Hello world! Welcome to the very first post of #PetitMas! I've been so incredibly inactive (literally did not post at all in November) so I decided to do what every college student during finals season should do - procrastinate and write 12 blog posts counting down to Christmas and freedom.
To kick things off, I went to see the movie adaption of Wonder by R.J. Palacio over Thanksgiving break because my sister is currently obsessed with the book. As it's been almost four years since I've read the novel, I didn't exactly remember all the minute details to the plot. This just meant I was experiencing the story as if it was my first time, which was honestly quite exciting.
For those who don't know what Wonder is about, we follow August (Auggie) Pullman who was born with a facial deformity. He's been homeschooled his entire life and the story opens with his mother deciding to send him to Beecher Prep for 5th grade which means he has to deal with being both the new kid and the new kid with a weird face. The story delivers this incredibly powerful message that physical appearances do not define a person as well as the fact that everyone has the ability to choose kind.
Like the novel, the movie is told in multiple perspectives which I really appreciated as it revealed various plot points that were crucial in the overall story-line. I absolutely adored the portrayal of the Pullman's family dynamic, especially from Auggie's perspective. However, I did find myself resonating with Via more - must be the older sibling trait that we both share. I really admired her character throughout the story, especially hearing things from her perspective regarding her role in the family.
As I've mentioned before, it's been quite a while since I've read the book so I don't have all the details in my head and therefore can't do a proper comparison of the movie. My sister did comment that she felt like Auggie's face wasn't "as weird" as she thought it would be which I found really interesting. Sure enough, Auggie's physical deformity was obvious in the movie, but since it wasn't dramatically emphasized, it definitely brought some ideas to mind.
I couldn't help but think how when we read Wonder, it's so easy to have a certain portrayal of what a facial deformity looks like and everyone has to admit that they would definitely stare if they ever saw what they imagined in their head, in real life. Seeing that on-screen Auggie didn't look that different, or at least not as drastically different, just shows how society can view a small physical alteration and over-dramatize it.
The message of Wonder is that everyone has the ability to choose kind which, after hearing what my sister said, resonated with me even more. I might be reading too much into this, but from my minuscule memory of the book and the impact this movie left on me, I can say that this was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations that I've watched.
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