First Firsts and Last Firsts

As the school year starts, many are anxious about their first day. Freshmen entering a scary new environment and seniors savoring their last firsts can carry a lot of emotion for Lakeland students. Luckily, we have nearly endless media to guide us through these emotions. 

I often hear stories about people watching classic high school movies before their first day or watching movies in which their favorite characters graduate before their own graduation. 

Movies truly have the honor of acting as a guide through these difficult and emotional times.

Last Monday, as I was getting ready for school, I couldn’t help but think about my senior year ahead of me. So much goes into senior year and it’s supposed to be such a great time in life, but with my first day approaching, I wasn’t sure how to feel. 

I needed something to distract myself from the stress, but at the same time to get me excited and it led to me looking for a movie. I found myself struggling with deciding what to pick, as most movies that came to mind didn’t encapsulate my situation until I considered a movie I had recently watched for the first time.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower was just the film I needed. 

If you aren’t familiar with this movie, it’s based on the book of the same name by Stephen Chbosky and it follows a boy named Charlie as he goes through his first year of high school. As Charlie begins high school, he doesn’t really have any friends until he meets two seniors, Sam and Patrick.

“Perks of Being a Wallflower is such a good movie to watch before senior year because of the perspectives it takes you through and how relatable it is,” Paige Stranahan said. 

Watching this movie as an incoming senior had an almost nostalgic feeling as the audience watched Charlie experience many of the same anxieties I remember feeling during my first year of high school.

We also follow Sam and Patrick slightly through their senior year as they worry about final test scores and college applications. 

Something about watching this movie felt like taking a deep breath and pushing down all my worries. There’s something hopeful that lies in this movie as Charlie makes friends and has a number of first-time experiences. 

“When I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower, a lot of the themes stuck with me, especially in regards to showing kindness and treating people well,” Audrey Halgren said.

As well as the joy found in this film, there is a side of unavoidable sadness that comes with being a senior and knowing that many goodbyes are nearing. In the situation of the film, Charlie essentially loses all the friends he has newly gained as well as his older sister as they graduate and move away and that’s a sad truth to think about at this age. 

Charlie is an incredibly awkward and shy kid who is scared to speak up and raise his hand in class, but it is clear from the start that he is a bright kid. There are many lines about him excited for his classes in high school, such as advanced English, and while it’s a relatively minor detail, it was so overwhelmingly relatable. 

Charlie also develops a meaningful relationship with his English teacher who he can trust and confide in and helps him out with issues he encounters during his year that feels so heartwarming to watch because I know exactly what it feels like to develop those relationships with teachers and to have a safe space at school.

The entire time I watched this movie, I was able to reflect on my past three years and build hope for my senior year. I found a bit of myself in all the characters as they struggled in school and with their lives, but were always looking forward to the future.

While I highly recommend this movie to anyone, I especially think it is so perfect and necessary to watch both before starting high school and before your senior year.