 Hello there, my beautiful, lovely, delightful, talented, and dare I say it, good-looking internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today for a amputee reviews, The Fault in Our Stars. Now, if you don't know this, I am a real-life amputee, meaning that I am fully qualified to speak on this subject or so I think. The Fault in Our Stars is a movie based on a book by John Green. One thing you need to know right off the bat is that I am an absolute nerd for John Green books. I love his books. I receive some criticism, but like that young adult coming of age stories, I'm just, I'm a total sucker for. So I love his books. I read Fault in Our Stars, and I've watched it three or four times. So what we are going to be doing today is going through this film from the perspective of an amputee as one of our two main characters, Augustus Waters, otherwise known as Gus, is an above-knee amputee due to cancer. Now I must warn you right off the bat, there are a lot of spoilers in the rest of this video. So if you have not seen Fault in Our Stars, it is a movie that I would generally recommend with some caveats, which you'll hear throughout the rest of this video. So go check it out first if you do not want anything spoiled. If you feel so inclined, if you'd hit that subscribe button or that like button at the end of this video, if you enjoyed it, that would really help my channel, and I would appreciate it. Also a big thank you to all my patrons over on Patreon for sponsoring this video and making it possible. And now, without further ado, let's watch Fault in Our Stars with the perspective of a real-life authentic amputee, yours truly. First and foremost, an overview of what happens in this delightful film. By delightful, I mean it's gonna make you cry ugly tears by the end of it. A Fault in Our Stars tells the story of Hazel Grace Lancaster, played by the lovely Shailene Woodley, who is a teenager with a terminal cancer diagnosis. Now when we first meet Hazel, she is understandably very jaded about life and relationships, but as the film continues on, as one might expect, a boy enters the picture. At a support group, she meets Augustus Waters, who is a cancer survivor. He lost his life above the knee to this disease, and he is in many ways her opposite being hopeful, spunky, full of life, no sarcasm to be found, and slowly but surely they start chatting, they start having a bit of a conversation, things get a little bit romantic. She wants to push him away because, sincerely, she's dying and she doesn't want to hurt the people around her, but he persists and they end up in a relationship. Now as the story progresses on, Hazel Grace continues to get sicker, but she really wants to go on a trip to meet this author that she's dreamed of meeting. She loves his work, and the dear character Gus decides to use his one make-a-wish wish because he didn't use it before when he had cancer and brings Hazel out to meet this author. So with that backstory laid out, let's pause for a moment and do a little bit of commentary. Thing number one that I actually really appreciate about this film is that one of the main characters is an amputee, but that is not the central focus of the story. So often in books or movies or shows that have disabled characters, the disability is like the central point of their story, but the fact that Gus is an above-knee amputee basically doesn't really come up that often. You see his leg in a couple different scenes, you understand that he is an amputee, but it is the central point of like two conversations. I really like that they created a whole character as people with disabilities, as amputees in real life are. Being an amputee is a piece of my identity, but it is by no means the largest piece or the thing that I think about the most in my life. Thumbs up to John for writing a story that did not simply focus on someone's disability. So I feel like with any kind of commentary video, it's kind of the commenter's job to be pretty critical. Like if you watch any kind of commentary on YouTube, generally people are pointing out the flaws and something, but I have to say that there aren't many flaws that I see from the perspective of an amputee in this film. I will say that there are a few times where Augustus is shown with his leg in positions that it's very unlikely that it would be in, but there's only so much you can do when you cast an able-bodied actor to play an amputee. That is one piece of criticism I do have for this film. They cast an able-bodied actor to play an amputee when there are plenty of talented amputee actors out there who would be ready, willing, and able to take this role. Historically, the vast majority of disabled roles are played by able-bodied actors, and an actor portraying a life that isn't their own in and of itself I have no problem with. But when people with disabilities have been consistently excluded from Hollywood, excluded from the screen, able-bodied actors get awards literally all of the time for playing disabled characters. When there are disabled actors who are denied roles that then go to able-bodied characters, it's a bit troublesome. Just a bummer that Hollywood exists the way that it does, and I hope that it will continue to change, and I hope to be a part of that change. There's one scene in particular that I really want to address because I think they did a really good job of representing disability and the experience of a lot of amputees, and that is when Gus and Hazel are on their big trip. They're alone in a hotel room together and begin to share an intimate moment, and as the scene progresses they show that Gus, who is portrayed as being really strong and confident, outgoing and just like nothing can touch him, is really self-conscious about the fact that she is going to see him without his prosthetic on and is trying to explain like, here's what my life looks like, like here's where it ends, and it's really touching and also heartbreaking, but mostly heartwarming kind of scene because many people who have some kind of physical difference, regardless of how confident we might come off, there are oftentimes insecurities under the surface, and when you're talking about being intimate with someone else, oftentimes those insecurities come to the surface, so I really like that they portray this. I also really like the fact that she has an oxygen tube, and that is like a part of the scene, and it's like made a joke of like trying to get her shirt over her head and the oxygen tube and all of that, and the reality is that people with disabilities are not often shown as anything particularly desirable or sexy in media, and I really like the scene was written and left in, and I think did a great job portraying both sides of those characters. If I were to get super nitpicky, I could point out that when they're flying overseas, which is a long flight, pretty much every amputee I know would take their leg off. If you didn't know, if you're flying an airplane, there's a lot of pressure changes that can definitely interfere with how your leg fits in your socket, it's also really uncomfortable to sit for a long period of time with your leg in a socket, so pretty much everyone I know, myself included, tends to take their leg off. A little tip here, if you're removing a body part, you actually ask the flight attendants to store it in the storage containers above the seats, which is always an interesting experience. However, the few times that I've had the ability to do this, I've been like, hey, can you put my leg in the compartment, and they're like, oh yeah, sure, no problem. As if it was not a weird request, so perhaps they've experienced this before. But as they're flying over to Amsterdam, it appears as if he still has his leg on, which would be a very long flight. As Gus and Hazel arrive back from their trip, the movie takes a bit of a turn that many of us didn't see coming. Myself included, when I first read the book, and this is where all the tears start coming in. You know, there are some films that are just engineered to make you ball whether or not you want to, this is definitely one of those. So we find out that Hazel Grace's treatment is working really well throughout the film, but then major spoilers here, we find out that Gus has actually been sick all along. He is also terminal and things are not going well. There are no longer any treatment options left, and he's probably going to pass away soon. So I just watched the ending again, and as you can see, I'm teared up yet again. I know what happens, I know what's said, but still, gosh darn it, they just play all kinds of games with your heartstrings. So the movie ends shortly after Gus's death, but he has written her this beautiful letter that he leaves with her favorite author who ends up coming over from Amsterdam to hand to her. Just this beautiful message about you don't get to choose if you get hurt in the world, but you do have a say in who hurts you, basically saying that, you know, he doesn't regret his love for her and all that they've shared, and it's actually a really beautiful ending to a very heartbreaking movie. So as I was thinking about reviewing this film, I realized that with my amputee professional, because I am one badge, I didn't really have that much to say about the film aside from what I've just told you because his leg is not a central point of the story, meaning that there aren't a whole lot of scenes about it, there isn't a whole lot of discussion about it, meaning that there isn't a whole lot for me to like critique as an amputee, and I actually think that's fantastic. I love seeing stories where the central focus is not just this thing that's different. I'm actually thrilled to watch stories where there are amputee characters who are just characters and are dealing with other things, and overall I would give it my amputee stamp of approval. I need like a graphic, like my stamp of approval. Do we like that? Should we use that for future reviews? I think we should. Whether or not it is accurate to the emotional journey of facing death as a young person, I can't tell you. Speaking as an audience member, I did really like this movie, so I'd like to turn this over to you. What did you think of A Fault in Our Stars if you watched it? Do you agree or disagree with my opinion that overall it's a pretty good movie? Like it really is made to make you cry, or maybe that's just me, and it's very effective in its goals. But I enjoyed the story and some of the messages behind it and the fact that they built more whole characters where amputation was just a facet of the character's story and not the central focus, so thanks for that. You don't see that in many films, movies, books, or stories. Let me know what you thought of this in the comment section down below and please leave me any suggestions for future books, movies, or films. Movies and films are the same thing. Leave me your recommendations for any future books, TV shows, or films you would like me to review with my professional credentials as a real-life amputee. I feel like I've said that like six times in this video. I'm sorry. It's kind of a joke to me, but I've probably overdone it. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to my patrons for making these videos possible. You truly mean the world to me. It was actually my patrons who voted on me making this video, so if you're interested in voting in future polls that determine upcoming videos, check out my Patreon on-screen or linked down below. I truly appreciate everyone who is a part of my community over there. To you watching this video right now, thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me. You could be anywhere else in the world doing literally anything else and you chose to hang out with me for a few minutes and I really appreciate that. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next movie, video. I'll see you in the next video. Bye guys.