Close Reading -- Review

For my close reading, I chose a review of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” from the New York Times called, “An Introvert Finds His Way Through Teenage Terrain” by Manohla Dargis (http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/movies/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower-directed-by-stephen-chbosky.html?_r=0). In this review, Dargis is trying to get the point across that this movie is standard in theme but still interesting. This is seen in her use of diction, figurative language, and details.

            Dargis incorporates many words to express her feelings of the work—being an interesting yet common story, with a style similar to that used by many other filmmakers. For example she says, “The results are likable, unsurprising and principally a showcase for the pretty young cast…” (paragraph 4). The word “likable” implies that the characters were easy to connect with and well rounded, however since this word is followed by “Unsurprising”, the reader is left to infer that the plot is stereotypical and unoriginal. Another example of Dargis’ use of diction to show her feelings towards the film is when she says, “Their characters never expand beyond their generic if sensitive outlines…” (paragraph 5). When one thinks of the word “generic”, it creates a picture of hundreds of the same, therefore when the writer of this review used that word it strengthened her idea of the film being very common.

            Along with her word choice, Dargis also used interesting figurative language when writing this review to express that the film is unoriginal. For example while describing the plot of the film Dargis says, “Charlie’s parents aren’t tearing him apart…” (paragraph 3). She does is not saying that Charlie’s parents are not literally ripping him into pieces, but rather she means to convey that they are not making his life exceptionally difficult. Using this more extreme phrase to describe it makes Charlie’s life sound even more boring and average, and thus leads the reader to believe that the plot of the movie is not exciting or original.  

            The details included by Dargis are also used to lead the reader into thinking the movie is unoriginal. She places an emphasis on the ways in which the director/writer made the story similar to many others, while avoiding including any details that might reflect originality to the piece. For example Dargis makes an effort to show the aspects of stereotypical filmmaking used when she says, “Mr. Chbosky brings you into this familiar world through the usual cinematic points of view, by way of Charlie’s eyes, voice and flashbacks, but also through the ubiquitously hovering camera” (paragraph 4). After this sentence she goes on to explain how this adds to it being unoriginal without incorporating any of the other aspects that the director might have used that are not quite so cliché.

            The ways in which this writer formatted her work with detail, diction, and figurative language helped create and emphasize her view of the movie, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. Because of these, the reader can infer that she found the film to be greatly lacking originality in the storyline as well as filmmaking techniques.