It’s no surprise that the coming-of-age genre is one of the most beloved throughout the entire industry. Films telling stories that connect with audiences on a personal level are always the ones that stick with us for years after first watching them, and there’s never been a wider choice of films that can offer reassurance and motivation for people in all different stages in their lives. The genre first started to gain serious traction back in the 1980s, with releases like Stand by Me, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink standing out as some of the greatest of that era. Seeing massive returns at the box office against a relatively lower budget, studios are yet to let off the gas pedal for putting these films into production.
By the 2010s, the coming-of-age story tropes were still being used consistently throughout each year, giving us plenty of modern films that younger audiences can directly connect with. While the rapid evolution of the industry meant that these stories could be told in various mediums of film, such as the animated Inside Out, the most common theme and setting remain the same as in the ‘80s: a teenage story set mostly in school. With this setting becoming fairly oversaturated, it takes a unique direction to stand out in the genre, which is exactly what The Perks of Being a Wallflower offered when it hit theaters in 2012. Adapted from the book of the same title, this heavy-hitting coming-of-age drama has already become one of the most iconic coming-of-age films of its time.
What Is ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ About?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells the story of Charlie (played by Logan Lerman) as he starts his first year of high school as a freshman. As apprehensive as you’d expect a new student to be, we find out that Charlie has recently been discharged from a mental health hospital due to his past trauma. Unsurprisingly, this makes the transition into high school more difficult for him, as he finds it incredibly hard to make new friends. Towards the beginning of the film, Charlie often writes to his pen pal, where he opens up about his deep-rooted feelings of isolation and his struggles to ‘fit in,’ most definitely earning him the title of a wallflower.
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“She was thinking about how, at the age of 30, she’d just compared herself to Bambi.”
As Charlie starts his first year, despite building a bond with his English teacher, Mr. Anderson (played by Paul Rudd), he sits by himself at lunch and doesn’t have the confidence to speak in class. It’s not until he decides to attend a football game by himself that he meets the people who would go on to change his life in a way he never thought would happen before high school. Patrick (played by Ezra Miller) and Sam (played by Emma Watson) approach Charlie at the game, where his social fears quickly begin to fade. Patrick and Sam take Charlie into their group and instantly make him feel seen, which in itself is another aspect of life that’s new for him. As the story progresses, Charlie gets to experience life as a teenager himself rather than observing others from the outside, with friends who truly care for him by his side. He gets to feel happiness, love, and an overall feeling of acceptance in society. But despite discovering a new version of himself, it’s revealed that Charlie’s traumatic past goes deeper than what we learn about earlier on in the film and that he’s suppressed it as much as he possibly could.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ Authentically Handles Sensitive Subjects
The storyline of a teenager struggling to fit in at their new school and then meeting people who they connect with is quite familiar within the coming-of-age genre, but the way The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s story unfolds to explore some of the most sensitive subjects that can affect someone in such a real, authentic way is something that only a handful of films can equate to. Avoiding direct spoilers, the trauma that Charlie went through in his youth comes back to the surface as he continues to try and open himself up to the world. In 2022, Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote the 1999 book of the same title, told Vanity Fair “Not a week goes by when I don’t talk to some young person or get a letter or a phone call or email from somebody who was very moved by it.”
Seeing how authentically the film depicts and recognizes the struggles that so many young people can relate to makes it no surprise that he still receives appreciation for shining a light on the topics he covers, offering reassurance to those who can see a part of themselves in the character of Charlie. Releasing in 2012, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is already widely considered a modern classic and is sure to remain a staple film within the coming-of-age genre for years to come, and will be enjoyed by many on its new home on Max.
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