Every Movie Has a Lesson

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GUEST EDITORIAL: Five Lessons from "The Fault of Our Stars"

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Five Lessons From The Fault in Our Stars

 by Chinedu Ibeakanma
“My greatest fear in life is oblivion. I wouldn’t want to live without being remembered after I’m gone.” This line is from Augustus Waters, One of the lead characters from the movie The Fault in Our Stars which is an adaptation of John Green’s teen novel, “The Fault in Our Stars.”

The movie is a heartbreaking story of a young girl Hazel Grace whose battle with metastatic thyroid cancer has left her with little rays of hope for life. Her condition and constant battle for her life defines the storyline of the movie.

As part of efforts to make Hazel lead a normal, she is advised by her parents and family doctor to join a support group where she gets the opportunity to meet other kids fighting different kinds of terminal illnesses.

Fortune decides to smile on Hazel in the support group as she meets Augustus, who is also a cancer patient but has refused to give up on life even after getting amputated due to cancer. Gus as he is fondly called will always say “The world is not a wish granting factory” when he needs to stay motivated. This, he passes on to his newfound love, Hazel.

The love story between Hazel and Augustus takes a tragic turn when Augustus gives up his battle with cancer leaving a devastated Hazel to continue the fight. Such emotional devastation was handled perfectly by Hazel who takes solace in a letter written before hand by Gus to motivate her after his demise.

Five Lessons From The Movie

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

 As much as life wasn’t fair to the lead characters in the movie, they made the best out of their situation and shared beautiful moments together despite their deteriorating health conditions. One of such moments was when Hazel used a Sony a6000 dynamic range camera to capture beautiful scenery at the park while hanging out with Gus.

Self Condemnation Dangerous For Growth

Hazel Grace allowed her pessimistic nature win a great deal of her life before she met Gus. She had already concluded that life was unfair to her and she wouldn’t do anything to change her fate.

This self condemnation kept her in a sad state until she decided to come out of her shell and join the support group where she met Gus. Life seemed to have a huge turnaround after her first encounter with Gus.

Hope Never Dies

Despite Grace’s pessimism, Her hope for a better life someday came to fruition when she met Gus. Her life turned around and came alive once again and despite the long while it took, her hope for a better life became a reality.

Death Is Not A Loss But Victory

Having suffered cancer for a long period of time, Gus developed a positive spirit towards his fate. He never saw death as a loss in his battle with cancer rather he saw it as an end to his long suffering which he believed will end someday. He believed that death will certainly come and will make him emerge victorious over cancer.

Every Man Is The Architect Of His Own Destiny

Gus was an epitome of a strong soldier in a tough battlefield. He believed every man has the right to decide his own fate even in the face of vicissitudes of life. He was down with cancer yet he never stopped doing things that made him happy. At some point, he became a source of inspiration to those around him.

Hazel on her part changed her impression about life about life after she met Gus and to an extent decided for herself what she wanted.

The Fault in Our Stars remains one of the best-selling movies for teens especially with the use of long exposure Sony a6000  camera which resulted to a good picture quality. Also the discipline of the script writers Scott Neustadterand and Michael H. Weber to stick to the plot without much deviations gave the movie high ratings from the audience. We do hope you enjoyed seeing the movie and if you haven’t, now is a good time to do so. 

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