students will find much to relate to in this coming-of-age classic.
Navigating high school and the hardships it brings can be a difficult challenge for students to overcome. Each person is looking for who they are and what they want to be, all while trying to avoid the judging eyes of those around them. Everyone wants to be accepted, and fear of rejection can throw you off the course of pursuing who you want to be. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, streaming now on HBO Max, captures the feeling of being an outsider perfectly. The film touches on depression, love, friends, and what it feels like to be infinite.
The film is based off the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, published in 1999 and adapted into a movie in 2012. It is one of the best coming-of-age movies to date because of its artistic message and inspiring theme, as well as its ability to capture the early-90s feel. It scored an 85% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89% audience score.
Logan Lerman stars as high school freshman Charlie, a highly introverted and intelligent teen struggling to find friends and his place in the world. Charlie narrates his life through a series of letters to a mysterious friend. Through these letters, he describes his first week at high school, friendless and discouraging. He is constantly shut down in the cafeteria when choosing where to sit and is rejected by nearly everyone. When he meets seniors Patrick and Sam, they show him the beauty of literature (To Kill a Mockingbird) and music (David Bowie), finally getting Charlie out of his shell.
Everyone needs a reason to keep going and someone to look up to. Charlie stumbles on Patrick and Sam, and it changes his life. Charlie suffers from guilt, leaving him in a lost mental state, but when he finds the duo, suddenly he fits right in. They both inspire him to pursue his dream of being a writer, even getting him a typewriter and suit to fit the entire persona. But the one who truly touches Charlie’s heart and mind is Sam. The moment he lays his eyes on Sam, he falls in love with her. He learns that real love isn’t just putting everyone's life ahead of yours, it’s loving who people really are.
Everyone needs a reason to keep going and someone to look up to.
Charlie’s infinite moment takes place in a tunnel before his two best friends go to college. Driving through in Sam’s old Ford pickup truck, they crank up the radio to the song “Heroes,” by David Bowie, a must listen. With the windows down and wind in their hair, Charlie climbs to the bed of the truck and stretches his arms out wide as the song plays. He lives completely in the moment during that tunnel ride, not worried about the past or future. He recognizes that his story doesn’t have to be sad. Your story is what you make it. Everyone needs to feel an infinite moment sometime in their life.
“This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.”
— Stephen Chbosky
Director Stephen Chbosky captures the world of a freshman in high school perfectly. Stepping out of your middle school comfort zone into a school with double the people (and double the eyes to judge you) can give you lots of nerves. If you're a freshman looking to fit in, or anyone who’s ever felt like a wallflower, this is the movie for you.
Dominic Giunta enjoys reading, listening to music, and finding true beauty in cinema. He is a junior at Yucca Valley High School.
