“The Fault In Our Stars” surpasses ‘okay’

Augustus Waters (Left) and Hazel Grace Lancaster (Right)

Illustration by Julia Schorr

Augustus Waters (Left) and Hazel Grace Lancaster (Right)

Three years ago, I would’ve been dressed like many of the exuberant middle-schoolers that were at “The Fault In Our Stars” movie premiere on Thursday.

The masses came clad in blue shirts with two clouds on it: one which said “Okay…” and another below which replied, “Okay,” an homage to the main characters, Hazel and Augustus’, dialogue.

While their reactions to intimacy and death were as expected (gasps, giggles, endless tears, etc.), to my surprise, I found myself acting just the same.

The movie adaptation was able to revive my forgotten love for John Green’s “one sick love story” and resurrect a fangirl in me that had been lost years ago.

The story is astutely narrated by Shailene Woodley’s 16 year-old character, Hazel Grace Lancaster. Her acting embodies a slightly pessimistic view on her cancer-ridden life, similar to the way Green portrays the character in the novel.

Ansel Elgort, playing Augustus Waters, seemed more like a real person, stuttering and issuing incoherent thoughts. Like Woodley, he was able to demonstrate the character Green created.

Even though this was a quintessential love story, the characters struggled along the way. The two were able to form an onscreen bond that had all of the aspects of a real relationship.

Because of Green’s witty humor, his comedic taste was strategically infused into a movie with such a delicate and touchy subject as the basis of the plot line.

“The Fault In Our Stars” is more than a young-adult franchise. It doesn’t have to do with vampires or blood-thirsty teenagers in a post-apocalyptic world. Instead, it emphasizes the struggles of teenagehood through the eyes of teens who know just how much pain demands to be felt.