There are often two schools of thought in interpreting literature – one where the focus is on the author, and one on the reader. Both have their merits in that one must understand the context in which the literature was made and that one must understand how literature can apply to his own context. With that, John Green, please don’t sue me for my title. Although meeting you in person wouldn’t be too bad!
Disclaimer: Sad to say, but I have never read the Paper Towns book.
After the movie came out amidst undecided fanfare, a lot of people said that it was not a good movie. Understandably, the plot was not very eventful. It was a group of normal people having a great time – something movies almost never show nowadays. Although each character was framed in certain stereotypes or tropes that you’d expect from a Hollywood high school, the film was quick to shatter them as well (which was the point anyway). Most of the times I watch teenage movies, the characters are so expectedly Hollywood that they become unrelatable. With the authenticity in Paper Towns, the characters easily could have been my friends – except, perhaps, Margo.
Now, hordes of people didn’t like the movie because of the simple fact that they didn’t like Margo and the ending. Coz hey, if it’s a teenage love-fueled movie, you must like the girl on the poster right? Well, no. We’re not meant to like Margo and nor was Quentin. This is not a happily-ever-after movie and that’s okay – in fact, more than okay. When it comes down to it, Paper Towns is a coming-of-age story with a strong message for people…coming of age, but for the older and the younger, don’t worry. You don’t have to be hormonal and rebellious; the messages are universal. Whether the messages make it worthy enough to watch the movie is up to you.
As a required reading in numerous high schools across the USA, the primary message is very well documented. The story speaks of paper towns and paper people, which is how most of us often look at the people around us. Flat, one-dimensional, simple. We know that one friend who always cracks jokes, or that one teacher who simply hates students, or that beggar who’s too lazy to take control of his life, or that celebrity who’s living the sweet life, or that girl who is just perfect. Margo was perfect in the eyes of Quentin, but she’s far from it. She became a projection of Quentin’s idea of her, as if he drew her on a piece of paper. Clearly, she’s much more than that (where the “much more” was what Quentin, and indeed the audience, disliked). Plenty of stereotypes were raised and broken across all characters in the movie just to deliver this point. There is much more to people than you may ever know, so we shouldn’t be quick to judge or to idealize. In fact, I am reminded of this very powerful image shared on Facebook a while back.
While watching the movie, another message hit closer to home for me, one that may have been contrived by my own personal context. This is the juicier part, I suppose.
In a TED talk, John Green explains what paper towns are, why it’s important to have a map for your own experiences and the need for continuous learning. Paper towns are fake towns used by cartographers to catch copyright infringement. In particular, a paper town called Agloe was one day printed on another cartographer’s map. In the lawsuit that followed, the accused claimed that because of decades of a fake town being found on the map, travelers and locals have come to know that junction with nothing in it as Agloe. The imaginary has become real. This illustrates the significance of mapping out one’s own path. It is by mapping your aspirations and goals that you can one day turn them into reality.
It doesn’t stop there, however. If that were the case, then everyone should be writing four-point plans on how to live the rest of their lives. Instead, Paper Towns carries with it a very important message. Inasmuch as it is important to know where you are going, how you get there is the most important part. The true gem of the movie was the bond and experience shared by the road tripping group, not the finding of Margo itself. The realization came to me just as it came to Quentin. After the perfection of Margo was shattered, we came to realize that although the destination was not what we wanted, the destination made that wonderful journey possible. The first experiences, the bonds formed, the unforgettable memories – he formed more of them in that one road trip than in all of his high school life.
To me personally, this applies to my aspirations for success. It is important to know where you want to go and what you want to achieve. But there’s no point obsessing and idealizing the way Quentin did about Margo. After all, the future you dream about may not turn out to be the future you want.
A very famous and well quoted quote goes,
“Aim for the stars. If you fail, you’ll land on the moon.”
Let me propose a new version,
“Aim for the stars, and enjoy the ride.”
