ENGL 101 - E01
The Fault in Our Stars
At the onset of the movie, The Fault in Our Stars by Josh Boone, a teenage girl lies in the grass facing the stars telling a very sad story. The sixteen year old cancer patient narrates how she was forced her parents forces to participate in a support group by her parents where she meets Gus and later on, they ends up falling in love. Gus is a seventeen-year-old gentleman with an amputated leg. The two teenagers have a similar and bitter humor, a disregard for the conventional and an affection that drives them into a journey. The movie is technically set in Indianapolis. The whole setting of this scene is quite stifling and entertaining in the manner it captures the attention of the audience easily. The paper candidly and comprehensively analyze the first ten minutes in The Fault in Our Stars movie. Moreover, it discusses the setting, music, dresses and the mood in the aforementioned scene.
In the first ten minutes of the movie, music has been portrayed at a low degree. Hazel is having deep thoughts narrating her story. The long passages in the scene do not allow the excessive use of music in the scenario. In some parts, the audience comes across a suffocating silence when Hazel’s monologue takes place. Ironically, the film composers always have a tendency of claiming that all movies are accompanied by music and soundtracks. By enthralling audiences to eavesdrop a little closer, this unnervingly quiet movie has captured the attention to an aspect that cannot be underappreciated regarding filmmaking. Despite the minimal use of sounds, the scene in the movie benefits on how the composer handles the sound effects in a perfect manner. The sounds tracks incorporated when Hazel is sleeping on the grass emanates from the landscape. The soothing beats carry away the emotions of the audience and work perfectly in capturing their attention. The functions of the harmonics of a violin are to cancel out the tension associated with a reticent scene. The movie has achieved a combination of dialogue, effects, and music to crop a unified soundtrack.
As the movies start, the arrangement of the lights is a such way that the diffuse frontal light illuminates the face of Hazel and leave the darkness in other areas surround her. The mild light on the face of the Hazel indicates the somber mood of the girls who seems to be depressed as the movie begins. The frontal lighting techniques seems to dominate the different shots of the scene to ensure that the subject is correctly illuminated. In the shot where, Hazel mother talks with the doctor, there is more directional light for the back of the doctor that gives her a hot edge. However, it can be noticed that the front light outweighs the backlight especially for the people with physical problems. This illustrates the dark side of their life that tends to give them gloomy thoughts of their conditions.
The filmmaker has used the costumes and props in the scene as a way of revealing modernity visual cues to the viewers. Majority of the characters are in casual attires to portray the youthfulness of those characters. In addition, the use of costumes such as jeans and linen jackets illustrates the social, economic status of the character, which seems to be upper and middle. For instance, the use of accessories such as cannula in Hazel’s is a way of showing that the gild has a health condition. Subsequently, it reveals her physical limitation that was stage 4-thyroid cancer. She carries her oxygen tank with a cannula in her nose in order to breathe.
Hazel always attends a cancer support group at a called the Literal Heart of Jesus. The observation made from the church’s name gives out a symbolism of the scene. The name is hilariously described and reminds that everyone has his or her way of finding solace in tough times. In the group, she finds many friends such as Patrick, who have the same physical disorder. On the shot where she was on her way to the group, Hazel meets Gus, and Gus continues to stare at Hazel. Gus tells Hazel he is seventeen and had some osteosarcoma in the previous year. Gus added that he was there to help Isaac.
In conclusion, the scene brings out the fun and enthusiastic juxtaposition to Hazel, frequently symbolizing the larger themes and messages of the film. Without resorting, misrepresentation or violating, the movie is hard-hitting picture of life a sick teenager. In a young adult genre, where young teenagers are often presented as unfriendly or muscle hunks the scene is refreshing to see a male hero that articulates his love through thoughtful deeds but not fist fights and eye-rolling dialogue (Miller, Eve-Marie, Liza, and Christi, 134).
Works Cited
Miller, Eve-Marie, Liza Oldham, and Christi S. Farrar. Magill's Literary Annual 2013: Essay-reviews of 200 Outstanding Books Published in the United States During 2012: with an Annotated List of Titles. Amenia, N.Y: Salem Press, 2013. Print.
