Easy A

Easy A
In the movie, Easy A, Olive ‘s entire life takes a turn for the worst based off a little white lie. When rumors get around that she’s sleeping with everyone, she keeps them going and starts accepting profit for the lies. After portraying the image of a whore, Olive gets fed up with all the gossip and tells everyone the truth. In the midst of it all, Olive compares herself to Hester Prynne. Easy A is an update of the Scarlet Letter with a John Hughes twist.
Easy A is an update of the novel The Scarlet Letter. For example, In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery and gets shamed for it. In Easy A, Olive is shamed by pretending to have sex with many guys. Easy A consists of the modern day world in which the story The Scarlet Letter would be told. In the movie, Olive portrays herself to be dating an older guy in community college in order to get out of going on a camping trip with her best friend . She is then forced under pressure to tell an even bigger lie in which she lost her virginity to this college kid. When word gets around she confides in her gay friend brandon and confesses her lie and desperate need to fit in. Brandon then realizes that he also needs to find a way to fit in in order to survive high school and Olive would be the only solution to his problem. They both come up with a devious plan to have sex at a party so that everyone would believe Brandon isn’t gay.
Once word gets out this story is an example of how one lie could be spread by word of mouth, and completely ruin someone’s reputation. In the The Scarlet Letter, Hester didn't care much about of popularity, or how her status in her town. This shows how Easy A is an update. In this generation, we care much about how others perceive us, and about wanting to fit in. Hester didn't care about fitting in. Also, In Easy A, it shows how they incorporated modern things into the whole Scarlet Letter story. For example, in the movie, Olive mentions modern movies and novels. She mentions Sister of the Traveling Pants and Grease. Olive also gets her whole story across from a podcast. This shows how the world has changed, and instead of confessing in front of everyone on the stage, she does it on the internet. The way the two characters resolve their problems is different as well. Olive completely ignores the rumors in the end and finally proves that they are false. Hester admits the crime that she performed, but she works to pay those crimes off. This difference also results from the society that they live in. With different expectation comes different actions. The example of Hester and Olive prove this to be correct. Easy A is also a twist from all the John Hughes movies. In fact, a couple of Hughes biggest movies were mentioned, and scenes were acted out. For example, many times throughout the whole movie, Olive consistently mentions, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club. Also, there was a couple scenes that were just like Hughes movies. For Instance, Todd holding the speakers outside of Olive's window was a Pretty in Pink reference. The two of them riding on the back of the mower was also relating to Can't Buy me Love. I think they put the John Hughes movie twist in it because all of John Hughes movies are all love movies, with a happy ending.
In conclusion, high school can be a very challenging obstacle in life as referred to in all of the movies. Life can take a turn for the worse, based off of a little white lie but in the end the truth will set you free. Throughout both the movie and the novel, Olive & Hester go through the same stream of events but in two completely different centuries. They are faced with life changing obstacles and life lessons that force them to change their outlook on life. Hester knows she has made a mistake and tries to change the way people view her by helping others. Olive didn’t make any mistakes she just ruined her reputation by trying to help others. Both women did something so simple to ruin their reputations and then had to pay the price. They managed to turn everything around with their hardwork and dedication.