Setting:
I would leave the setting the same as in the short story because I think that the time period tells a lot and is perfect for the story. The setting would be late 1890's to early 1900's, Dublin, Ireland. Also, the story would be set in a poorer neighborhood of a working class family. The setting is perfect for the character's need to escape. Ireland went through a pretty rough period during this time and by making the family struggling, the character becomes a sympathetic character. Also, while Ireland is usually seen as very beautiful and green, but rainy, Dublin is usually characterized as dirty, poor, and gray. The Dublin setting kind of reminds me of the New York Great Depression setting, which, if set in America, could also be a good setting for this movie. However, wherever the movie is set, past, present, or future, the general setting needs to be a poorer area that is seeing hard times causing a need for escape.
POV:
This is going to be interesting to turn into a movie with the current POV in the short story because it shows us her thoughts a lot of the time, which is difficult in movies. So, I think that the POV needs to be current first person for some of the story, but I think that a lot of the movie has to be flashbacks too. I also think that while we never personally hear from other characters in the short story, I would add the father, Frank, her boss, and other family members in too. The flashbacks POV would allow us to see into her past experiences without her telling us directly. I think that if she was telling the audience personally, it would seem like she is whining. The sympathetic nature is necessary as well as the theme of being stuck in a bad place. By creating flashbacks, the audience is introduced to the things that made Eveline who she is and that POV creates the sympathy the movie needs. The point of view would still be first person, but it would be presented differently.
Plot:
The movie "Eveline" would start with Eveline sitting at the window, the same as in the story, with that tired look. The audience would get a good look at Eveline, so they start to wonder why she seems to put out. Then, the movie would start to move into her flashbacks, so the audience can see what had happened to her. I think that every once and a while, in the present, Eveline would get up and walk around her house, to a picture, a room, or something that triggered a memory. Also, she would be talking to herself a bit, not enough to make her sound crazy, but to show her thoughts and how she arrived at the flashbacks. I think the first flashback would have to be of Frank and of him asking her to go to Buenos Aires with him. This would cause the audience to wonder why she is considering leaving and why she is having a hard time deciding. Then we would move to an image of her neighborhood when she was younger and the circumstances she lived in, after she views an old toy. I think it would show her and her siblings playing with other children in a dirty, empty lot. This formation would cause us to understand her need to leave. Then, she would go back to the window and look out dejected as she moves into the past week at her job, where she is not very happy. In the present, she would express anger over the way she is treated and contempt that people think that they are of a higher class than her. She would then ponder Frank's offer to leave and how it would end her problems. Then, she gets up with a packed suitcase, as to leave, and then she sees a picture of her father, who she still lives with. Memories would flood her of him beating her brothers, saying mean things to her as a little girl, and finally suggesting that she steals the money she makes just last week. Eveline would make for the door to escape the memories, but then she catches a glimpse of her dead mother's picture and dishes and she would remember what her mother said to do. The audience would then be transported to her mother's deathbed where she asks Eveline to take care of the family. In the present, Eveline puts down her suitcase, but stands at the door, trying to come up with good things that would make she stay. She thinks of two circumstances where her father was nice, desperate to think of more, she thinks of the children she looks after, and the brother who sends money. She then bursts out the door and makes for the docks where Frank is, as if escaping those memories that will try to make her stay. She arrives and Frank is there, and he boards, but she is struck by those ghosts of the past. The memories swirl before her, she faintly hears Frank calling her name, but she grips the railing, her eyes blank, and the boat pulls away. The movie ends with a single tear.
The plot is very similar to the short story, but my movie adds more reason for her to stay I think. I wanted the plot to create a "solid"for her to stay and I think the memories bombarding her almost forced her to stay.
Characterization:
Eveline: Eveline is a girl of nineteen who is facing a hard time, just like she is in the story. She is conflicted by the hardships in her life, a need for escape, duty to family, and an abusive relationship with her father. The plot shows how Eveline became this person and the reason she stayed. I think that the abusive relationship she has with her father was one reason she stayed, because many people are afraid to leave. Eveline is also portrayed as a passive person in the short story, but I made her pick up the suitcase, run out the door, and move around her house instead of just sitting at the window to make her more active.
Frank: I didn't talk much about Frank in the plot, but in the movie I am going portray him worse than he is in the short story because I feel bad for Eveline and I want her to have a reason to stay. I am going to make him not the marrying type. He is a sailor, so he won't be home a lot and he is offering to move her thousands of miles away from her home and family. I think that sometimes isn't the best thing because family is usually the best support group, even if its dysfunctional. He is going to be erratic, unpredictable, and nomadic.
Father: The father is going to be the stereotypical poor Irish man who is struggling and may turn to violence and drinking. Although, I want him to have a somewhat nice personality hiding way under everything else because Eveline decided to stay. I don't want Eveline to have misconstrued those nice flashbacks and I want him to start to come out of his "funk." So he will do as I say because I am writing this movie.
I think those are going to be the major characters, but I also want Eveline's boss to be in there a little. She will be a hardened woman who may have also come from a background like Eveline's. However, Eveline will not become like that woman because she has experienced that personality. Also, the children that Eveline cares for will also make an appearance so Eveline realizes that she did have a reason to stay- the children. She will be able to keep the family together and escape her circumstances without leaving her home or family.
Theme:
The theme will stay pretty much the same and that is the plight of a young woman caught in a place she doesn't want to be. This theme is important because it will allow her to start to come out of that place where she is stuck and start to face her circumstance instead of run from it. Also, Eveline seems like a pretty passive person in the short story, but I am making her a little more active to show that you can overcome bad things. Because I am changing the theme a little, the story will be changed. However, with this change, the message will be less dark and uncertain and more positive. I think that Eveline deserves a theme that will work for her after she stays with her family to care for them and the "everything looks up" theme works.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" film
I can safely say that 95+% of the film is different from the short story. The differences include length because it took me 20 minutes to read the short story and 3 hours to watch the movie, but the characters, setting, plot in some cases, POV in some cases, and theme were radically different.
Setting
This film takes place in the 20th century, where the short story takes place in the 19th century. Rather than being born in 1860 before the start of the civil war in Baltimore, Benjamin was born the day WWI ended in New Orleans. The setting is very different because of the time period and the people are also very different. There are multiple settings like Paris, New York, Russia, the ocean, etc. Each of those settings represent a different part of Benjamin's life and a different part of the lives of those around him. Although Benjamin saw many places and lived many places, he always returned to New Orleans. Also, in the short story, Benjamin never left his hometown except to go to college, and in the film he is quite the traveler. I think the settings of the movie is more descriptive because it showed his ever-changing self and his personality. Also, there is the hospital setting where Caroline is reading to Daisy right before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Plot
The plot of the movie is especially different from the short story. The movie adds the story of the clock maker who made a clock run backwards so he could turn back time. This was a reminder of those who died in the war and a memorial to show that sometimes you want life to go backwards. Also, the movie script added the reading of the diary to an old Daisy by her and Benjamin's daughter. There was a whole different set of plot to find out that Benjamin's daughter did not know about him. Some more plot changes include Benjamin's father leaving him on the porch of a nursing home for a black woman named Queenie to find and Queenie takes on Benjamin as her son. As Benjamin lives in the house, he befriends a lot of the wards because he is of the same appearance and condition as they are, but he has the mind of a child. As he "grows down" he sees a lot of death because of the place he lives at. On Thanksgiving 1930, Benjamin meets Daisy and it changes his life. She is the little granddaughter of one of the women in the nursing home and they become friends. For awhile nothing changes much, but in 1937, Benjamin's 17th year, he leaves New Orleans to work on a tug boat. He travels all over, meets people who help him grow up in personality and mentality as he is growing down in looks. He also goes to war with the tug boat to pull wreckage and rescue survivors, but he never sees action until one night a submarine splits an allied ship in half with a torpedo. This causes the men on the tug to shoot guns and run up over the submarine, ultimately sinking it. Benjamin then decides to return home in 1945, his 25th year. Also, Daisy comes home and she meets a much younger version of Benjamin. Also, Benjamin meets his father, a man he used to know but didn't know was his father, and despite being initially angry with his father for abandoning, he takes his father to his father's favorite place and they talk. Mr. Button eventually dies and leaves everything to Benjamin. Some time later, he and Daisy, who is now a famous ballerina, meet again and Daisy tries to love him, but Benjamin rejects her and she leaves. A little while later when realizing how much he lost, he finds her in New York, but she rejects him and goes off with her friends. For a long while Benjamin stays at home and does odd jobs at the nursing home until a letter saying that Daisy crushed her leg in Paris arrives for him. He flies to Paris and meets her where she said once again she doesn't want to be with him out of fear of him seeing her broken. Benjamin doesn't leave Paris right away so he can keep an eye on Daisy from afar, but he eventually leaves for home. But of course like any good love story, Daisy returns and they fall in love this time for real and spend a long time together as a couple. They return home one day form their adventure to find that Queenie had died. Benjamin sells the houses and he and Daisy buy a duplex where they live happily for a long time until Daisy announces she is pregnant with a girl (in the story it was a boy). Benjamin is scared because he knows he wouldn't be a good father as he becomes even younger and leaves. Of course, he comes back a lot later to find that Daisy has remarried and that his daughter is 12. They meet once and he leaves again for good. However, when Benjamin is a child and Daisy is an old woman, he cant remember anything and shows up at the nursing home. As he becomes even younger, Daisy takes care of him until the backwards clock is taken down when he is an infant and he dies in Daisy's arms. The daughter finishes reading his diary to Daisy when the hurricane hits and Daisy dies. I can honestly say that none of this is in the short story, but there is a woman, Hildegarde, and a son, Roscoe, but they are extremely different.
POV
The POV is similar in the regard that it is read from a diary in the short story and the movie. However, in the movie, Benjamin refers to himself as I in some parts when that never happens in the story. Also, the diary is read in 3rd person too, like the story. Now that I think of it, there was a person at the beginning of the short story that was reading the diary and there was Caroline, the daughter, reading it too which is a similarity. The narrator of the short story is never mentioned by name, but Caroline is. Also, the viewer gets POV's from Daisy as an old woman in the hospital and her experiences with Benjamin. One of the most important difference, but one of the best I think, is the POV of the daughter. She never knew her father and she was angry at first, but I think she came to terms with the "curiousness" of the situation.
Characterization
Benjamin: Benjamin is always different from everyone in the story and probably has the most experiences. He is most definitely a round and dynamic character because he goes through many changes. I think he is different in the movie because of the circumstances the script put him in, but I think his core part is the same. He is sweet, different, and nomadic.
Queenie: Queenie is a very crucial character and doesn't make many changes in the movie. She is not a character in the story, but in the movie she is Benjamin's adopted mother. She sees him as special and a child of God even though many are turned off by him. Throughout the movie, she is always there loving him and caring for him.
Mr. Button: Mr. Button is a character in both the movie and the story, but instead of abandoning him, he lives a miserable life with Benjamin. In the story I think the father changes, but in the movie he changes drastically. He is a dynamic character because he tries to make amends, follows Benjamin's life even though Benjamin doesn't know who he is, and in the end tells him. The father accepts the consequences that Benjamin might hate him because of this, but he does it any way. The father is a likable character for me in the end because of every thing he does to atone for abandoning his son. I did not like the father in the story because he doesn't accept Benjamin until later and doesn't make amends for the things he did.
Daisy: Daisy is also another character who was not in the story and I found myself liking her mostly. She, for awhile, was lost, but she then found Benjamin and ended up living with him. Daisy had a difficult role because she loved him through his aging and dealt with his coming and going. Also, when Benjamin left for the last time when their daughter was young, she was angry but understood. I think she was noble in her role. Finally, she took care of Benjamin as he grew younger, began to forget, and died as an infant. There was no Daisy in the story because I refuse to equate Hildegarde, Benjamin's wife, with Daisy. Hildegarde loved Benjamin when it was convenient to do so for her and couldn't accept his condition. She went as far as to say he could stop his aging backwards which is false.
Older Daisy: Older Daisy is a much more understanding and older(?). She has a good understanding of everything and a good view on love and life.
Caroline: Caroline is an interesting character because she is hearing Benjamin's story for the first time as her mother is dying. She does not know a lot about her mother's past and tells Daisy that she wishes they had more time. She also tells her she wishes she had something to show for herself. Caroline learns from the story a lot and is quite angry, but I think she comes to term with it in the end. Caroline is a round and dynamic character. She is also not in the story, but her equivalent is Roscoe. Roscoe is not a very good son as Benjamin decreases in age and he holds the same mentality as his mother, Hildegarde.
The were a lot of minor characters who impacted Benjamin's life throughout his life that were in the movie, but not the story. These characters helped him come to term with everything and helped him through his life. They were very important to the movie, but they all had the same purpose in different ages, genders, and points in Benjamin's life.
Theme: I think the themes are similar in the movie and the story which will make my life a little easier, but there are some differences (woohoo...!). I think the movie mostly points out the fact that Benjamin was different, but Queenie said he was a child of God and loved him anyway. I think this is a great theme because it shows that differences can be scary, strange, and different, but the people are still children of God and deserve love and compassion. Another theme is that life only happens once and "carpe diem"- seize the day. So many good things happened when the characters learned to live life once, rejoice that they have the time, and have no regrets. This is also a great theme. I think the other themes I analyzed form the story apply, but I think these new themes apply more and I like them better.
I probably don't need to say which I liked better, but whatever. I liked the movie better because it was in a time period more towards mine and Benjamin was accepted more. I like the changes made and while the essence of the story might have been changed, I like it a lot better!
Setting
This film takes place in the 20th century, where the short story takes place in the 19th century. Rather than being born in 1860 before the start of the civil war in Baltimore, Benjamin was born the day WWI ended in New Orleans. The setting is very different because of the time period and the people are also very different. There are multiple settings like Paris, New York, Russia, the ocean, etc. Each of those settings represent a different part of Benjamin's life and a different part of the lives of those around him. Although Benjamin saw many places and lived many places, he always returned to New Orleans. Also, in the short story, Benjamin never left his hometown except to go to college, and in the film he is quite the traveler. I think the settings of the movie is more descriptive because it showed his ever-changing self and his personality. Also, there is the hospital setting where Caroline is reading to Daisy right before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Plot
The plot of the movie is especially different from the short story. The movie adds the story of the clock maker who made a clock run backwards so he could turn back time. This was a reminder of those who died in the war and a memorial to show that sometimes you want life to go backwards. Also, the movie script added the reading of the diary to an old Daisy by her and Benjamin's daughter. There was a whole different set of plot to find out that Benjamin's daughter did not know about him. Some more plot changes include Benjamin's father leaving him on the porch of a nursing home for a black woman named Queenie to find and Queenie takes on Benjamin as her son. As Benjamin lives in the house, he befriends a lot of the wards because he is of the same appearance and condition as they are, but he has the mind of a child. As he "grows down" he sees a lot of death because of the place he lives at. On Thanksgiving 1930, Benjamin meets Daisy and it changes his life. She is the little granddaughter of one of the women in the nursing home and they become friends. For awhile nothing changes much, but in 1937, Benjamin's 17th year, he leaves New Orleans to work on a tug boat. He travels all over, meets people who help him grow up in personality and mentality as he is growing down in looks. He also goes to war with the tug boat to pull wreckage and rescue survivors, but he never sees action until one night a submarine splits an allied ship in half with a torpedo. This causes the men on the tug to shoot guns and run up over the submarine, ultimately sinking it. Benjamin then decides to return home in 1945, his 25th year. Also, Daisy comes home and she meets a much younger version of Benjamin. Also, Benjamin meets his father, a man he used to know but didn't know was his father, and despite being initially angry with his father for abandoning, he takes his father to his father's favorite place and they talk. Mr. Button eventually dies and leaves everything to Benjamin. Some time later, he and Daisy, who is now a famous ballerina, meet again and Daisy tries to love him, but Benjamin rejects her and she leaves. A little while later when realizing how much he lost, he finds her in New York, but she rejects him and goes off with her friends. For a long while Benjamin stays at home and does odd jobs at the nursing home until a letter saying that Daisy crushed her leg in Paris arrives for him. He flies to Paris and meets her where she said once again she doesn't want to be with him out of fear of him seeing her broken. Benjamin doesn't leave Paris right away so he can keep an eye on Daisy from afar, but he eventually leaves for home. But of course like any good love story, Daisy returns and they fall in love this time for real and spend a long time together as a couple. They return home one day form their adventure to find that Queenie had died. Benjamin sells the houses and he and Daisy buy a duplex where they live happily for a long time until Daisy announces she is pregnant with a girl (in the story it was a boy). Benjamin is scared because he knows he wouldn't be a good father as he becomes even younger and leaves. Of course, he comes back a lot later to find that Daisy has remarried and that his daughter is 12. They meet once and he leaves again for good. However, when Benjamin is a child and Daisy is an old woman, he cant remember anything and shows up at the nursing home. As he becomes even younger, Daisy takes care of him until the backwards clock is taken down when he is an infant and he dies in Daisy's arms. The daughter finishes reading his diary to Daisy when the hurricane hits and Daisy dies. I can honestly say that none of this is in the short story, but there is a woman, Hildegarde, and a son, Roscoe, but they are extremely different.
POV
The POV is similar in the regard that it is read from a diary in the short story and the movie. However, in the movie, Benjamin refers to himself as I in some parts when that never happens in the story. Also, the diary is read in 3rd person too, like the story. Now that I think of it, there was a person at the beginning of the short story that was reading the diary and there was Caroline, the daughter, reading it too which is a similarity. The narrator of the short story is never mentioned by name, but Caroline is. Also, the viewer gets POV's from Daisy as an old woman in the hospital and her experiences with Benjamin. One of the most important difference, but one of the best I think, is the POV of the daughter. She never knew her father and she was angry at first, but I think she came to terms with the "curiousness" of the situation.
Characterization
Benjamin: Benjamin is always different from everyone in the story and probably has the most experiences. He is most definitely a round and dynamic character because he goes through many changes. I think he is different in the movie because of the circumstances the script put him in, but I think his core part is the same. He is sweet, different, and nomadic.
Queenie: Queenie is a very crucial character and doesn't make many changes in the movie. She is not a character in the story, but in the movie she is Benjamin's adopted mother. She sees him as special and a child of God even though many are turned off by him. Throughout the movie, she is always there loving him and caring for him.
Mr. Button: Mr. Button is a character in both the movie and the story, but instead of abandoning him, he lives a miserable life with Benjamin. In the story I think the father changes, but in the movie he changes drastically. He is a dynamic character because he tries to make amends, follows Benjamin's life even though Benjamin doesn't know who he is, and in the end tells him. The father accepts the consequences that Benjamin might hate him because of this, but he does it any way. The father is a likable character for me in the end because of every thing he does to atone for abandoning his son. I did not like the father in the story because he doesn't accept Benjamin until later and doesn't make amends for the things he did.
Daisy: Daisy is also another character who was not in the story and I found myself liking her mostly. She, for awhile, was lost, but she then found Benjamin and ended up living with him. Daisy had a difficult role because she loved him through his aging and dealt with his coming and going. Also, when Benjamin left for the last time when their daughter was young, she was angry but understood. I think she was noble in her role. Finally, she took care of Benjamin as he grew younger, began to forget, and died as an infant. There was no Daisy in the story because I refuse to equate Hildegarde, Benjamin's wife, with Daisy. Hildegarde loved Benjamin when it was convenient to do so for her and couldn't accept his condition. She went as far as to say he could stop his aging backwards which is false.
Older Daisy: Older Daisy is a much more understanding and older(?). She has a good understanding of everything and a good view on love and life.
Caroline: Caroline is an interesting character because she is hearing Benjamin's story for the first time as her mother is dying. She does not know a lot about her mother's past and tells Daisy that she wishes they had more time. She also tells her she wishes she had something to show for herself. Caroline learns from the story a lot and is quite angry, but I think she comes to term with it in the end. Caroline is a round and dynamic character. She is also not in the story, but her equivalent is Roscoe. Roscoe is not a very good son as Benjamin decreases in age and he holds the same mentality as his mother, Hildegarde.
The were a lot of minor characters who impacted Benjamin's life throughout his life that were in the movie, but not the story. These characters helped him come to term with everything and helped him through his life. They were very important to the movie, but they all had the same purpose in different ages, genders, and points in Benjamin's life.
Theme: I think the themes are similar in the movie and the story which will make my life a little easier, but there are some differences (woohoo...!). I think the movie mostly points out the fact that Benjamin was different, but Queenie said he was a child of God and loved him anyway. I think this is a great theme because it shows that differences can be scary, strange, and different, but the people are still children of God and deserve love and compassion. Another theme is that life only happens once and "carpe diem"- seize the day. So many good things happened when the characters learned to live life once, rejoice that they have the time, and have no regrets. This is also a great theme. I think the other themes I analyzed form the story apply, but I think these new themes apply more and I like them better.
I probably don't need to say which I liked better, but whatever. I liked the movie better because it was in a time period more towards mine and Benjamin was accepted more. I like the changes made and while the essence of the story might have been changed, I like it a lot better!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
"You're Ugly, Too"
This was the story that was hardest for me to read because it was so long and also it was pages and pages of character analysis. I found myself confused with Zoe and I had a hard time figuring out whether I liked her or disliked her. I think in the end I found her annoying, but didn't care one way or the other. Towards the end I wondered if she was sick, like having a tumor or something, because she acted so absurd. She even at the end, tried to push Earl off the roof and exclaimed and shouted "just kidding," like that was an excuse. Also, I was interested with Earl's fascination with what love is. He wants to know what Zoe thinks about love and she keeps brushing off the question. I wondered why he was so caught up in it and I think it might have to do with his recent divorce. Also, he is a strange man for wearing that costume, just saying. This story was just full of humorous, strange, and ironic events, characters, and situations.
"The Drunkard"
The thing that caught me of guard most about this story is the fact that the boy's mother is calling him her brave little man and an angel to his father. I think that most parents would be horrified to find that their child wanted to taste a beer and then got drunk off of it. However, I do not think this situation is like most others because the mother/wife has to deal with her husband's drunkenness when he falls off the wagon and now she only has to deal with he little boy. I think that the fact that the father was embarrassed by his son's drunken state will maybe cause him to think of his own. There was a role reversal in this story and now that the father realizes what a drunk person looks and acts like, and now that he sees it in his own family, he might not revert to drunkenness anymore. Another thing is that the drunken state of the little boy is funny, which is sad, because it is son unexpected and absurd. Also, the things he says sound like an adult coming from a child. This was really quite ironic in many ways.
"The Lottery" #4
I think the significance of the first box being lost and some of the rituals being forgotten is that the lottery is not as sacred and necessary as some of the town people and especially Old Man Warner claim. If it is so important to their town, I would think that the box would be preserved instead of being lost. Also, I would think that the rituals would be respected; however, they are actually forgotten. I think the line "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" best describes the original purpose of the lottery. I think it was a superstition that just kept being practiced long after most would have thought it would end. I think it was kind of like a "sacrifice" for a good corn harvest because corn is a staple. The lottery seems to have ancient roots and nobody from the original lottery is alive to keep things in perspective or to realize it isn't needed. For the town now, it is a mindless task that nobody thinks about or reasons with.
"Popular Mechanics"
Oh dear, this was a weird one. My group was talking about whether or not we thought the baby died and was ripped in half or not. I don't think that the baby was killed by being pulled apart, or cut in half like Solomon proposed in 1 Kings 3. I do think that the issue was decided in another way because I think that the parents would have realized it before they pulled him in half. Also, I am not sure that is even possible. I proposed that the baby's should was dislocated or something because that would result in a hospital visit. My theory might be out of the cone of meaning, but I think that the issue was decided by that because child services could remove the child or something like that could happen. I don't even know though if the means to the decision is important, rather the fact that the issue was decided. This story shows how people get this "mine" complex and have a hard time giving things up.
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