Blog Post #4

The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be a very easy book to adapt. But if they left out a few of these scenes, I would be concerned about the legitimacy of the movie based off the book. If the movie left out the scene in which Charlie, the main character, ate "special" brownies, not knowing the "special" ingredient, it would leave out the much-needed comic relief. The movie cannot leave out the scene from the book, when Charlie and his friends, Patrick and Sam, drove into a tunnel and he said out loud "I feel infinite." This scene would add to the dramatic feel to the movie, and give off the impression that Charlie was finally realizing that he belonged, and how he wanted to live in that moment forever. The last scene that could not be left out, is the scene that takes place during Christmas time, and then Charlie reads a poem out loud to his group of friends. At first the poem begins with a young and happy child, but ends with a suicidal teenager. Important parts of the book made references to the poem. Not only is the poem important for future reference, but also the fact that the poem is dramatic, and depressing, as well as thought provoking to other characters.

   

Some parts of the book would be seen as too controversial to be put in a movie. One scene that may or may not be cut out because of the controversy behind it, is the scene in which Charlie goes with his sister to get an abortion. Another hard scene of the book to incorporate would be the narration style. In the book, Charlie tells what happens and everything in past tense, and there are usually very few pieces of dialog; so to make it work, the movie could have background narration and dialogue, but it wouldn't be the same as the writing style of the book. I think that they cannot cutout Charlie's voice in the narration, because in the book, you only hear Charlie re-telling all that had happened to him, and only his voice is heard.

Book 1 Project

           Following the ending to John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, John Green has agreed to create an epilogue for the fans whose curiosity lurks after the sudden cliff hanger as the ending. As a gift to all the faithful fans, John Green contributed the exclusive and limited edition epilogue, as well as the bright blue t-shirt with a single black and white cloud, similar to the front cover, but with the words inside of the clouds reading “Okay.” Also included in the gift basket is the recently found journal entries of Augusts Waters on his last few weeks on earth.

            The first time Hazel and Augustus repeatedly said “okay” to one another, they figured that it would be their own personal way of saying ‘I love you.’ The first time their version of ‘I love you’ was used, was when Augustus revealed that his first girlfriend died of a brain tumor. The word “okay” is sentimental to readers because those few words were used during times filled with high emotions. There was the time when Augustus decided he would use his single Wish from the Genie Foundation for Hazel and him to go to meet their favorite author. The last night of Augustus being healthy, Hazel and he shared a glass of champagne while they were on their trip in Amsterdam to meet the author. As they took their first sips, they repeated “okay” to one another. As Augustus’ days living a life on earth dwindled down to only a few days left, he wrote to the favorite author of Hazel and Augustus, who was actually an alcoholic. Augustus scolded Van Houten, the troubled author, saying that Van Houten was a “[crappy] person but a good writer.” Augustus defended Hazel, saying that, “she is so beautiful [and that] you don’t get tired of looking at her,” and how worthy she is of life. He wrote the letter to Van Houten in secret – it was never revealed why it was written and sent off without anybody knowing, but that is what happened. It was figured out that Augustus had written something down because there were leftover tear marks in the binding of the blank pages. Hazel and Augustus’ parents had figured that the only pages torn out were sent to Van Houten. The final pages of the book were heart wrenching, and ended abruptly, finishing directly after Hazel had read the journal entries sent to Van Houten. This left readers questioning the ending, for how much longer did Hazel live for, did Hazel ever find love again, did Van Houten ever create an epilogue for Hazel, did Augustus’ parents stay together even after his death? The readers understand that the ending to The Fault in Our Stars is supposed to be a real life version of the book that Van Houten wrote, in the sense of the ending to Van Houten’s book. Hazel had wondered the same questions that the readers would experience at the end of The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel, herself, even asked, “what happened to the characters at the end of the book?” and Hazel demanded that she “needs to know what happened to [the main character].”

            All of these exclusive gifts to the faithful fans will be available to the incoming fans who have discovered the book and love it too. The words “okay” are sentimental to the readers because it was Hazel and Augustus’ shipping slogan- they said it all the time. A continuation of the ending to The Fault in Our Stars would soothe the curiosity of the readers, which is why the epilogue will be included in the gifts. The last few writings of Augustus were legendary, the final piece of his writing was the last page of the book, and led readers to wonder what was going on in Augustus’ mind when he decided not to write to Hazel, or his siblings, or his parents, but to an alcoholic writer. That is why John Green also agreed to create another continuation of The Fault in Our Stars that consisted solely of Augustus’ final journal.