The Perks Of Being A Wallflower: Film Analysis

The film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, based on the written novel by Stephen Chbosky exposes the reality of a naïve outsider just starting high school with the past effecting his present. The main character, Charlie, was always the one that people would harass and take advantage of. He is incredibly intelligent but does not let his voice be heard inside or outside of classroom. Meanwhile, later on a Friday night at the high school football game Charlie formally was introduced to Patrick and Sam both seniors but were open to new people and life in general. This gives Charlie a new prospective on his own life that he would have not experienced if never meeting these two unique people. Now with him having people to interact with and become …show more content…
At Sam’s going away party Charlie helps Sam with the rest of her packing and they confront each other about how the truly feel about each other. After realizing that their feelings are both neutral they start to kiss. Unfortunately, once Sam starts to get a little touch it’s an instant trigger to the trauma he endured as a child. The aunt’s actions are now effecting how Charlie is able to open up to people on a personal level. The next day once Sam left for Penn State, Charlie starts to spiral out of control and having an episode. I believe that this episode was rooted by Charlie having major depressive disorder (MDD). The textbook then defines major depressive disorder as a disorder of individuals who have experienced episodes of depression but not of mania. Depression episodes are marked by sadness or loss in pleasure, accompanied by symptoms such as feelings of worthlessness or guilt; withdrawal from others, appetite or sexual desire; and either lethargy or agitation. Once coming home from saying goodbye to Sam, Charlie starts to become very overwhelmed and guilty for everyone’s pain they have received. During the episode he start to blame mostly everything on himself and has these flashbacks that are traumatizing to him. Seeing in his mind all of the physical violence and the abuse that he had witness and the result of it is pushing him over the edge. As a young boy he saw his aunt hurt herself by cutting because of all the men that have caused he so much pain. Therefore, Charlie was going to do the same because of the guilt that is consuming his well being. He then calls his sister and begins to go off about how he was the reason his aunt was killed and this is all linked to his past. In this study the discovered, “These findings suggest that presence of