The Half of It analysis

Ellie

This is gonna be the longest chapter out of all of them which is why I have left it last. I debated splitting it into parts but it's better as one chapter. I hope you like it.

Main character traits
This is mostly stuff that only applies to Ellie that doesn't link to any other specific character.

Ellie's monologue at the start of the film about what Plato believed about love sets up her character and the film perfectly. Initially, you just think that she's talking about a theory of love. Given that it's the start of the film, you expect that either that's how love is going to be portrayed in the film or that it's her personal belief about what love is. However, it quickly becomes apparent that she is just writing an essay and doesn't actually believe in what Plato thought about love. Not only that, but that it's one of several essays that she's written on the topic. Both showing, from the very start of the film, how smart she is, immediately giving the impression of what type of a person she is.

One of the main things that Ellie discovers throughout the film is that she is the protagonist in her own story. It seems obvious to us, the audience, that she is the protagonist, but to her she isn't. In the opening montage you don't see Ellie's face until the end. She feels that she is the background character in everyone else's story, and that is how she's portrayed here. Alice Wu deliberately did this to represent that. When we do eventually see her face, it's in the reflection of her morning to-do list. To her, she is the background of her own life. This is further established and reinforced when she becomes the supporting character to Paul and Aster's love story.

When the teenagers say "Chugga chugga Chu Chu" at Ellie for the first time in the film, she doesn't look up or make any indication that she heard it. I imagine she's heard it so many times that she has become indifferent to it. She simply doesn't care anymore. This is a simple, but effective way of showing that she has put walls up to protect herself from other people. It's an explanation as to why she is so cold and standoffish to Paul at the beginning without it being a shock to the audience.

In the band room scene when the camera is doing a wide shot of the room, you can't see Ellie. She plays the piano, and therefore has a part in it, but it's a visual representation that she is the "the obvious unseen". She is there, but even to the audience you don't see her in the room until the camera focuses on her. Also a way of showing that Ellie doesn't believe that she is the protagonist on her own story. 

Also, when Ellie is passing out the papers she's written is normal for the other students. It's just something that they're used to doing, as if it was part of an unspoken routine. This is particularly true for Trig, where we can see someone taking the paper out of the music book before him as if this happens all the time. He is clearly one of Ellie's best customers. Additionally, like Aster, when one of the kids gets bullied on social media by everyone else in the room, Ellie doesn't look at her phone. It's clear from both of these things that she is only ever takes part socially when she's needed, and that she often keeps to herself. 

It's not much, but I love Ellie's relationship with Mrs G. She knows Ellie writes the other student's essays and doesn't really care. If anything she's just impressed that Ellie can write so many different takes on the same text. They also have friendly chat, more as if they were two teachers talking to each other rather than student teacher. Ellie is clearly happy to have this relationship with Mrs G probably because she is the only person she can really talk to. She convinces Ellie to apply to a much better university than she was planning on going to. Pushing her to do more with her skills and it works.

After Ellie reads Paul's failed attempt at a love letter to Aster, she's visibly annoyed at how bad it. She even storms out of the conversation when he accuses her of never being in love. She takes offense to this because she felt that if that was his attempt of showing someone he loved them, then he knew nothing about love. However, when she gets home to write the letter, she can't think of anything to say. She ends up plagiarising a film her dad is watching because she's so stumped. Her not being able to describe love in her owns words becomes part of her character development throughout the film. This being the earliest stage of it.