A Look Inside: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
As I’ve mentioned before every once in a while, I stumble across a film that I can’t quite get out of my head for a long time and I am stuck thinking about it for weeks after watching it. Stephen Chbosky’s 2012 coming-of-age drama, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those films and it moved me in a way no other film has really done before. And the fact that Chbosky wrote and directed the film based off his own novel with the same name from 1999 makes it even more that special. Logan Lerman stars as a teenager named Charlie who writes to an unnamed friend, and these letters outline his trials, tribulations, and triumphs as he goes through his journey in high school, freshmen year, making new friends. One of the best parts of watching The Perks of Being a Wallflower is that intense feeling of nostalgia and familiarity. While I had a different high school experience than that is portrayed in the film, I was really able to relate those late night tunnel rides listening to music to late night hang outs in a Starbucks parking lot. There is something about Chbosky’s writing and direction that made the film something deeper than just my own nostalgia but it shows us someone else’s nostalgia as if it were our own. Chbosky is able to achieve this sense of nostalgia by encouraging us to connect with the film in a much more emotional and intimate way by adding themes like love and family/friends that contribute to the story in a very meaningful way.
Before diving into the deeper elements of the story and characters, it is important to recognize that the film is able to really capture the base parts of being a teenager and it is through this that we are able to make the emotional connection with the story and characters. I mean who doesn’t relate to the awkwardness of trying to make new friends in a new environment or making a fool of yourself at a party or being too afraid to let people see the real you because they might not like what they see. With these portrayals in the film it is near impossible to watch it and not feel that affinity for Charlie at least once. With The Perks of Being a Wallflower we get plenty of voiceover narration from him throughout in the form of those therapeutic letters he is writing to his unnamed friend. The performance by Lerman is somewhat subdued and quiet but it is this silence that makes it easy for us to put ourselves in his head and fill in his thoughts for ourselves. You honestly want things to go right for him in the same way you hoped they would for yourself at that age when everything seemed possible.
Regardless of context these are all moments and feelings that anyone could relate to. While you may not have been through what Sam (Emma Watson), Patrick (Erza Miller) and Charlie have been through, I can guarantee that there were moments that you will always keep close to your chest because you were too afraid what other people might think. The Perks of Being a Wallflower shows us that everyone has to deal with that kind of thing regardless of background and we can’t help but remember those feelings whatever they might be. It is the sense of normalcy that separates this film from other of its kind. I mean look at this film compared to something like Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004) or Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010) that amplify the high school experience while The Perks of Being a Wallflower and everything shown on the screen is so simple. Some of my favorite films are simple and it shouldn’t be considered a bad thing.
The initial trailer made it seem like the film was going to try and convey a message or a lesson to learn from and sometimes when a film’s message/lesson overrides the story people are automatically turned off. So much of this film deals with heavy issues like depression, PTSD and abuse it does so in a way that makes it simple and relatable. It feels more like a conversation and that doesn’t make me feel as if I am being talked at. It can be hard to write about characters that deal with mental health issues but Chbosky does so with a relatively light touch and makes these aspects of life feel realistic, at least to me. They aren’t showcased as secrets that need to be placed in the story as a huge bombshell to amplify a scene or a mystery to be solved but simply a part of the character and they help inform how each of them act. They only become part of the story in moments that feel real like when Sam and Charlie are at the party and stoned Charlie mentions, casually, his best friend committed suicide. Both characters react in a way that feels true to life. There’s no ‘drama’ or build up to these moments in the film and sometimes people do drop an emotional bomb like that without thinking anything of it. Seeing Sam’s reaction felt genuine with honest concern for Charlie and she tells Patrick giving them the opportunity to do their best to make Charlie feel included. They don’t look at him any differently but instead show him that he is loved and cared for by all of them. This is one of the film’s first heartwarming moments that feels honest and didn’t need to be forced.
Compare that scene to other films where dramatic or heartwarming moments can feel predictable or even worse, forced. The Perks of Being a Wallflower finds the right moments to showcase drama and that really helps us feel connected to the story. So often we can predict how things are going to turn out or what certain plot elements need to happen for the story to progress (think…romantic comedies and the couple needing to break up to realize their love for each other). Here, though, those plot elements feel as if they came together naturally and even when dramatic moments happen they don’t feel like overly dramatic ones you’d expected from other films. The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s desire to see the story through without forcing those dramatic feats helps the film feel less like a film. Even when the ‘big’ dramatic moment comes when Charlie does mess up his friendships it comes from a place we all can empathize with even if it was the wrong thing to do. Ultimately, the rift with his friends doesn’t last long which generally happens in real life because people eventually forgive, forget and move on. You see that’s because Patrick and Sam are the friends that help build him back up from the chaos of life, they represent the love and care that is needed for some people to become who they truly are.
With all the characters and plot elements, Chbosky is able to seemingly defy all the typical high school drama and cliches making it feel like something from your life. There are no big romantic gestures, no makeover moments or no epic house parties, the film’s biggest romantic moment feels quiet and intimate, the development of Charlie takes months and the only parties we see are pretty small and self-contained. Let’s get real, real life isn’t a series of dramatic twists and turns, ups and downs, even though it may feel like it from time to time, especially when you’re a teenager because at least for me there hasn’t been a time in life when I felt more. Relationships only weeks long turned into constant “I love you’s” and every break-up felt like the end of the world or when that new great song comes on for the first time and it’s the best thing ever. I get that intense feeling of nostalgia when I hear “Time to Pretend” by MGMT and I am taken back to my high school years driving around town just enjoying the moment. This, this is the feeling that Chbosky wants you to experience, it is that part of your life that this film is going to take you back to. So when Sam stands up in the back of the truck, driving through the tunnel, blasting Bowie and Charlie claims he feels infinite, it is that moment that truly captures the sense of teenage euphoria so beautifully. David Bowie’s “Heroes” will always take Charlie, Sam and Patrick back to that moment when they were 16 and everything felt possible and for just a second they can feel that way again. So while these moments and experiences aren’t mine, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was designed in such a way that feels like they could be. It is a sensitive and meaningful film that carries its weight through powerful themes, brilliant performances, a fantastic soundtrack, beautiful direction and a story that feels genuine to the high school experience.
“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 you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite.”
Logan Lerman, as Charlie
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