So the other day I was working at the library and I came to the DVD shelving part of the evening. I like shelving DVDs incidentally, because they're all the same size and in both alphabetical and numerical order, which makes shelving a piece of cake. Anyway, I was shelving the feature films and out of nowhere, I see Steven Chobsky's movie Perks of Being a Wallflower which I had previously seen last year. I thought "It's spring break, I have nothing planned today or tomorrow or the day after, I'll have time to watch this." So I took it and borrowed it before putting it back on the shelf at the risk of someone else wanting to see it before me. Perks of being a library page. (That is such a glorious pun, I'm so glad my title is a pun, it makes me happy.)
I watched it that night, in the best way possible, curled under my covers with my cat at my feet and the laptop warming my lap.
As previously stated, I had watched Perks last year with a friend at her house, and I had liked it, mostly because I liked it better than the book. This time however, I loved it. Which brings me to my title.
Perks of being a high school student. There are many downsides to being a high school student, mostly regarding the weird in-between-ness that you tend to feel. However, so far I have quite enjoyed my time in high school. I especially like the self-discovery. I just find it really cool that I have now reached the age where I can truly begin to define myself, and I can do that in the way that I dress, in the books that I read, the movies I watch, the people I spend time with and the after school activities I choose to do instead of homework. I just think that that is very cool. I also like that it is very acceptable for your tastes to change in such a short period of time, and how much you grow in a year. Last year, the book and movie Perks of Being a Wallflower (both written and directed by Steven Chobsky) didn't really affect me that much. I thought it was too graphic and I don't know, it just didn't touch me that much. I still think the book is a little graphic, but that's just me, and this time it didn't distract me from the plot as much as it had before. I understood the characters better, and in some cases I could relate to them in ways that I couldn't have last year.
I feel like before I continue I should probably give you a brief overview of the book before continuing on. I won't spoil the ending don't worry.
This book is from the point of view of Charlie. He is about to start high school after a traumatic eighth grade year, during which his best friend committed suicide. Charlie is shy, and likes to write. He doesn't have friends and he has mental and emotional issues that he learning to control. But he wants to make high school a good thing. He wants to make friends. The first few days are rough, until he meets a pair of seniors, step-siblings Sam and Patrick. They immediately include him in their group of senior friends, which includes photographers, indie-music lovers, Rocky Horror Picture show actors and incredibly complex and beautiful people. Charlie begins to take part in life, learning about relationships, love, high school and the complexities of human emotion. The book is written as a series of letters to an unknown friend.
So as I was saying, I could relate to the characters better than I ever could have last year. There was especially one scene at the very end, when the seniors all leave to go to their new lives at college where I could not help but feel very, very sad. Saying good-bye to my senior friends is something that I had to go through last year and that I will once again have to go through that painful process in a few months. That is something that I had just never experienced before the end of last year, and that I could not relate to when I read Perks for the first time. I'm so glad I read it again. It genuinely brought a tear to my eyes this time around.
I guess I should probably go back to the movie, cause that's what this post was supposed to be about. So, yes, I watched the movie again. I really liked it when I watched it the first time, but this time it had a whole new meaning for me. It was much more powerful than it had been for me last year. This time I really appreciated not only the depth of the characters but also the way that the film was shot and and the overall mood that it transmits to the audience. It's a sad movie, but beautifully so.
I don't know if that counts as a review or if it was too much of a brain dump to qualify. In any case, I hope that this little monologue has made you want to read the book or see the movie.
