“The perks of being a wallflower”
María Afonso, Teo Castro, Noelia Cob
Table of contents 1. Introduction. 2. Film, director, and cast. 3. Film analysis. a.Synopsis. b.Structure. c.Point of view. d.Tone. e.Setting. f.Sound. g.Genre. 4.Characters. 5.Writing conversation. 6.Poster. 7.Trailer. 8.Conclusion. 9.Bibliography.
Introduction: We are going to talk about “The perks of being a wallflower”. We choose this film because his story seemed very interesting.
Film, director, and cast Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (21 september 2012)
Director: Stephen Chbosky (he wrote the script and adapted the novel) Producers: John Malkovich, Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith Cast: ● Charlie: Logan Lerman (1992) ● Sam: Emma Watson (1990) ● Patrick: Ezra Miller (1992)
Synopsis The story is about a boy (Charlie) who has no friends and is not much popular at school. He had problems there and finally he changed school. His parents are worried about his first days at school because they do not want anything bad happen him again. In the new school it is not very different because he does not know anyone and is alone, but one day for different circumstances he meets a classmate, Patrick and his stepsister, Sam. They help him socialize a little with other people and enter the club of the marginalized. During the film they will talk about the love between teenagers, the treatment between them and the problems that each one had suffered.
Structure The action is told by Charlie after leaving the mental hospital, so it is a flashback, but it also has retrospectives, where any character remembers something, so the film is a flashback with flashbacks in it. There’s not a very marked high point
because the plot is all the story, but the movie shoots the “bomb” at the end, where you discover that charlie’s aunt was sexually abusing him, and he is so depressed, apart from the dead of his friend, because he wished that she died, and it became a reality. The end is closed but at the same time open since the problem has been solved but you do not know what will happen in the future with the rest of the main characters.
Point of view
The story is centered on Charlie but it explains things about other characters too. There are several comments that make you think about the past of the protagonist when he did not know this. In the film the narrator could be each character when he tells his story and thanks to this we understand how they are inwardly. The characters talk to each other so they do not interact with the viewer and the movie allows the viewer to think about each character past before they tell it.
Tone
A funny part of the movie is when without knowing it Charlie has some brownies with weed and begins to rave a little. We think the humor they use is a bit of satire towards society, as ironies.There are several characters, we don't like and one of them is Patrick's partner because when he needed him most he made fun of him.
Setting
The film happens in 1991, when he changes school he has to make friends, and it isn’t easy for him because he’s shy. The place of the film is Pennsylvania, when you watch the film, you don't know where it happened. The set where the film happens doesn't have any influence in the characters, but the epoch does.
Sound In the film there is music. Depending on that music and the scenes a different atmosphere is created.The silences or sounds in the film help us to get to know a little about the situation. The music is very important in this film, and it consists of: “Could it be another letter”, “Come on Eileen”, “Tugboat”, “Evensong”, “Temptation”, “Asleep”, “Low”, “Teen age riot”, “Dear God”, “Pearly-Dewdrop’Drops”, “Charlie’s last letter” and “Heroes” It creates a dense atmosphere, but at the same time, it is a light music, easy to hear. The actors have real voices, and I like that, because they make their characters more realistic, and the balance between the sound and silence is great.
Genre
The genre of the film is a mix between romance and drama. Because there is love between characters and drama in the story. This film criticizes society, sexuality, education, group behaviors and, many, many more, but, the main topics are teenagers struggling with high school life and bullying.
Characters Charlie’s description:
He is lit naturally, and he wears comfy clothes. When he relates to other classmates, he is passive, and he does not respond to the attacks they do. In family he is also passive, but he speaks and keeps conversations with his father and mother, but he has a better relationship with his sister.When he is with his friends he opens up and he let us see who he really is, a funny tennager that has psychological problems, but they can’t stop him for now. We learn that he does not want the people to know him, fearing that they could hurt him.
When he is high he speaks about his dead friend, his aunt and his problems, and there is when we know why Charlie is depressed.When he kissed Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth, we know how much he loves her and how he does not care about other people so much.
I think Charlie is both, realistic and “prefabricated”, because he has points where his behaviors and reactions are alike a normal person with his problems, but there are another where you can’t believe his reactions.
He is described in a way that allows us to connect all the clues they gave us through the film revealing the reason why he was described like that.
For me, it was pretty consistent, but this kind of characters are not believable, because his overreacted actions. At the end of the film he can resolve his problems and, finally, has Sam’s love, in a strange way.
Patrick’ s description:
Patrick is Sam's stepbrother. Patrick usually wears casual clothes, although there are times he uses a costume. In the film, he appears in many scenes.The character let us see, by some dialogues, that he is cheerful and fairly close to the people with which he gets along well. Patrick's character is very lucky by the situations in which he is.
Sam’s description:
Sam has clear short hair, dark eyes, is medium height and thin. Psychologically Sam is presented as a girl very sure of herself, outgoing, friendly, relaxed and with a lot of adventurous sense. We learn about her through this phrase “We accept the love that we think we deserve”, as from Charlie. An action that teaches us how she is, is when she kisses Charlie and says she wants the first person to kiss her is the one who loves her too.
Writing a conversation “Thank you, sir, but if my English teacher is the only friend I make today, that would be sorta depressing” Charlie. Minutes of the scene: (10:30 - 13:10) After classes, In the football pitch, Charlie is going upstairs, searching for a seat to watch the game when Mr. Anderson (his teacher, who is on the right of the stairs) says: ●
Mr: Anderson: Hi Charlie, you can seat here if you want to.
Charlie sees Patrick: ●
Charlie: Oh, no thanks, I’m going to seat with Patrick.
He goes upstairs and seats next to Patrick. ●
Patrick: Oh, hey!, Is the teacher your friend?
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Charlie: Sorta...
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Patrick: Yeah, Mr. Anderson is your friend! Your best, BEST friend!
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Charlie: Thank you, SIR, but if my English teacher is the ONLY FRIEND I make today, that would be sorta depressing...
Patrick laughs, Sam appears. ●
Sam: Hey, yo! Who’s your friend, Patrick?
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Patrick: Oh no, he isn’t my “friend”, he is Mr. Anderson’s friend.
Charlie laughs sarcastically ●
Charlie: Yes, of course I am, don’t be surprise if I pass the final exams.
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Sam: Well, you can come with us to a party after the match if you want...
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Patrick: Yes!! You should come with us, it is going to be the greatest party you have ever been to.
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Charlie: I wish I could go, but I have to go home.
Patrick looks at Charlie as if he was a strange creature: ●
Patrick: You’re kidding, aren’t ya?
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Charlie: No, I’m serious.My parents won’t let me go to the party…
●
Sam: Maybe you can call them and tell them that you're going to stay at our house tonight.
Charlie calls home and he transmits the message, achieving the goal proposed by Sam.
Poster In the poster we can see the three principal characters, the title and some credits. The background colour is green, we don’t know why. But we think that it is possible that this colour resembles Charlie’s eyes. On the poster Sam is very attached to Charlie and that can mean they are going to end up together on the movie.
Trailer: The trailer expresses exactly how the film is going to be. You can see Charlie and Sam together and also Patrick and other friends. It shows us some of the most important clips in the film, but it does not spoil i t . This trailer does not reveal how the plot of the film is, so to find i t o ut you have to see the movie, so that it creates curiosity to the viewer. Trailer: https://youtu.be/2vb2qrcPEEs
Conclusion: In this project we have learned how to analyze a film, the trailer, the film’s advertising poster and different aspects about them.
Bibliography:
Loly Lago; Working as a script writer;https://goo.gl/HSwhLo (1-March-17)
María, Teo and Noelia; Presentation: https://goo.gl/yhrgXP
Trailer: https://youtu.be/2vb2qrcPEEs (27-February-17) Wikipedia; The perks of being wallflower (film);https://goo.gl/O3yVX8 (4-February-17)
Wikipedia; The perks of being wallflower: https://goo.gl/vOipLP (2-February-17)