The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Book Vs Movie

Why is it that some movies fail to create a faithful adaptation of the books? The same question can be asked for the book and the movie of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. The book was a New York times bestseller and USA today calls it, “a coming-of-age tale.” The movie was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Adapted Screenplay. As the book was adapted for the movie, and despite being directed by the same person that wrote the book, there were changes to the story of the movie. Three differences between the book and the movies that negatively affected the story was the lack of Helen’s backstory, the removal if Charlie’s smoking addiction, and the near removal of

The most drastic change between the book and the movie was lack of Helen in the movie. Unlike the movie, in the book, Charlie frequently mentions Helen in his letters, such as on pages 5, 22, 52, 58, 68, and much more. The book constantly brings up Aunt Helen in various ways, such as Charlie’s short mentions of her and her sad past of abusive relationships she had been a part of (Chbosky). In the movie, however, Helen was mentioned no more than 3 times: once in a letter, once when Charlie remembers the time Aunt Helen when to buy him a second present only for the audience to witness her death, and in the end, where it is revealed though a near psychotic trance that Charlie was molested at a young age by Aunt Helen herself. Another change from the book the movie was that Charlie never developed a smoking addiction. The book introduces Charlie’s smoking addiction on page 102 of the book, when Sam offers Charlie a cigarette, starting his smoking addiction, then Charlie states, “I’m now up to about ten cigarettes a day” (Chbosky, 103). Charlie mentions smoking again in his letter on page 119, when he was chain-smoking and crying in his car after taking his sister to a clinic for an abortion (Chbosky). In the movie, Sam never offers Charlie a cigarette and Charlie never develops a smoking addiction. In addition, Charlie never took his sister

Aunt Helen is a prominent character in the story and with each mention, more details about Charlie and how he thinks are revealed. Aunt Helen makes the story more believable as it added more layers into the plot, allowing a sub-story and shows that Charlie’s story may be the focus, but it isn’t the only story in the book. Due to the lack of Aunt Helen, the story in movie loses the complex story that the book benefitted from, the movie also losses the impact on the big reveal of Aunt Helen being built up was a benevolent person, only to find out that she molested Charlie when he was younger (Chbosky, 209). The constant mention of Aunt Helen in the book builds her character and as the story mentions her past. The audience sympathizes with Aunt Helen due to her positive portrayal throughout the book and when the audience learns of what she has done, the impact of the twist is increased. The drastic contrast between Charlie’s positive view of Aunt Helen and what is later learned adds to the unexpected nature of the reveal and betrays of the trust of the audience. Charlie no longer having a smoking addiction changes the story by removing a character flaw Charlie had. By removing the flaw, Charlie’s character is changed from a high school student that has flaws that he brought onto himself to a victim of circumstance. The book portrays Charlie as a boy that not only