Paper Towns Movie Essay

Paper Towns is about a boy named Quentin Jacobsen and his childhood friend Margo Roth Spiegelman. When they were kids, they spent a lot of time together, but as they grew up, they also grew apart. Then, one day, Margo shows up at Quentin’s window, asking him to help her. They then spend the night seeking revenge on Margo’s high school friends who she says have wronged her. The next day, Margo disappears, which isn’t uncommon for Margo. But this time, Quentin gets involved in the mystery until, eventually, he’s the only one still looking. Quentin believes Margo wants to be found and has left a trail of clues for him. After searching for a while, Quentin finds the clue that leads him to Agloe, New York, where Margo is. Quentin and his friends take a road trip there, to find out that Margo isn’t what Quentin expected at all.
Between the book and movie, no changes were made that affected the plot of the story. The first difference was that, in the book, Radar is obsessed with Omnictionary, which is like Wikipedia. He’s constantly on it fixing web pages that people have messed with. In the movie, Omnictionary

is only mentioned once, when Radar shows Quentin the page for Agloe, where Margo is. Also, in the book, Angela (Radar’s girlfriend) isn’t as big of a character. She’s only mentioned a couple times and Radar and her aren’t very serious. In the movie, though, Radar and Angela have been dating for a long time and she’s constantly around and even goes with them to Agloe to find Margo.
Another difference is that Margo and Quentin break into Seaworld during their late night adventure. But, in the movie, that part was cut out. This scene wasn’t important to the plot of the movie, but it was a part that showed the relationship between Margo and Quentin strengthening. The day after Margo and Quentin’s adventure, Margo goes missing. In the book, Quentin has a fear that Margo may have killed herself. But, in the movie, nobody ever believes Margo may have committed suicide. Finally, once they find out Margo is in Agloe, they all decide to go on a road trip. In the book, Quentin, Ben, Radar, and Lacey (Margo’s friend), skip graduation to go find her before she leaves again. Once they get there, they find Margo in a barn in Agloe. They stay the night and the next day Margo invites Quentin to come with her to New York, but he doesn’t, and they promise to stay in touch. In the movie, the same people, including Angela, leave only a few days before prom, which they insist that they have to get back for. Then, once they get there, Margo isn’t where they expected her to be. Quentin gets upset and tells everyone to go home without him because he isn’t leaving without Margo. He then goes into the town near Agloe and sees Margo there. They sit and talk and Margo invites Quentin to come with her, but she doesn’t say where. Quentin doesn’t go but instead heads back to Orlando to go to the prom.
Since none of these differences made much of a difference to the plot, they might not have had any real reasons for them. Radar’s obsession with Omnictionary may have been exchanged for his relationship with Angela. This would add another character, making things more interesting at times, and deepening Radar’s character. They might not have broken into Seaworld because that would mean having to pay Seaworld to film there. Quentin may have never thought that Margo killed herself because that’s a morbid thought for the intended audience, and it wasn’t important to the plot. Margo may have not been found exactly in Agloe so that it showed how obsessed and in love with Margo, or the idea of Margo, Quentin was. He gets left in New York just to be given the possibility of finding her, which says a lot about his character that can’t be shown in a movie but can be written in a book.
Out of the many film elements we went over in class, the ones in Paper Towns that stuck out to me most were soundtrack, production design, and casting. When filming a book to movie adaption, these three elements are what are really going to stick out to those in the audience who read the book beforehand. Since books don’t have soundtracks, the music needs to be specifically picked to fit the scenes from the book. They also need to be picked in order to enhance the scene, not change it. They did a good job with this in Paper Towns. The soundtrack helped set the mood, using fast-paced music in exciting scenes and more dramatic music in more serious scenes. They also used more modern music, which helped reach out to the intended audience better. As for production design, sets need to be found or created that were used in the book. In Paper Towns, some of the major locations were the subdivisions of Orlando, the Sun Trust building, the high school, the old warehouse, and Agloe, New York. All of these set locations could have been easily found or built, and they did a good job with these locations. The production designer also had to worry about props and furnishings, which there weren’t any specific ones in Paper Towns, but they were still needed to make the scenes come together. The production designer did a good job at this. No scene was empty or bare and the sets all came together to help enhance the scenes.
When it comes to book to movie adaptations, casting is one of the most important processes. In usual films, no one knows what the character is supposed to look or act like, so you can always find someone who doesn’t exactly fit the description. But, in adaption films, the casting director needs to find actors that will be able to fit the roles of the characters in the book and fit the description of the character. If the actor doesn’t look like the character or isn’t able to portray the traits of that character, the film won’t be the same. In Paper Towns, the casting director did an amazing job with casting. The characters all fit the descriptions in the book and they portray them as if the character was written after them.
Overall, Paper Towns was an amazing film.

It was almost identical to the book. The majority of the dialogue was the same, the characters were portrayed perfectly, the scenes all looked like they were described in the book, and the plot had no major changes. As someone who had read the book before the movie was even announced, I was pleased in the way that the cast and crew brought this story to life. Even if Paper Towns wasn’t an adaption of a book, it was still an amazing onscreen story. The movie all flowed, the soundtrack really enhanced the plot, and there were characters that made you feel as if you personally knew them. This movie was great, whether you look at it from the view of someone who read the book and wanted it all to be exactly like you imagined, or if you’re someone who didn’t even know it was a book and just thought the story seemed

interesting.