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.