The Presence of Existentialism in The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

If you know what existentialism is, then you know how hard it is to think like an existentialist. The movie that I watched is “The Perks of being a Wallflower” and the director of the film is Stephan Chbosky. The plot summary of this film is that there is a boy named Charlie who just lost his best friend. It is his first year in high school and he is very nervous without his buddy. He goes though many ups and downs in his life but he finishes his first year of high school and makes friends. I think this movie was odd but it really showed the idea of existentialism because they focused on absurdity, isolated and aloneness and focus on other ideas and not themselves.

The idea of absurdity is really conveyed in this movie. One event in the movie that shows absurdity is when Charlie remembers his past and wants to commit suicide. Charlie, the main character, is speaking to himself and he is ashamed and guilty of what happened in his past and doesn’t want to keep remembering the same event. Charlie doesn’t want to rely on his past experiences and wants to move on. Another event that relates to absurdity is when Charlie had to make friends that the new school and it was very hard for him. He finally made some friends but they were all seniors and they had to leave when the year was over. He was very close to Sam and Patrick who were his best friends. Charlie was talking to himself in his event too because he kept telling himself that he has to make a friend on the first day and that his teacher couldn’t be the only friend that he has. After his only friends that he had at the school left, he was sad and he kept thinking about the past but then he started to think about the present. This relates to the thesis because the film did show the idea of absurdity and these events show it too. This film also shows isolated and aloneness.

The idea of being isolated and alone is shown in the film by Charlie. Charlie shows it in the event when he is worried about where he is and decides to just live his life. He is unsure if the people that he makes friends with will like him or not. He is confused about so many things in his life that he is alone. Charlie talks to himself which shows that he is alone and he doesn’t have many friends because he moved on from middle school to high school. Another event that shows isolation and aloneness is the time when Charlie’s aunt abused him and his life was different. He was not sure what exactly happened but as he got older, he understood. Charlie spoke to himself about it and the doctor about his harassment issue. He talked to the doctor about what exactly happened and then the doctor talk to him. After that he was by himself for a while and away from many things. This relates to the thesis because Charlie was very isolated in this film. There was another idea shown in the film which was it focuses on other ideas not themselves.

The film focuses on other ideas and not themselves and Charlie shows some of these events. One event is when Charlie lost his best friend and now he didn’t have a friend in school. He was going to be all alone and he finally made friends. Charlie focused on other things like Sam. Charlie was always thinking about other things and not himself. For example, he told himself that he had to make a friend the first day of school. If the teacher was the only friend that he made then that would be very weird. It could be because he didn’t want people to judge him to not have friends and be a loner. Another event that relates to the idea is when he had a crush on Sam. Charlie was speaking to himself if Sam would actually like him. He was very unsure and didn’t want to make the wrong choice. Charlie didn’t want to just go and talk to her because that would be awkward. Charlie was confused about what was happening. Then Sam and Charlie became friends and got to know each other. Charlie figured out that Sam already had a boyfriend and he couldn’t date her. This shows that they focused more on the other people and not on Charlie which relates to my thesis. These are just some examples of existentialism in this film.

I believe that “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” was a strange movie but it did hit the idea of existentialism because it explained absurdity, isolation and loneliness and they focused on other ideas not themselves. Overall, this movie was weird but wasn’t the worst movie that I have seen. I wouldn’t recommend this movie if you don’t like intense movies.