"She gets better. I promise.":Pushing a Genre past its limits In Me And Earl And The Dying Girl

As a cinephile and someone whose love of film stemmed from their introduction to foreign cinema, it is such a genuine joy to experience the sense of awe you get from watching truly great cinema reflected in film itself. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (MAEATDG) reflects the ethos of this blog. It is about the lasting effect films have on us and even though it is an ‘American teen drama’, it does subvert expectations, which will be the topic of this week’s discussion. Just how does this film retain its mainstream appeal while presenting an art-house style?

Greg, our protagonist, and his ‘co-worker’ Earl love all things cinema, particularly European cinema. Its forms an impression on them from an early age, leading them to parody their favourites using funny names and quirky plots. When I first saw this film, it obviously spoke to me and reminded me of my own passion and how it started. While looking for something new to watch, I came across this film and decided to watch it again, and I am glad I did because what I saw this time was something different.

Before getting into the plot and the core of this week’s post, I just want to take a moment to appreciate the style of this film. The set and cinematography give off very strong Wes Anderson vibes. There are layers within the frame of the film itself. There are also interjections of other mediums of film, sweet and funny claymations (a feature used by Anderson himself) as well as the use of old film rather than digital.

The cinematography isn’t what we would expect of your average teen drama. There are extreme, almost uncomfortable, close-ups. Sometimes we are very removed from the action by unusual transitions and comedic start cuts. Sometimes the film feels like a documentary being directed by Greg. We see what goes into the making of a film as he narrates the story and we zoom in on the character that has his focus.

Much like the story itself, the style and the cinematography do not stick to one particular genre but try to encapsulate many because this film has been inspired by so many that have come before it.

MAEATDG acknowledges its roots and respects where it has come from. It pays tribute to the films it loves. As mentioned, at times this film feels like a documentary and it is this self-awareness that brings such charm and humility to the film. This, combined with its ability to subvert our expectations, is what makes it such an interesting watch as well as just a delightful film.

I am aware that I have spoken about this topic before, particularly when it comes to the progression of the teen coming-of-age romantic drama. But, for me, this is one of the most interesting aspects of film; how films can build on what has come before them and challenge the filmmakers that will come after them. Progression leads to longevity and creativity, which the film industry needs.

MAEATDG applies art house to the mainstream. When the two opposite ends of the film world come together, it produces great cinema. It allows for the creation of something new while keeping its mainstream appeal, allowing those who may not typically go for an art-house production to get a taste for it and explore just how vast cinema is and all the wonderful stories it has to offer.

Cancer is an illness that I don’t doubt has affected every single one of us personally or through a loved one and it is sad and awful. I am not taking away from that. It is helpful to have that represented on screen, so we can each use the medium of film as a way to work through the complexities we have faced, or may face, in our own lives. However, when it comes to film, and in particular the teen drama/romance genre, it has become overdone. It is used as a cheap tearjerker. It plays into the heightened drama and romance, a Romeo and Juliet tragic romance and all that jazz.

MAEATDG totally goes against all of the classic tropes we expect while at the same time employing other tropes that we would not expect it to. We want Earl and Greg to be best friends. We want them to have some emotional resolution after their inevitable fallout, but they are still ‘co-workers’.

We want Greg and Rachel to experience a whirlwind, once-in-a-lifetime romance. We want Rachel to live but she doesn’t (Sorry). Greg himself knows that we don’t want her to die and frequently reassures us that she won’t. He is playing out the narrative we expect from such films, leading us up to a certain point and purposefully disappointing us. Greg and Rachel also have an untimely falling out and never get their emotional talk before her passing no matter how much we might want them to.

MAEATDG’s self-aware nature is so refreshing and we don’t expect it, especially for its genre. Genre is a powerful thing. Mainstream cinema tends to reuse and recycle genres. They learn what the audience expects from a genre and reuse what tropes have worked well within that genre; so much so that an audience can predict with a fair amount of certainty what is going to happen. Subverting this expectation causes an audience to question everything.

I have spoken about Rick Altman’s writings on genre and the use of semantic visual cues and syntactic narrative structures to shape genres. A lot of the time, genres are shaped by audiences and their expectations but sometimes a filmmaker comes around and alters the syntax and semantics to redefine a genre.

MAEATDG semantics are not what we would expect from the genre. As mentioned,the film has a quirky vibe, much like a Wes Anderson film. However, the synthetics are not what we would expect either. The film is self-aware. We do not get what we want or expect from a teen flick. The story does not follow the predictable patterns we expect it to and so MAEATDG alters the genre.

MAEATDG subverted my expectations and challenged what I thought the teen genre could do. It gave me something to think about. What more could you ask for from a film?