” Some people live to 17 and forget what they looked like when they were 16 , I know that everything will eventually become a thing of the past and these glorious pictures of the present will eventually turn into yellowed old photos. The wallflower is the girl who sits in the corner at a dance or party, unattended, and the wallflower boy is the unsociable person like Charlie who stands in the corner and watches.
And we’re going to be parents, but right now we’re living in the moment, and the story is happening, and I’m here looking at her, and she’s so beautiful, and the world is right in front of me, and this moment, you know you’re not part of a sad story.
You’re alive , you’re standing in the car , looking out at the lights of the tall buildings at night , and everything leaves you in awe , listening to the music coming out of the carriage , and as the two most irreplaceable people in your life race forward down the highway , I swear we have infinity. ”
When I saw this lengthy line on Twitter, it suddenly warmed my heart and made me determined to watch the film properly. It was raining outside the window at the moment, and my mind was in turmoil as images from the film flashed through my head. At the end of the film, when the three long-lost friends are driving through the dark tunnel, with the music turned up to maximum volume and Charlie poking his head out of the car and opening his arms, reciting the monologue one by one, it was a beautiful scene, like embracing the wind and freedom and the whole world.
The whole film has a warm yellow hue and the interludes are just right as the protagonist, Charlie, uses an old typewriter to tap out a single character and talk to his late friend.
Charlie is a shy and lonely high school freshman, with sensitivity and tear ducts beyond his years, always silently observing his family and friends around him, a typical ‘wallflower boy’. His adolescence is full of frustrations, as his close aunt is involved in a car accident and his best friend commits suicide.
A wallflower is a girl who sits in the corner at a dance or party, unattended, and a wallflower boy is someone like Charlie who stands in the corner, unsociable, watching.
His relationship with his parents is silent and awkward, he is bullied by his classmates at the start of a new term, he doesn’t fit in with his surroundings and gets along with the world in his own way.
I don’t know if you feel the same way, wanting to fit in with a certain group of people, wanting to be popular, wanting to be the centre of attention. I’ve tried trying to insert myself into a conversation, but I’ve always gotten cold feet and had to laugh at myself.
I believe there is no such thing as a lonely person in this world. People are born with a desire to communicate, but they just don’t meet people who are like them, who have similar ideas and who will understand you. There are people in your life who will surprise you and brighten your day, walk you through the endless darkness and welcome you to a new beginning.
It’s not until Charlie meets Sam and her estranged brother Patrick at a baseball game that Charlie is drawn to Sam’s straightforward personality. They take Charlie to wild parties and get him to join their circle of friends and do all sorts of exciting things. At the lively dance party, Charlie watches his two friends dance feverishly to the music and can’t help but walk towards them from the outer layer of the crowd, the three of them dancing enthusiastically like they’ve entered a whole new world. Charlie would hit people and shout “Don’t bully my friend” for Patrick. He stopped being timid and became positive and sunny, enjoying the moments with his friends.
Charlie secretly loved Sun and helped Sun with her homework. Sun had said to Charlie: “I just want to make sure that the first girl who kisses you loves you. I love you, Charlie” Charlie replied: “I love you too, Sun”. It was thought that after this scene, the two would be together because of Charlie’s indecision and ambiguous relationship. It is only later when Sam says, “You can’t just sit there and put someone else’s life ahead of your own and call that love” that Charlie confesses his feelings.
While making out with Sun, several clips flash through his mind about his aunt, the truth surfaces, that she violated him as a child, memories come flooding back and he is once again knocked back by reality. After a long struggle with himself, he manages to come out of the past and regain his fighting spirit and passion.
The film contains the confusion and bitterness of youth, the reckless revelry and spontaneity of adolescence, the growth after the pain, warm and healing, and the characters, lines and scenes in the film are all so appealing.
In literature class, the teacher asked a question for the students to answer. Charlie did not even have the courage to answer and silently wrote down the correct answer in his notebook, which no one would have known if the English teacher had not glanced at it inadvertently. It was at this point that the English teacher started to take an interest in him and became friends with Charlie.
Charlie once asked his teacher a question that puzzled him.
–Why do some good people associate with bad people?
–We only accept the love we think we deserve.
We love someone, and that person, even if they are mediocre, becomes infinitely better in your eyes. And Charlie wanted him to change Sun, to show her that he deserved to meet someone better.
All the pain and exhilaration experienced as a youngster, the angst of growing up, the silly things you did, the rebellious restlessness, will all pass with the wind, wounds will heal, the people you loved will remain engraved in your heart, the friends you shared through thick and thin will never be forgotten, these are the gestures of youth.
Everyone will experience a lonely journey, fall into a difficult situation, and then sad bumps in the road, after bravely overcome, will always see hope; the sun will rise every day as usual, life is the same, only still alive, until the last moment, do not give up, and then persist a little is victory.
