Paranoid Park



Paranoid Park is a 2006 book by Blake Nelson adapted into a 2007 indie film directed by Gus Van Sant. It tells the story of a 16-year-old skateboarder - unnamed in the novel, but given the name Alex for the film - who tries to fit in with the skater crowd and accidentally kills a security guard while trying to board a train. The author has said that the book is a kind of retelling of Crime and Punishment in a young adult fiction setting. The novel and film take place in Portland, Oregon, United States.


 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Averted. In the book, Macy is described as pretty, but in the movie she is played by Lauren McKinney. Pretty isn't the right word for her.
 * Adults Are Useless: The only adults featured are either oblivious to Alex's depression, or, in the Detective's case, pretending to care about him to get him to confess.
 * Alpha Bitch: Jennifer.
 * Anachronic Order: Alex tells his story out of order
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jennifer.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Break the Cutie: Alex.
 * Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Alex is a pretty normal kid who probably never did anything worse than drink a few beers in his life, but the one night he decides to venture to Paranoid Park to hang out with the "streeter" kids,
 * Although, technically speaking,
 * Dawson Casting: Notably averted, as with most Gus Van Sant films - all the actors are roughly the same age as their characters.
 * The Film of the Book
 * Manipulative Bastard: In the book,
 * Never Trust a Trailer: One of the biggest complaints about the movie is that the trailer makes it seem as though the movie is going to be a mystery-thriller, but when you actually watch the film it couldn't be any more different.
 * Race Lift: In the book, the detective is Caucasian. In the movie, he's Asian.
 * Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: averted; Alex stumbles over his words and does not have a particularly sophisticated vocabulary in his narration, as he says, he "didn't do well in Creative Writing"