PAPER TOWNS: An Impressive & Charming Adaptation

Paper Towns is an adaptation of John Green’s book of the same name. You may already have read or watched his highly successful The Fault In Our Stars, and have come back for more. Why wouldn’t you, he’s John Green? Or you may be a fan long in the making, perhaps a fellow Nerdfighter? Like me? For those of you who don’t know what that is, well, we’re geeks, on the internet, who follow and uphold the creed of John and Hank Green. That is, to decrease world suck. But despite my bias I can assure you I’m nothing if not objective. Luckily though, not only is this film a superb adaptation, it builds and improves on Green’s book in ways I never would have imagined.

The Adaptation

Paper Towns was adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who also adapted Green’s The Fault In Our Stars. To be honest I didn’t think a great deal of their work on that film, but in Paper Towns I am mightily pleased to see what they have created. Paper Towns is a great book but there are long periods of, occasionally dull, contemplation. Quentin, the protagonist, is madly in love with his neighbour Margo. She is the quintessential Manic Pixie Dream Girl. After one adventurous night together she disappears and Quentin, along with his friends Ben and Radar, embark on a quest to find her.

In Green’s original book, Quentin spends a lot of time wrapped up in his idealised version of Margo, and the narrative loses momentum. He also makes a couple of dubious choices and it generally made me a bit grumpy that he would sacrifice so much of himself for a girl that blatantly left him. However, in Neustadter and Weber’s adaptation, the story is tight, plot points are created or are rearranged, and the characters are more highly developed and involved in Quentin’s story. The result is that Green’s original premise comes into sharper focus. Suddenly it all makes sense; the point of Paper Towns is not Margo. The point is that Quentin is focussing all of his attention on some fantasy, all the while overlooking the reality of the world around him.

Goodbye Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Margo Roth Spiegelman is John Green’s own reflection on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She was created to show us how unhealthy it is that men and women alike develop these huge, unrealistic crushes. We turn people into fantasy ideas of what they really are and are mad at them when they fail to reach the perfect dizzying heights of our imaginations.

Interestingly Paper Towns was written before the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl came into use. Its film adaptation has been made after we recognised this trope, and also realised that it’s an unhelpful categorisation. So perhaps this is why Neustadter and Weber could so accurately observe Green’s meaning in Paper Towns. Nathan Rabin, who first coined the term, has since retracted his comments and has said (along with other actresses, filmmakers etc.) that the categorisation is reductive and also sexist in itself.

This is where Green’s writing is so profound, because he not only recognised the MPDG trope, but also that the role was the projection of the person who idolises her. He unpacked Margo’s character and showed her depths, whereas the followers of Rabin’s critique used it as carte blanche to say “you see this dreamlike girl, well she’s a fantasy, so we don’t need to discuss her any further”. What a paradox: categorising a character and then making her a victim of it. Paper Towns is possibly the last word in this argument. The MPDG by her very nature is a richer character than her nickname would suggest, and John Green worked that before anyone else.

What A Charmer

Film theory and Nerdfighteria aside, Paper Towns is simply a charming film. The sentiment is universal and the quality of the production really holds up. While Neustadter and Weber offered depth to the story and characters, it was up to the cast to run with it. Which they do, superbly. Cara Delevingne, who I never would have suspected of being such a great actress, is wonderful. Not only does she have the acting chops many other models don’t, the very fact that she is a model adds depth to the whole concept of Margo as a fantasy.

In the light of Margo (being played by a model at that), it would be easy for the film’s protagonist, Quentin (Nat Wolff), to fall under her shadow. But he doesn’t. Wolff is a talented actor with a charming presence on screen, which makes Quentin more than the glum teenager any other film would have portrayed him as. His presence is enhanced further by the performances of Austin Abrams (who plays Ben) and Justice Smith (Radar). Between these two and Wolff you feel a real warmth and chemistry that is delightful to watch. Small as their roles are, Halston Sage (Lacey) and Jaz Sinclair (Angela) are equally as charming. And the depth Neustadter and Weber have added to these roles means that Lacey and Angela provide a compelling counterpoint to Quentin’s idealised version of Margo.

A great cast, of course, would be nothing without the light touch of director Jake Schreier. He conducts every beat perfectly, so the film rises gently to its conclusion, but still takes the time to enjoy the moments along the way. Because ultimately, it is those moments, when Quentin teases Ben about his ‘girlfriend’ or when the guys sing the Pokémon song, that matter to the film’s message: don’t waste yourself in fantasy, because you might just miss the real fun going on around you.

The Future Of John Green

It’s a promising time for the man dubbed ‘The Teen Whisperer’, and if you are even relatively interested in John Green you may be interested to know that yet another of his books is to be adapted into a film. Looking For Alaska will be adapted by Sarah Polley, which is both surprising and impressive news. There is also an adaptation of the collection of Christmas stories Let It Snow in development, and if you’re at all interested I can also highly recommend that you watch John and his brother Hank’s Vlogbrothers YouTube channel.

Conclusion

For me and many Nerdfighters, Paper Towns was always going to be about more than a film, it was going to be about a book we love and a man we think of as a friend taking on his first role as a film producer. Luckily for us, then, that it didn’t fall short; but perhaps even luckier still that for everyone else Paper Towns is still a great film. It is intriguing, charming and entertaining. Everything from the script to cast is as perfect as it can be. You may never have heard of the book, or of John Green, but that doesn’t matter because ‘The Teen Whisperer’ never fails to deliver.

Have you seen Paper Towns? Did you read the book? What did you think of the adaptation?

(top image source: 20th Century Fox)