Cultural Artifact #2-Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Karis Kim
This
coming of age movie tells the story of a boy named Charlie who struggles to
find normalcy in his life. Charlie wants to be like any other teenage hoping to
find friends that accept and understand him. This is an important part in
Charlie’s life because he is finally recovering from mental issues and deaths
that he has come to cope with. A group of friends ‘adopts’ Charlie as they introduce
him to a whole new world outside of anything he could imagine. There is a lot
to take away from the movie and how it can relate to a lot of things that high
schoolers are going through. Grades, social pressure, partying, and what the
future will hold for each of these characters. Everyone is created differently
and goes through different situations that shape how they become. For Charlie,
he struggled a lot because seemingly the suicide death of his best friend and
car accident that happened to his aunt. These events took a huge toll on
Charlie’s introverted nature. The constant clashing of his love for his aunt
and the fact that she had abused him really left Charlie unstable and uncertain
about why he was living. There are so many things that we don’t know people are
struggling with and this movie just brought that idea to life. People are
always hiding their real story and everyone should be aware of this fact. Evil
and sin just emanates through all the things that have happened in Charlie’s
life. He is extremely strong for being able to handle all the different
pressures and evil that he has been inflicted with. By the end of the film,
Charlie is able to find a peace and purpose for his life. He doesn’t have
everything figured out, but he does have a better handle on coping and helping
himself be healthy. I really enjoyed the film and felt that it made me aware of
a lot of stuff I never would have thought about. So many people struggle with
their own problems and it made me think about how strong people are to be going
through whatever their story has entailed. How can we as Christians help talk
to these kinds of introverted people? Is there any way for us to help prevent
even more of these evils from occurring?
I like how you bring up the idea that everyone has internal battles that we might not know about. I think thats a very important aspect of the book and film.
ReplyDeleteI think as Christians the best way to interact with people like Charlie is by paying attention to them and listening to them when they feel like talking.
How does Charlie find "peace and purpose?" To a large degree, this story is about belonging and how we each need to find a place to belong. All of Charlie's friends are outsiders in one way or another before they find each other. Of course, it also shows the importance of community for when things get bad, too. Belonging to a community doesn't solve all our problems, but it does help to have people to walk alongside while we deal with our problems.
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