Rebel with a Cause - a very week social drama due to disregard of psychological science

Rating: 4/10 (2 November 2013)

An author and a movie-maker are two totally different career personalities. It isn't always easy for an author to turn his own novel into a feature-length movie. Even though there are exceptions, in general the idea of writing a drama novel develops through emotions and thoughts, whereas writing a movie requires thinking in visuals and in character motives.
As a novel "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" has published by MTV in the year 1999 for Young Adult audiences. Examining social psychology as a subject matter is the leading concentration herein. This novel has several references from English Literature works and Western Philosophy movements. Author Stephen Chbosky reflects his opinions on struggles of an adolescent growing up to adulthood in a western society where the adolescent has to face isolation and alienation while delving deeply into individual freedom as it is the case in Nihilism, Absurdism, and in Existentialism.
The refusal of loneliness is the concealed and driven force of being a wallflower. Being a wallflower for an adolescent in this film stands for acting the cool guy, and acting the wanna-be-popular guy. According to Albert Camus, the French philosopher, this is the definition of being a "rebel".
But the promised concealed and driven force of being a wallflower isn't displayed in the film, which is the initial problem of the chain of other continued failures. The reasoning with choosing to be a wallflower is explained through shyness. If the Charlie character is made shy, how can he easily strip down his clothes in front of a hundred people on the Rocky Horror Picture Show night? The psychological trauma awaiting after committing such a "rebel" action for a shy person may be very severely grievous, or may be not. Let's hope it may not.
The ease of dialogues and interactions between Emma Watson's character(Sam) and Charlie are also improper with the given character motives. She types "write about us" to Charlie's typewriter. And what does Charlie do in return? He types "I will". This is just nonsense. Later on she goes to sit on her bed sort of inviting him to sex. The moment as a couple they were about to start making out, as Sam touches Charlie on his inner thighs, Charlie recalls his sister who is dead. How can you recall your late sister while your dream girlfriend makes love to you as she touches your thighs? Reality is that Charlie's character is not directed to be a shy character. He is just a cool but abnormally depressive character. And this has nothing to do with being a wallflower.
Charlie is the next James Dean. Everything he did to lure girls, so did James Dean the same way. For over 65 years in Hollywood, being the cool and rebel guy always created more impression on girls rather than being a nice popular guy. This is a huge and inexcusable directing inferiority.
Whoever loved this film, loved it because of the resolution at the end. Whereas also whoever hated this film, hated it because of the revelation at the end. The Perks of Being a Wallflower film has two main themes:
1/ Finding the love you deserve 2/ Finding the meaning of becoming an adult
Each theme is in contradiction with each other. This film offers us the resolution that seeking the love you deserve keeps you away from becoming an adult. And it offers us the revelation of finding the meaning of becoming an adult in Nihilist freedom of an understanding that you cannot run after love, love will come to you.