Films vs. Books

There have been few movies that I considered as good as or better than the book that they were based off of.  In fact, I usually say that it is almost impossible to make a film better than the original book.  The 2003 film, Holes, based off of the novel by Louis Sachar, is one of those movies.  I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Ring Trilogy films, but, unfortunately, I have never finished the books. I broke my own personal rule that I should read the books before seeing the movie to truly enjoy it.

This all changed after seeing the 2008 film Revolutionary Road.  It was something about Kate Winslet’s acting that made me consider that maybe, just maybe, I was wrong in assuming Richard Yates was a total creep.  The movie made me reconsider my original assumptions and reading of the book.  I started to see how Richard Yates was on April Wheeler’s side the whole time, criticizing Frank’s inability to understand her and their contained society and therefore, leading to her death.  Seeing the movie really helped me like the book more.  In addition, the movie made me extremely uneasy for any future marriage I might have.

Another work we read this quarter was a short story called Minority Report.  I loved the 2002 film Minority Report when it came out in the theaters and had no idea that it was originally a short story. I was surprised when reading the short story I felt the same suspense and thrill reading the car chases as I felt while watching the film.  Though the movie is almost completely different and even took on an entirely new plot than the story, it had the same basic idea of precogs preemptively solving crimes.

I usually hate when movies change the story, add parts, or take away important details that the original story included.  Then, the film becomes a substitute for the original story rather than the original story’s companion, allowing our technological generation to get away without reading books at all.  In one of the Harry Potter films, the director stupidly decided to add an entire fight scene between Harry Potter and another character that not only never happened in the books, but also would never happen in the books.  I was slightly peeved.  It made me realize people who watch the movies without reading the books could live the rest of their lives without having any idea that this was completely absurd. Don’t worry, I realize my concerns are insane. I wonder if reading Minority Report before watching the film would have changed my opinion about it.  However, I really liked the film Holes because I thought it followed the original story completely and just served as a visual aid companion to the book.  This might be because Louis Sachar wrote the original story and the film screenplay as well.  Maybe if J.K. Rowling had written the film screenplays it would have been better?

From my commentary on Holes, to Lord of the Rings, to Harry Potter, to Revolutionary Road, to Minority Report, I can not say that I have a definite rule on if one HAS to read the book before seeing the film to enjoy either.  But I definitely feel better if I’ve read the book beforehand.

The Social Factor

     At first thought when considering why people often times prefer to watch movies instead of read the book I would say laziness is the largest culprit. On second thought, I think about myself and not wanting to seem lazy, I can derive at some other reasons why I watch some movies instead of reading the books behind them. Take for example any of the Nicholas Sparks’ book, it is only on the rarest occasion that I am in the mood for the long and romantic love stories he always presents in his literature and by time it would require me to read one of his books, I would certainly be out of that mood. However, in a matter of only roughly two hours, I can watch one of the movies formed from his novels and receive the essential parts of the story. There are many similar reasons to when a movie is much more practical than is a book that come to mind when I take the time to consider. Time magazine wrote an article in November 2005 that also outlines some reasons why movies can be better than books and then gave examples of comparisons in which some books are better than movies and others where the movies are better than the books.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1134742-4,00.html

     The article does a good job creating a strong argument and backing it up with solid examples. In my opinion, the most interesting thing contained in the article is the reasoning it gives for why many readers are disappointed with movies – that they have already created a perfect movie in their mind while reading the book and any deviation from their personal imaginative creation simply serves as a disappointment. This is a statement that I totally agree with and can attest to out of many instances of experiences. The latest of such experiences occurred this weekend as I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest after recently finishing the novel. The moment I saw Jack Nicholson (acting as R.P. McMurphy) did not have red hair, the movie was ruined for me. I have no idea why McMurphy having red hair seemed to serve as such a crucial part of his character for me, but that is the way I had imagined him from the book and the fact that it was not that way ruined the entire movie for me.

     

     I feel the real benefit that movies can offer that books simply cannot is the instantaneous social factor. I seldom meet a group of people who spend their weekend nights reading together (not saying it never happens, but it is a more rare occurrence); however, movies are always a serve as a good time for friends or acquaintances to spend some time together. Some may argue that book clubs are social gathering that focus their entertainment around the reading of a single book; this is to not be argued but people must spend some amount of time beforehand reading the book to discuss it. On the other hand, movies require no prerequisites and serve as an immediate source of social entertainment; thus, their true value in the American culture.

Do you have any movies you prefer over the books it is based on? If so why? 

hunger games

            About a month back my friend asked me to go see The Hunger Games with her at midnight and I am always up for a good midnight premiere so naturally I said yes. I was stoked but I knew that everyone at the premiere would be hunger game fanatics. At the Harry Potter premieres people deck out in luna, beletrix, harry or even Hedwig costumes and Twilight premieres  (yes, unfortunately I got roped into going to the first Twilight premiere it was comical really) people sported “team Edward” or “team Jacob shirts” so I knew people would dress similarly for Hunger Games. I didn’t want the series to be spoiled by these people so I decided I had to read all three books before the movie which was less than a week away. I read them and surprisingly got hooked. I read all three in a total of two days.

            I looked up the reviews on Barnes and Noble and Amazon. I expected to see several reviews from like 16 year old girls like omg I totally love this. I want to marry Peeta blah blah blah. Girls usually fall in love with the characters of books and forget about the awesome story line. On Barnes and Noble the reviews were definitely mostly from teenagers saying things such as

“i mean WOW ... the best book i ever read soo far!!!! u have to read it!!!!!!” and

“I absolutely and completely love this book! It's exciting and thought-provoking and all-over amazing. It is a bit brutal at times, but overall it's simply fantastic! A must-read!!!!!”

These two reviews have way too many exclamation marks for it not be a teenager. I assume the more exclamation marks and extra letters the younger the writer. Also, whenever someone shortens ‘you’ to ‘u’  I automatically think less of them, I mean really is ‘yo’ too difficult to write? Are you that pressed for time that you cannot type too extra letters but you can add an extra o in so and add about seven too many exclamation marks? These two reviews do not go very deep into the book which is what I expected. It is a good read but is it remarkable?

The reviews on Amazon surprised me the first three reviews were made by people that were older. Not kids even though The Hunger games is a young adult novel.  One of these said :

“It took me a while to get to this book because I never saw it out of my two daughters' hands. They devoured it! Once I read it, I understood. This is the second book I have reviewed this month that had a powerful female protagonist (other being 'Graceling').
I found the book to be well written with a fantastic pacing. Their is violence in there, but not so over the top as to be distracting. Intimate scenes are sparingly written so as not to be too embarassing (something I greatly appreciated as a dad!!) The rage against the system theme is prevalent enough to notice, but not as overbearing as say.... Ayn Rand or Terry Pratchett.

All in all, I highly recommend this book for kids from 12 up. The ending leads me to believe that this will be a series. I imagine I will be pre-ordering as soon as it's available. Congratulation Ms. Collins!!
All the best,
Jay”

Not only was the author of this response an adult but it was also a man. So not only does the novel appeal to kids but also adults and not only females but also males. All three reviews I read on Amazon were much more intelligent sounding than those found on Barnes and Noble. Do you think more adults go to Amazon whereas more children go to Amazon for reviews? I have now come to the conclusion that The Hunger Games is a good read for any reader and you can get as much out of it as you wish.

Harry Potter too good for Cardboard?

Everyone knows, Harry Potter is my all-time favorite book series.   The entire Harry Potter franchise of books, movies, toys, clothes, Theme park, and more amounts in the billions.  I would say it has been a very influential part of my generation’s culture.  To see if this is so, I looked at the 3 “most helpful customer reviews” of the Harry Potter Paperback box set of all 7 books in the collector’s box on Amazon.

I thought, well, out of the three reviews, there must be one that is negative towards the books. Maybe someone religious who doesn’t believe magic should be glorified.  Anyways, looking at the reviews all three were extremely positive about the books.

The first review said, “When is the last time you have read a book and instantly wanted to pick it up and read it again? It doesn't happen often.”

The second reviewer said, “There's no question that the contents of the books inside this so-called chest are of the highest order.”

And, finally, the third review said, “I am a big Harry Potter fan and am no less than thrilled to pieces to finally own the complete set of books.”

Just from these three reviews, I can extrapolate and assume that everyone in the world loves Harry Potter.

The interesting parts of these reviews, however, were not the positive regards for the book series and of J.K. Rowling herself.  Two of these three reviews had a very negative take on the collector’s edition.  These reviewers were extremely upset that the “collector’s edition” was just a box of cardboard with a plastic clasp and really, a cheap product overall for what they thought was supposed to housing bricks of gold.

The second reviewer said, “I wasn't expecting something that was as heavy and substantial as, say, a pirate's chest, but I certainly was hoping that the box was more sturdy than a few flaps of cardboard rather cheaply assembled, and easily DISassembled.”

The third reviewer exclaimed, “Given the obvious fact that Harry is huge worldwide, it would had behooved the publishers to do right by this commemorative set and make the case out of engineered wood (at the very least!) Instead they opted for the cheaper route and decided to make it out of... drum roll please.... CARDBOARD!”

(I especially like the third reviewer’s comment.)

What this tells me of the reviewer culture the Harry Potter Book Series is that they believe Harry Potter is too good for a shabby cardboard box.  They would have much preferred something they could show to guests and feel like a True Harry Potter Fan.  Though I own all Harry Potter Books on my Kindle in both English and German, I someday would like to own my own Harry Potter collector’s edition boxed set, and I think I would feel the same way about the packaging.  

The Cuckoo People

      People are crazy and these people say things that are even crazier than they are. This craziness often times come out in the form of public rants; ranting on anything and everything from the government and military involvements, to books and their authors. Ranting about books sometimes occur in the form of public comments on book store websites, from these occasional crazy book analyses I receive great enjoyment out of reading them and seeing what went wrong with their relationship with the book.  Rhetorically analyzing the public comments on a book store website I have never done; however, to do so I first needed to decide which book I would look for reviews of. The book that was a natural fit (or maybe I’m just lazy) was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey for the simple reason that it is the book freshest in my mind and I also greatly enjoyed it. I got my two book analyses on the Barnes and Noble website and I got one review that was very fond of the book and one that shed a negative light on the book. These analyses in this order go as the following,

“For starters, I have this strange curiosity about psychology; coincidentally we were assigned outside ready in my English class and to my delight a Ken Kesey novel was on that list, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I went into the book without many expectations other than the fact that I was excited to read it, I fell in love. Not only does Kesey refrain from shying away from saying something vulgar and true, he shines a light on what many don’t want to see. Based on semi-non-fictional experiences, Kesey offers a glimpse into a psychiatric ward in the late 1950s. Many things are learned throughout the novel such as brutal ways patients were treated with, the head nurse exercising a totalitarian rule over the ward and that not all the patients are crazy rather they have tendencies that are different from the norm. I really loved the novel and I highly recommend it as a “must read” because it touched topics that most people would not think of on a normal basis and really made you question the definition of insanity.”

“Maybe its because I might be to young to actually get it or understand the book but I was bored out of my mind! Forced to read it as part of my summer reading I read it. And the narrarator was really confusing and random like he would just in the middle of the story retell stories of his life before he went to the hospital. I wouldnt recommend this book to anyone who is or younger than the 9th grade unless youre really bored and looking for something to do. The only plus to this book was that it was the shortest on my list of summer reading.”

    The first review seems to be from someone of a higher education because they read and enjoyed the book. Not saying your dumb if you don’t like it but it does take a fair amount of close reading skills to truly enjoy it and he/she says it was assigned to her in a class. I truly enjoy this review for many reasons, first she sheds light on what the book contains in an intriguing way for the male mind by saying it contains things vulgar and true. Secondly, she gives great background information on the subject that I did not know until reading the review. Finally she gives her true opinion on the book and since I have come to the point that I can trust her now because we seem to have some things in common, well at least in terms of literature, I would be very interested in reading the book if I had not previously have done so.

     The second review is from a kid that states he is much too young to read the book. In my opinion anytime you are going to talk negatively about an American classic and not be shunned, you must be either very very well educated (I’m talking at least a Ph.D.) or uneducated (you simply don’t know better yet). This kid fits into the later of the two but does however reveal some valuable information for readers depending on their level of education. He/she states the book is confusing because the way the narrator switches from the future to the present or maybe even past. This is true, quite frankly I am still a little confused on whether the story was told in the present or past tense. However, this did not keep me from seeing the absolute glory in this particular read, as I feel like it will limit no one else of a capable intelligence level. This kid also calls the book boring, which I put about as much merit in as I do in his ability to write with proper grammar.

     I enjoy book reviews because they give me raw responses to a piece of literature before I read it. I read the book reviews, find which of the reviewers I feel my cognitive abilities match the closest to, and judge that my reaction to the book may be similar to theirs. Most of the time this allows me to choose to not read books I will have no interest in and only pick books that I’ll end up enjoying.

    

the man behind HIMYM

Carter Bays is the one of the main writers and creator of the show How I met your mother. How I met your mother focuses on Ted telling his kids how he met their mother. One would think that this would be a short story like “ I met your mother while grocery shopping” or something direct and to the point.  Ted starts the story many years before ever seeing the woman he marries. He tells stories that get fuzzy because he goes on so many ridiculous funny tangents. I thought it would be interesting to look up Carter Bays Twitter to see if he is like any of the characters he writes. Ted being the hopeless romantic that says I love you too early, Marshal the funny married man or Barney the man that refuses to settle down and uses women.

A lot of what Carter Bay tweets is about pop culture. It is evident that he loves movies and watching television shows. About a quarter of what he posts is a funny remark making fun of some other writing other than his own. He posts “if you take out the dramatic pauses, the movie Drive is 14 minutes long”. It is clear that he is married and has a child through posts that say he was with his daughter when something happened that was funny. He never does the annoying post often seen on Facebook “ I loveee my wife and kid so much” which is refreshing because honestly, no one cares. People follow celebrities because they post funny things so I find it annoying when they post “I just went to Kroger”. Although Carter Bays doesn’t post about personal things he does promote How I met your mother quite a bit. Its clear that he loves his job and the industry in general.

People quickly judge others based on what they say on Facebook or Twitter. I know I am guilty of it. I also know I have a soft spot for nerds. With this said, I think Carter Bays and I would get along. His background is space themed which I automatically assume means that he is a nerd.  I mean you have to be a little nerdy to love space and not be afraid to show it. Maybe he believes in aliens I don’t know but he is automatically cooler in my eyes. He also posts a lot of immature jokes and I would imagine he cracks up to himself while posting them- like man am I funny type stuff.

After looking at his twitter I imagine Carter Bays to be an awesome guy not only does he write How I met your mother( which is hilarious) but he also is that guy in real life. He makes funny of political worries and makes light of situations.  I can imagine a little of all of his character in him--the immature humor of marshal and Lilly, the seriousness about work and love of Ted, the ridiculousness of Barney, and the sarcasm of Robin. I am obviously guilty of judging people based on their websites but its hard not to. 

Not Your Average Literary Figure

When the average person is thinking of literary figures those who come to mind tend to be famous authors such as Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, or Jane Austen; however, the first literary figure that comes to my mind is Elizabeth Wilson. Never heard of her? No surprise there, unless you one of the fortunate students or staff at Paint Valley School District within the last 8 years. Elizabeth Wilson was my Honors American Literature and AP English Language and Composition teacher during my final two years of high school. She had a much larger impact on my ability to write, read, comprehend, analyze, and critique literature than any of the famous authors mentioned above. Quite frankly, Shakespeare and the others only served as mechanism for which Miss Wilson could nurture my skills from.

            Miss Wilson has a policy for all of her students that once they graduate they can add her as a friend on Facebook. Although this may seem controversial for some, many of her students add her after they graduate each year; being close with her I decide I would do the same. A quick glance through her profile shows that she has no outrageous status or pictures from a night at the club that would violate the activities that are considered the norm for a middle age English teacher. Actually, under closer investigation her Facebook page lends her to be the type of character that one expects and desires, or at least I do, in an English teacher. Pictures mostly of the gardening and remodeling she has done and her friends and family at social events. She does have some pictures of students on such occasions as graduation or in the plays she directs. The pictures of herself would be deemed appropriate by all, not making an attempt to appear overly provocative or seductive. She posts statuses usually containing inspiration quotes by an author or occasionally by herself, all of which are very rhetorically pleasing and grammatically sound. Miss Wilson also takes advantage of the notes feature of Facebook which I did not know existed until I found it on her page. On her notes she has a variety of things ranging from a salute to our veterans, rules on the proper use of periods, commas, and question marks, and short literary pieces she has wrote. Through her works you will find that she clearly knows English and how to write in beautiful prose; the only thing you will find even more evident is her love for her job and students. It is so ever-present on her page the love she has for English and that she loves sharing her love for English with students. However, what you will not find on her page is complaints about working late into the nights on a drama production with students, the rigors of having to teach four sub-subjects of English to students a large portion of are unwilling to learn or any such complaints about her job. Her devotion and compassion towards her students is the one thing that anyone who analyzes her profile will take away from their experience.

            Although some may argue that it is unacceptable to have your teachers or past teachers as Facebook friends, I would argue in the situation that is present around Paint Valley permits such actions. Paint Valley High School is a school of only 375 or so students and a small staff also.  A student is likely to have one teacher all year long for multiple years. This builds close relationships with teachers that both students and teachers wish to keep as they move throughout life.  In different situations this may change. Students could potentially look teachers up before choosing schools and learn about their teachers. This could be either a beneficial or harmful tool for students depending on what they desire in a teacher and how much a teacher leave out for public access on their page. A student seriously concerned about their education could search teacher’s alma maters and teaching careers out from Facebook before they make their decision on what high school to attend. Other less academically-minded students could seek out teachers who seem to be younger and more laid back, the sort of profile that lends a teacher to be “easier”. However, the reverse of this is possible as well; teachers can openly search for students on social media websites. In my opinion this is a much more impactful aspect of Facebook. Who knows the effects and bias that would be create if a teacher knew the personal lives and weekend choices of their student?

Do you find having teachers or ex-teachers as friends on a social networking site is acceptable? Why or why not?

Do you feel like social networking sites are more advantageous for students or teachers in learning about the other?