The Diary of a Teenage Girl | A Review

‘I had a dream where I was a princess, and I had to rule though I didn’t know how.’

The Diary of a Teenage Girl is the story of a 15 year old girl’s sexual awakening after beginning a secret relationship with her mother’s boyfriend. With a narrative as sensitive as this I was nervous as to how this story would be told, yet I didn’t need to worry. TDOATG is, in my opinion, a feminist masterpiece.

A strong female lead character and directed, produced and written by women, the film takes an incredibly naive and vulnerable teenager who is being statutorily raped by a man 20 years her senior without managing to make her a victim. Minnie (played by Bel Powley) maintains a strong voice throughout the film, it is through her recorded diaries that we see her accounts of life, love and sex in a brutally honest portrayal of teenage-hood.

Having been a teenage girl myself, the small moments of self and sexual identity made this film the wonder it is and this is why a female film crew was essential for this movie. Anyone woman who has been Minnie’s age will instantly connect with the pure awkwardness of discovering sex in a world that has the answers to the questions you’re too embarrassed to ask. Of being both too grown up and too young all at once. Of giving somebody what you thought was everything at the time.

The animation throughout this film was beautiful in capturing the world inside Minnie’s mind, and also on paper as she finds an outlet through drawing. Minnie’s admiration for her favourite illustrator shapes who she is, as so do so many role models of young girls. Having a strong female influence throughout adolescence is something that most teenage girls can relate to, somebody to look up to and even somebody you consider a friend, which can be crucial when all the friends you have are as clueless as you about the world.

For me, this was not simply a story of a young girl being taken advantage of. It is empowering. A truthful account of the journey to becoming yourself at the most confusing and diverting stage in life, learning how to stand up for, respect and love the person you are. This film is for any girl who ever questioned what would make her a woman, and any woman who remembers what it’s like to be a girl.

Rating: 4.5/5

Winning At Romance: Our Semianniversary

I like to imagine that I am a pretty good girlfriend? I’m extremely comfortable with the fact that the majority of C’s friends are girls, I proudly promote his work when appropriate and I am always trying to think of new ways to make him happy. But no matter how hard I try he always manages to win the relationship game by being, well, just being him I guess. Now I know that no relationship should be a competition and ours isn’t really but out-romancing each other is something we have grown to love.

The other day was our semi-anniversary (or 6 month anniversary if you like) and I’d had the night planned for a very long time. I told C around a month back that if he didn’t mind I would love to plan our 6 month date myself as a surprise, and he happily, but nervously, said yes. As you can imagine, the past month has consisted of nothing but torture from me, poking him with a stick, making ominous statements about our impending date night to the point where I had him exactly where I wanted him, excited, and bloody terrified.

We began the night by exchanging gifts. I’d given him a personalised framed print of all of his favourite things which he seemed to love but his present was so much better! Going back about three months, we each wrote a set of letters to each other called “open when” letters, which are letters to be opened in certain situations in the relationship. One of the letters I wrote to C was entitled, “open when you want to buy me a gift but don’t know what to get me”. Well, when I opened my card from C before our date the letter was stuck to the inside and he proceeded to give me every item on the list. I got roses, chocolate, wine, a cuddly toy (which he sprayed with his aftershave so it smells like him), a beautiful necklace and so many more wonderful gifts including him quoting the entire prologue from “Beauty and the Beast” for me. For those who don’t know me well, “Beauty and the Beast” is my all time favourite film and the fact that he went out of his way to learn that made me break down in tears. And not cute tears, we’re talking full on snotty sobbing,

Once I had composed myself (a full 15 minutes later) we set off. Our first stop was the restaurant where we had our very first date, and I made sure that I booked the same booth we sat in 6 months ago. It was a glorious meal and afterwards we went for a drink in a nearby bar. Then, (here comes the main event), I told C that we had about half an hour to kill before his surprise and that we should go and take a walk together. What he didn’t know was that I had hired a whole cinema for a private midnight screening of our favourite film Before Sunrise! 

He thought I had never been to this cinema before so as we walked past it I showed interest in checking it out and knocked the door. The guy who worked there (who was in on the whole thing) answered and I asked if we could look around. He directed us to the screen and as soon as we were alone, the lights dropped and the film started playing. Up until this point C had absolutely no idea what was going on, he just thought it was a little unusual, but when the film started playing he completely lost it! I have never seen him look so happy, in fact for the first 15 minutes of the film he couldn’t even concentrate he just kept looking at me and telling me how amazing I was (ego boost much!).

We cuddled up in a blanket with a bottle of wine I had brought and sat watching the film. It was truly one of the most magical nights of my life and C was completely blown away by it which is all I wanted, to make him happy. Overall I think my plan worked tremendously and neither of us have stopped talking about it since. I am so lucky to have somebody to share these moments in life with, somebody who makes every moment feel like you’re in a romantic movie.

Thank you for a wonderful night C, it may have been my plan but it was spending it with you that made the night special for me. Now it’s your turn to plan our next date and I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Game on!

Okay? Okay. | TFIOS Movie Review

Hello everyone! Firstly let me apologise, I am aware that my last post was also a movie review and I won’t be making a habit of writing two posts with similar content together in the future but I’ve literally just got home from watching The Fault In Our Stars in the cinema and I simply had to write up my review now while my memory of it is clear.

Secondly, something you should probably know about me is that The Fault In Our Stars is my favourite book. I have read it three times and I would have read it more if it weren’t for the fact that every time I read it I need to read it in one go without putting it down because I get so hooked. So I was very nervous about seeing my favourite novel be brought to the big screen. In this review there will be spoilers so, yeah, if you want to be surprised then maybe come back to this review afterwards.

Okay so let’s get started!

The Fault In Our Stars
Directed by Josh Boone
Based on the novel by John Green

I loved this movie. It was a really faithful adaptation and I didn’t feel any different watching it than I did when reading the book. If this review doesn’t make any sense it’s because my brain is still weighted with all the emotions I felt when watching. The movie had several laugh out loud moments which I thought provided a beautiful contrast to the moment when everyone was sobbing like Isaac on The Night Of The Broken Trophies.

Speaking of The Night of the Broken Trophies, this was actually one of my favourite scenes and one that actually came across a lot better in the film than it did in the book. Augustus and Hazel’s strained conversation over the sound of Isaac smashing the basketball trophies in the background not only came across as funny but also symbolised Gus and Hazel’s relationship, trying to communicate and bond the best they can over all the hectic heartbreak in their lives. (I might be doing an Augustus Waters and being overly metaphorical here, but this is how it came across to me.) Another scene which I loved was, yes, the sex scene. Despite sitting next to my mother I didn’t feel awkward at all because the scene was so romantic and wasn’t overly “sexed up” but was more like a new bond between Hazel and Gus which I thought fitted in so nicely as a new stepping stone in their relationship. I also really adored the plane scene as well where Gus freaks out about flying. I thought this was just so cute. (Defined literary analysis I know.)

Moving on to the casting I thought that both Shailene Woodley and Ansel Engort who played Hazel and Gus were perfect for the roles. At first I was really concerned that Hazel was going to be portrayed as introverted and shy all the way through as Shailene did such a good job of acting this way in the first few scenes however her talent indeed branched out and I thought that the anger in the scene in Peter Van Houten’s house was just excellent.
I fell in love with the character of Augustus Waters so much when reading the book and Ansel did not disappoint me. Even my mother came out of the cinema raving about how amazing he was! He played the character’s charm and natural cheekiness so well (I think I died when he winked at Hazel in the basement) but also the more serious side of him was acted superbly, such as when he broke the news to Hazel about his PET scan and when he was having difficulties in the car at the gas station.
As for Willem Dafoe as Van Houten, I really wasn’t sure what I thought at first, possibly because Van Houten was probably the character that I had the clearest mental image of but it was actually in the funeral scene that I really warmed to him.
The character of Isaac was played by Nat Wolff and I think he did a spectacular job as was exactly how I pictured him. His character was really funny and Nat played the sarcasm element really well.

Now, the aspects that I didn’t particularly like and, to be honest there aren’t many. I was upset that Augustus and Hazel didn’t get rid of the swing set but instead just sat on it and talked. I think them coming up with the advert for the swing set in the book was one of the funnier scenes and would have worked really well so I was disappointed with that.
Also I felt like if you haven’t read the book before seeing the movie you would have no idea how important “An Imperial Affliction” is to Hazel and why. I felt like the story of “An Imperial Affliction” was barely mentioned in the film so if you hadn’t read The Fault In Our Stars you wouldn’t have a clue what this story was about and I think because it’s such a big part of the story and of Hazel’s life the audience should be more conscious of what it is.

Lastly, yes I cried. To be honest I had tears in my eyes for the majority of the movie however these are the four sections that I actually burst into tears at:
1) When Hazel and Gus are on the phone and they keep saying “okay” to each other and Gus says “maybe ‘okay’ will be our always”
2) The pre-funeral, partly because it was really sad but partly because I knew this was the last time I would see Augustus on screen
3) When Hazel placed the cigarettes on top of the coffin
4) The letter at the end

So, overall I give The Fault In Our Stars movie 5/5 and I will DEFINITELY be going to see it again and buying the DVD. If you agree with this post or if you have any other opinions please leave them in the comments and I will get back to you!

Toodles!

“You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.” – Hazel Grace

 

The Help | Book/Movie Review & Comparison

The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been on my “to-read” list since I purchased it last year. Similarly I have been dying to watch the film but I wouldn’t do this until I had read the book and with my compulsory college reading (and a million other books on my list), I simply haven’t got around to it. Until now!

I did my final exam last week so now I am free to enjoy my summer! A few summer projects I have going on at the moment are learning French, attempting to write a novel, and of course, maintaining my blog for you guys! But alongside all of these projects I have been trying to keep up with my 50 books challenge (www.goodreads.com) and my most recent book in this challenge was The Help. This book took me about five days to read and as soon as I finished I lent the DVD of the film adaptation from a friend so that I could do a review and comparison whilst the book was still fresh in my memory. Now the way I’m going to do this is the way I find easiest for myself and also the way I think you guys will find easiest which is to review the book first on it’s own and then do the movie review and comparison after. (If you don’t like this way then leave a comment and I will bear this in mind the next time I do a comparison post). So, without further ado, here is my The Help book/movie review and comparison…

Book: The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett
Published in 2009

Before I make any in-depth analysis or intelligent comments about this book can I first say, wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
This book was incredible. It’s fairly long (about 470 pages) however I felt that the pace didn’t drag and as there was so much information crammed into this novel I think Stockett did a great job of taking her time and keeping the speed of the book appropriate to the story line and plot. It was the length/speed of this book that made me fear the movie because Stockett pays such attention to detail and I knew that in a film this would be almost impossible to match. The story is told from the perspective of three different women, Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter and is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s. Aibileen and Minny are both black house-maids to white families and Skeeter is a white woman attempting to become a writer who is also friends with the women Aibileen and Minny work for. The book’s main theme is racial culture and the issue of racism and segregation in parts of America at the time. The book’s chapters alternate between the three women throughout the story and I was always sad to come to the end of one of the women’s chapters however equally thrilled to be re-joining another character at the same time.

My favourite character was, without a doubt, Skeeter who I completely related to on every level, from the love of writing and hate of discrimination to the friction between her and her mother and their love/hate relationship. I got so caught up in the story and the racism that whenever I read one of Skeeter’s chapters it was like a breath of fresh air and my brain could relax for a while.
I loved Aibileen and Minny but in completely contrasting ways. I think I warmed to Aibileen a lot more throughout the book so by the end I felt more emotionally attached to her character whereas Minny I just found hilarious from the start but throughout the story she began to, excuse my language, piss me off a bit at times. Not because she is a dislikeable character but the way she has been treated by white people has clearly left her with trust issues which put strain on her relationship with her boss, Celia Foote, and at times I wanted to scream into the book, “just let her be nice to you!”.
Speaking of Celia, she was probably my other favourite character aside from Skeeter. She is such a naive yet adorable woman who clearly just wants to do right by everybody, Minny, her husband, the other ladies in town. I bonded with Celia’s character almost instantly and I felt sort of protective over her. Minny calls her a “fool” and I completely agree, she is so caught up in her own world that she cannot see how society functions and what her “place” is in it which results in her feeling lonely and not good enough. I felt so sorry for her but at the same time thought she was a really open and charming character with a lot of guts.

My one complaint is that I figured out what the “Terrible Awful” was about halfway through the book and it seemed slightly predictable to me. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t find it hilarious or genius, because I did, I just thought that it was strung out a little too long which meant I figured it out sooner than I should have. If you experienced this too please let me know in the comments as I would like to know if it was a general thing or just me!

Overall I found this book to be well-written, though-provoking and insightful and I am pleased to say I give The Help by Kathryn Stockett a 5/5! Will hopefully re-read this in the future!

Movie: The Help, directed by Tate Taylor
Released in 2011

I mentioned in the book review that I was concerned that this film would not contain all of the information that was in the book and to be frank, it doesn’t. How could it when the book has over 450 pages and all that had to be crammed into a 140 minute movie? That being said, the film was a really faithful adaptation and it got in a lot more of the detail than I thought it would so, well done Tate Taylor! I enjoyed this film so much I didn’t want it to end, (I already have plans to watch it again with my mother tomorrow!), and I actually cried in two separate scenes whereas I didn’t cry reading the book at all!

Firstly though, the casting. I think casting is so important when filming a movie based on a novel because when you read you build up an image of the character in your head and, of course it is impossible to completely match that so you need to make the film character EVEN BETTER.
Now, this is probably completely biased as I have a massive girl crush on Emma Stone but, oh, my, God. Her performance as Skeeter was so amazing, seriously close to how I pictured her when reading and just generally so talented, beautiful, funny… (Did I over fangirl there?). But in all seriousness, I thought she played the part amazingly and the scenes between her and Allison Janney who played her mother were truly funny and actually led to me liking the character of Charlotte Phelan because I really didn’t in the book. Another character who gave me a nice surprise was Constantine, played by Cicely Tyson, who I didn’t really connect with in the book but in the film made me cry like a baby.
A character who disappointed me was Celia, played by Jessica Chastain, who as I have mentioned, was one of my favourite characters in the book. Jessica’s acting was great, I just felt like I was watching a completely different character to the one I had read in the novel. I felt that whilst Celia in the book came across as vulnerable and ditzy, Celia in the film was more brash and overbearing. It doesn’t help that a large section of her story from the book was left out, which is what made me warm to her when I read it.
Another character who wasn’t like I read her in the book was Hilly Holbrook, acted by Bryce Dallas Howard. In the book I read Hilly as quite a sophisticated yet bitchy woman however in the movie she played up the the “teen drama” element and had a touch of “Regina George” about her which I actually think worked really well and I was pleasantly surprised by this.

The costumes and the set was all excellent, I especially loved the women’s beautiful 1960’s dresses which came in stunning colours and looked beautiful on screen. The hairdo’s (a big part of 60’s fashion culture) were all gorgeous and it all looked fantastic.

Overall I really did love this movie. I thought it was true to the story and was performed brilliantly by all the actors and actresses involved. To be honest, if I had watched this film without reading the book I would have easily given it 5/5 however as this is a comparison I am going to give it a very close 4.5/5 and I recommend this film to anybody who has read the book!

 

Have you read or watched The Help and if so what are your thoughts? Please feel free to leave them in the comments and we’ll have a discussion!

Toodles!