(This post contains spoilers.)
This picture shows up every time I look through the #tfios tag on tumblr.
The first time I saw it, I just rolled my eyes and thought “Oh, teenage girls. You so crazy.” (I’m allowed to say that because I was one of them not very long ago – and I do not mean to disparage teenage girls. We’re all a little crazy. Generally speaking, however, teenage girls are a very particular type of crazy.)
But the more I kept seeing it, the more it bothered me.
The first thing that bothers me is this: Augustus Waters dies. They know that. Everyone on tumblr knows that whether they’ve read The Fault in Our Stars or not. Being a very, very literal person, my thoughts are “So, you want someone to make you fall in love with them and then die a slow, painful death? Okay.” BUT I know that’s not what they mean at all and interpreting it as such says as much about me as it does about the ones posting it, so I’ll give a pass on that.
But my concern is this… what exactly is it about the character of Augustus Waters that they’re idolizing this way?
Good looks? Okay, makes sense. Who doesn’t want an attractive partner? No one hopes for an ugly one, that’s for sure. Sense of humor? Okay. Are they just saying they want someone to fall head over heels in love with them like Augustus did with Hazel? Fair enough.
But here’s the thing: Augustus Waters is not the only fictional character or the only real person who is good looking, funny, and capable of loving someone intensely. So why are they idolizing him in particular?
I’m worried that the people posting this picture don’t actually get the character. By elevating him to this status, they are placing him in the Manic Pixie Dream Boy role. That’s how Augustus was at the start of the book, and for good reason. He was trying to be something he wasn’t.
I know I’m taking this too seriously, but it makes me sad to see a great character with a real personality, from one of the best YA books of this generation, reduced so inelegantly to being an “Ideal Boyfriend Material” trope.
Maybe if the image said “Be my Gus,” I’d react a little better…
Caron Conley 