MovieChat Forums > The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) Discussion > Charlie looking at his dad

Charlie looking at his dad

posted 10 years ago by OldFriendOfTheChristys
6 replies | jump to latest

Early in the film there’s a montage scene in which Charlie is watching a football game on TV with his family and looks over at his dad. No words are exchanged—in fact, his dad doesn’t even realize Charlie is looking at him—but it speaks volumes to me. It seems he wants to tell his dad how difficult school has been—at this point in the film, he’s still navigating the waters of high school alone—but ultimately backs down, again fearing his parents will think he will “get bad again.”

Am I reading too much into this scene, or is this how you see it too?

[–] alexisfan07 10 years ago

That's absolutely how I took the scene too. And his dad is busy building his clock for shop class lol.

[–] gralh 10 years ago

just ask yourself this..why would someone as smart as charlie need his dad to build a clock for him?..he was the broken toy everyone feared would fall apart.

[–] OldFriendOfTheChristys 10 years ago

just ask yourself this..why would someone as smart as charlie need his dad to build a clock for him?..he was the broken toy everyone feared would fall apart.

I don’t think it was a matter of Charlie not being smart enough. I suspected his dad had a natural capacity for such things and perhaps just offered to do it for him.

[–] gralh 10 years ago

ahm...i just said: "why would someone as smart" so DUH, of course it's not a matter of being smart enough. he was being "protected" , maybe they didn't want him using sharp tools, and i thought, then why would they allow him to join that particular class? well, because he had adult supervision. that is all.

[–] OldFriendOfTheChristys 10 years ago

ahm...i just said: "why would someone as smart" so DUH, of course it's not a matter of being smart enough. he was being "protected" , maybe they didn't want him using sharp tools, and i thought, then why would they allow him to join that particular class? well, because he had adult supervision. that is all.

My apologies, gralh. I misread the comment.

[–] tristandude14 8 years ago

Charlie's dad is an interesting character. In the book, there are more scenes with he and Charlie alone together and you get the idea that the dad is a really nice person, very loving and protective of Charlie.