The First Clip From ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ Is a Beautiful YA Metaphor

By  · Published on April 14th, 2014

The First Clip From ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ Is a Beautiful YA Metaphor

20th Century Fox

Late last night, as you were attempting to watch Mad Men or Game of Thrones, or file your taxes at the last minute, you might have heard an eerie howling carried in the wind through your open window, making you pause for a minute and consider the possibility of something terrible afoot. Nope, it was just the sound of thousands of teens simultaneously freaking out while watching the MTV Movie Awards – the first clip from The Fault In Our Stars was released during the broadcast, and it was positively swoon-worthy.

Stars is the highly anticipated adapatation of the YA novel by John Green that has a near cult-like following at this point by teens and younger readers. The story follows Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley), a sixteen-year-old girl suffering from cancer whose parents make her attend a support group meeting for young patients. There she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), an ex-basketball player whose beaten bout with osteosarcoma cost him his leg in the process. The two strike up a friendship over their unfortunate bond, as well as their passion for books, and as these things happen, they begin to fall for each other as well.

Undoubtedly it’s a tearjerker, and one that the YA set has been eating up in droves since its release. With a trailer out just a few weeks ago, footage from the film (directed by Josh Boone) is only feeding the hunger that the teens are feeling to see their favorite book come to life on screen. The first clip from the film sets up the meeting between the star crossed lovers, presumably outside of their support group, in what looks to be like some dreary, John Hughes-ian part of suburbia.

Check it out below:

It’s a meet cute for a different generation. While here we have two attractive teen dreams loitering on the curb, waiting for whatever just like they always have since the dawn of teenage time, they’re clearly something different. Hazel has her oxygen mask and a grown-out pixie cut that you known wasn’t her idea; it’s the rebirth of her hair after chemotherapy. We’re not made aware in the clip that Augustus is an amputee, but his presence at the center means that he’s not just there for giggles. These kids have been through something (are going through something), and his little stunt with the cigarette is a little more poignant knowing that; sure, it’s still a groan-inducing line made up by a seventeen-year-old with nothing to lose, but there’s a lot of seventeen-year-old girls who are definitely going to fall for it.

Interesting to note, but if you’re of the YA mindset, you’re probably already aware that the film’s stars, Woodley and Elgort, just starred together in Divergent as siblings. That’s a testament to their acting chops and their chemistry that they’re able to so smoothly transition into portraying a beloved romance right off the bat.

The Fault In Our Stars is in theaters June 6th.