Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film) in the novel as somewhat of a "Plain Jane". Author Judith Rossner "detested" the film, although she praised Keaton's performance. Rossner added, "I feel like the mother who delivered her 13-year-old daughter to the door of Roman Polanski and didn't know what was going to happen." Robert O. Friedel, MD, has suggested that Theresa's behavior in the film is consistent with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" introduced Richard Gere, LeVar Burton and Tom Berenger, all as men whom Theresa encounters. The film also inspired the music video for the 1993 Madonna song "Bad Girl". In
Looking for Alaska forgives Alaska for dying, as he knows Alaska would forgive him for letting her go. After Alaska's death, Pudge and Colonel investigate the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event. While looking for answers, the boys are subconsciously dealing with their grief, and their obsession over these answers transforms into a search for meaning. Pudge and Colonel want to find out the answers to certain questions surrounding Alaska's death, but in reality, they are enduring their own labyrinths of suffering, a concept central to the novel. When their theology teacher Mr. Hyde poses a question to his class about the meaning of