Adaptation Paper

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austin in the eighteenth century. The story shows the ups and downs of the lives of the Bennett family in England. The Bennett family has five daughters that have grown up in an upper-class home. In order to keep the home, one of the daughters will have to marry Mr. Collins. The novel focuses on the preoccupation of the girls and marriage. The preoccupation of marriage is primarily because they need to enter into a marriage that brings benefits of money, status, and/or land. Many of the suitable bachelors derive from an inheritance that secures their future, a business that promises sustainable income, or stature that aligns with the pursuit of the Bennett girls.

The characters Elizabeth and Darcy encounter one another on three occasions and it is during these occasions that their relationship undergoes admiration, stress, tension, miscommunication, and prejudice. Upon their first meeting in an assembly hall, many admire the handsomeness and high price ticket of ten thousand dollars that Darcy makes per year. However, the wealth of Darcy makes him arrogant and proud, thus turning possible expectations into renegotiations. As time progresses through the novel, Elizabeth hears words from Darcy with a virtual filter that screens out any innocence and only hears arrogance and haughtiness.

Elizabeth seems to be a very playful, yet honest personality with humorous traits that makes her a very likeable character. Elizabeth’s personality is very different from Darcy’s personality. Darcy critiques his personality by saying, “as a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles but left to follow them in pride and conceit. My parents allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing” (Wootton). Darcy’s disposition is perceived as a result of his class, stature in society, cultural supremacy, and education. In one instance, Darcy is offensive by refraining from participating at the provincial dance, leaving women without dance partners. As the story progresses, Darcy confesses that he is an outsider that is reserved by nature and finds it difficult to perform to strangers. The disposition of Darcy causes Elizabeth to gossip and possess a reluctant submission to Darcy as a male figure. In order for Darcy to gain Elizabeth’s favor, Darcy much unlearn “his pompous behavior and become a new gentleman” (Wootton).

In order for a renewed relationship to emerge between Elizabeth and Darcy, the new gentleman must become someone that Elizabeth can relate to and feel comfortable to be around. Elizabeth and Darcy have to shed the pride that they possess and the prejudice that has been created between the two of them as a result of the conversations and misunderstandings. They must gain a deeper appreciation for one another, the temperament of one another and value the traditions, customs and beliefs of each other. As they come to a realization that a relationship can occur, “Elizabeth gains the validity of class relationships and Darcy learns to respect the innate dignity of the individual” (Moler). When they get married, the novel concludes with a descriptive summary of the activities and futures they will have with their family and friends.

Pride and Prejudice deals with issues such as love-hate battles, battles of the sexes, social classism and stereotyping. As the novel progresses, there is a moral or a lesson for readers to understand that without pride that tends to lead to prejudice, issues can be resolved and people can move past differences. As this story ends with a happy ending, it subliminally suggests that when we are able to resolve and move past issues, there is a sense of future happiness that becomes available.

Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice is a Bollywood film by directed by Gurinder Chadha. Chadha is a multicultural woman and understands the differences cultures can have on people, especially males and females. In an interview with Chadha she says she started making films without any formal training for the sole purpose of “wanting someone to have a say in the way people were represented on screen and in the media” (Chada).

The film takes the story-line from a white-on-white novel to a white-on-Indian perspective. While focusing on the Indian perspective adds a global culture issue to the screen. This is effective in taking both the British culture and the Indian culture applying the same themes of the novel across a multicultural dynamic. The multicultural traditions are incorporated into the film through even the slightest of considerations, such as clothing. Darcy is unable to participate in the festivities because his Indian pants are too large and they keep falling down. Therefore, refusing to participate was misunderstood and perceived as arrogant and rude.

As the film progresses, Darcy makes general comments about his limited amenities in the Indian hotel  where he stays during his visit and finds that his comments are taken offensively because his hotel is among the very finest that India has to offer. His comments unknowingly suggest that India’s finest, is incomparable and intolerable to the British Darcy. This suggests to the Bakshi family that Darcy would rather connect with the world than with the family. This brings increasing distance between Lalita and Darcy and interference with the way Lalita hears anything Darcy says.

When Lalita visits Darcy and meets his mother, Lalita is able to see the origination of Darcy’s ignorance – his mother. The mother make Lalita feel extremely uncomfortable and insignificant. Not only does the mother mention that she is looking for the right white woman for his son, she invites his girlfriend to the house to send a clear message to Lalita. Lalita is able to see that the British customs and traditions are hurtful, thoughtless, and painful and wants nothing to do with Darcy and his family.

While Darcy is at home with his mother, Chadra helps the audience to see new kind-hearted traits in Darcy. Lalita is able to see a new side of Darcy. This new Darcy is what she will need to remember and fall in love with him. It is this newfound love that Lalita is able to reflect on and answer positively to marry Darcy. As the film ends with Darcy and Lalita riding on the elephant, there is a happy ending with “just married” on the back of the elephant.

 

Adaptation 

In the adaptation, Bride and Prejudice is a Bollywood musical. The musical works because not only is the novel conveyed in acting, but there is further understanding through the lyrics and personalities revealed by the dancing. The first meeting is adapted from the novel by modifying the assembly hall meeting to a rehearsal dinner with singing and dancing by the wedding party. Like the novel, Chada decides to keep Darcy’s refusal to dance and refusal to meet other guests. It is Darcy’s distance and failure to mingle and participate that causes him to have a reputation of being “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (Mathur). Darcy’s behavior demonstrates his indifference with the Indian culture and prevents him from winning the heart of Lalita (Elizabeth in the novel).

Chadra says, “I’ve seen enough movies with Indian women running off with white guys” (Chada). This makes the multicultural aspect of the movie very dynamic. The multicultural aspect of the adaptation makes the differences more magnified as issues between the characters and the families of the characters. Physically seeing the difference and hearing the differences in opinion makes the novel come alive in a much more vivid way.

The ending was very much an added adaptation. In the end, Lalita and Darcy are riding on the back of an elephant with a banner on him saying “Just Married.” This ending was extremely effective for the Indian culture and wedding ending.

 

Works Cited

Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen’s “Patrician Hero”
Kenneth L. Moler
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 , Vol. 7, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth Century (Summer, 1967), pp. 491-508
Published by: Rice University
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/449604

The Byronic in Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” and “Pride and Prejudice”
Sarah Wootton
The Modern Language Review , Vol. 102, No. 1 (Jan., 2007), pp. 26-39
Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467150

Turning Color
Susan Koshy and Gurinder Chadha
Transition , No. 72 (1996), pp. 148-161
Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2935366

Mathur, Suchitra. “From British “Pride” to Indian “Bride”: Mapping the Contours of a Globalised (Post?) Colonialism.” M/C Journal 10.2 (2007). 24 Jan. 2013 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/06-mathur.php&gt;.

 

Watchmen – Critical Analysis

1. Analysis of the Book: (Watchmen, by Alan Moore, 1986-1987)

The book Watchmen  is about superheroes that have no real super powers, except one. The superheroes have been fighting crime since the 1940s. In the 1980s the superheroes were forced to discontinue their crime-fighting because of riots, outbursts, police strikes and other turmoil among civilians. As many of the superheroes were able to live their lives as normal civilians but other superheroes, like Night Owl and Ozymandias are unable to give up crime-fighting, so they become outlaws. As the story progresses, we are able to get to know the characters and all of their personality flaws. For instance, Dr. Manhattan, the superhero with the real super powers, is used by the government, Pentagon, to assist the military. Other superheroes, such as Comedian, become murderers and have other psychological disorders. Despite their efforts to work together, they are dysfunctional in getting things accomplished because they allow themselves and their convictions, passions, and emotions get in the way.

2. Analysis of the Film: (Watchmen, adapted by David Hayter and Alex Tse, directed by Zack Snyder, 2009)

The film tries to mimic the book, but as will most adaptations, there are some differences in the film. As with all adaptations, the music behind the action in the film is a great asset to the film. The book mentions some of the songs that are included in the soundtrack. This adds an opportunity to connect with the visual words and the auditory sounds. There is a positive impact in the transitioning of scenes and music. This is something that the book cannot convey. The film has the ability to take a graphic scene from the book and make the scene a violent, action-packed treat for the audience that loves to see blood and violence. Although some feel that there is more to convey that words are the best discourse than film, the images, costumes, settings, events, and emotions that permeate the book, come to life on the screen. However, the ending of the film is strikingly different from the novel. The book ends with a monster exploding, killing most of the population but causing peace because of the abandonment of nuclear war to fight the invader. Whereas, the film shows many areas are nuked by Dr. Manhattan which ultimately leads to world peace. This is among other changes that the film made in comparison to the book.

3. Adaptation: 

There are many that agree that the film adaptation stays in line with the comic. Even though the film was longer than some of the traditional films, there were still many things that had to be cut out of the film, primarily for the sake of time and secondarily for the sake of the storyline. The book provides more background story involving the Minutemen and what happened to them. With the film, the audience has to reason on the fates of the Minutemen. The words in the book describe the characters, but on the big screen, the characters live the descriptions in a more vivid and graphic way. The choices of the actors in relation to the characters of the book is another consideration which the film communicates to the audience. The book portrays the physical stature of a character suc as Dr. Manhattan one way, but in the movie, he is seen with a magnificence around him that is not clearly understood through the text. Additionally, in the book, some characters (Ozymandias) seems to respond and interact with other characters (Nite Owl, Comedian) slightly differently than the text portrays him at times. 

4. Online Research:

Article: http://www.watchmenmovie.ca/characters/
The article provides a preview of the movie. In the very beginning of the article, it prefaces the understanding that this is not a “regular superhero movie.” The article explains how it breaks the superhero stereotype to create a very different superhero experience.

Article: http://bygonebureau.com/2009/03/09/watchmen-an-adaptation-lost-in-translation/
Although this work was deemed “inherently unfilmable,” the adaptation recognizes the unique qualities of the book and acknowledges that to translate into a movie, changes must be made. The argument is that the adaptation is devoted too much to trying to recreate the literary work.

Article: http://www.comicvine.com/watchmen/65-40393/
The article provides the origin of the twelve volume comic strip which was originally called “Crimebusters” in the 1960’s, which later became another group of vigilantes called “Watchmen.” There is an overview of the film and the characters.

5. Critical Analysis: 

In a society where crime prevails, the idea of having a hero to save the day has been a highly occurring and reoccurring theme through the years.  Our ideals of heroes changes when watching Watchmen, a movie that breaks all the rules of a typical superhero movie. In Watchmen, there is a message to be received with heroes such as Rorschach the blood-thirsty sociopath, Comedian the hyper-violent fascist, Dr. Manhattan the tool used by the Pentagon, and Ozymandias who seems to be content with killing millions of people to secure a temporary peace. Many would agree that having heroes such as these watching over the world is not that they would want and I would agree. But the message behind them is contradictory in nature. Although they are in search of justice, they are very uncooperative , uncompromising, and dogmatic with differing ideas of solving the problems of the world. The humanistic heroes have to battle their ideals of what they think is right. Similar to our political system, they are divided on fundamental issues. When they refuse to work together, they are consumed with internal conflict and very little gets accomplished. Ultimately, they say they are for the public interests, but they completely ignore the people and it interests of the people. Having heroes such as these, leaves the vulnerable more vulnerable and the unprotected very hopeless of protection based on the inappropriate connection heroes have with the people.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Critical Analysis

       

1. Analysis of the Book  The book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakban, by J.K. Rowling is one of the largest selling books of the series. The book is the first cross-over from the children’s story to appeal to adult readers. The reason for the cross-over is primarily based on the dark tone of the book which results from a more mature Harry Potter and the challenges he must face as a more serious character in the book. The book emphasizes the importance of reading through Potter’s preference of reading over computers, video games, and television. The many illustrations in the book attempt to help readers visualize the creatures and the elements of the book that warrant graphics. Many of the images are depictions from previous movies, but it works well to draw a correlation of the graphics during the reading to enhance the reading experience.

2. Analysis of the Film The importance of the film is to create a visual for the things that are contained in the book, within the time constraints for a movie and knowing what to leave out and what to include and how to make the connections between what’s included and what’s omitted. The scenes are viewed with darker tones, more mud, more mysterious creatures and more intensity than can be read. The magical scenes are very detailed to communicate a realism in a very fictional film. The special effects cause the imagination to question if it is really the imagination or accepted as a future reality. The props, locations, scenes, costumes, music and skies make the dramatization of the book extremely critical to the success of the film.

3. Adaptation  The standing actors have outgrown the roles as portrayed in the novel. Unless the adaptation of the movie makes the fears more fearsome and the mystique more mystical, the casting of the more mature actors will not fit with the story line. Therefore, the film takes a darker perspective. The film hovers on the brink of following the novel and taking the novel to the next level of intensity without going too far overboard into the realm of thrillers. The orchestral music drastically affects the mood of the film. The use of music in the film is an adaptation that novels are unable to convey and create. The special effects used in the film is another adaptation that works for the film over the novel. However, various elements and scenes of the novel were cut out of the film, causing the audience to have to fill in the blanks and keep up with where the story goes, but overall, the plot is consistent throughout the movie.

4. Online Research 

Article: http://www.twwn.net/harleenhp3.php
In this article, the author provides an analysis of the four main characters of the book and film.

Article:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304141/plotsummary 
This article discusses the plot of the book and film. The breakdown of the plot helps to better understand the “WHY” things are happening and if they are happening recurrently or initially.

Article: http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-pottermore-first-7-chapters-now-available-92110/
This article highlights all of the mistakes of the film. Despite the high quality of the film, there are mistakes that are slightly noticeable if you are looking for them. For instance, during the scene when the fat lady hits the bad note, a girl in a pink dress flinches before the fat lady hits the wrong note. Other blunders are revealed in this article also.

5. Critical Analysis

Many critics agree that Alfonso Cuarón takes the Harry Potter series in another direction with Prisoner of Azkaban in an effort to display the maturity of the main characters in the book and the teenage actors in the film. With the use of creatures, werewolves, and dementors, the film creates a fantastical reality that the book tries to convey through words. Faced with themes of fear, courage, betrayal, and revenge the film of wizardry is clearly set apart from the other films in the series. As the characters mature, the issues they deal with in the movie matures. The maturity of the issues and themes steer the movie in a darker direction that the audience likes and craves to see more in the future.  

A Scanner Darkly – Critical Analysis

1. Analysis of the Book  A Scanner Darkly, is a science fiction novel about an addictive drug called Substance Death (Substance – D) that impairs its users with hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and physical brain disconnect from left and right hemispheres. Based on the drug addiction of the author, the reader understands that drug misuse is a poor judgment call rather than a disease and the addiction is something that results from the poor decision. As police involve undercover agents to understand where the drugs are being used and where they are grown. At the end of the book, Bob Arctor is seen at the source of the blue flower which Substance-D comes from and finds that the supporting organization New Path is the supplier of the drug. Arctor steals a flower in an attempt to expose New Path and put an end to furthering the drug supply.

2. Analysis of the Film The film, A Scanner Darkly¸ projects the story as a graphic novel using special technology that allows the actors to look like animated cartoon characters.  The film starts with accolades towards New Path, a company that supports the police investigation and actions towards the war on drugs. Throughout the film, the delusions of the characters and the delusions of the police bureau is the basis of the postmodern film. The film support the fact that trusting friends and trusting the government are things that cannot be trusted. With friends betraying friends and the government betraying those that work within the government, it is a clear message that delusions are among the greatest delusions.

3. Adaptation One of the greatest adaptations of A Scanner Darkly is the use of the animation technology called rotoscoping which digitizes the actors, making them look like animated characters. The use of this technology transforms the science fiction story line of the book into a graphic novel unveiled on the big screen. The animation brings a realism to the fantasmic scramble suit. As images of people scramble across the suit, the audience sees a kaleidoscope of people and clothing while the actor inside of the suit is able to see through the scramble suit. The literary use of the words in the book are slightly lost with the adaptation, but the overall likeness of the book is demonstrated in the film. The paranoia of the literary characters is enhanced on a visual level in the film.

4. Online Research 

Video:
http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/clips/scannerdarklytitles.mp4/view
The video shows the beginning scene that sets the precedence for the movie.  The precedence that’s set is the software used to develop the movie in a comic strip setting, a humor to hallucinations, and the havoc drugs and hallucinations can have on someone.

Video: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/clips/scannerdarklyfieldwork.mp4/view
This video shows the end of the movie. In this scene, Arctor is working as a farm laborer for New Path, the sponsors of the program that uses the scramble suit. Arctor is manually dusting crops because of his former drug addiction. He notices that ‘DEATH rises from the search and realizes he must take it as evidence to stop the future destruction of the world and its youth. At the end of A Scanner Darkly, Keanu Reeves’ drug addiction results in him working as a farm laborer, spraying pesticides and experiencing hallucinations in a cornfield.

Article:
http://www.planit3d.com/source/interviews/sabiston/bob_sabiston.html 
In this article, the technique of rotoscoping is discussed in detail. The discussion includes the company behind the software and the man who developed the software.

5. Critical Analysis

Postmodernism is a relatively difficult concept to grasp as a truly defined term. Often times, the concept is a collective understanding of a new norm that is ever-changing in style, form, delivery, and standard. A central teaching of postmodernism is that there is no real distinction between reality and delusion, because reality is just a social construct of a person and the society in which they live. In A Scanner Darkly postmodernist may find the film supportive of the postmodern genre based on its style of creating a blur between reality and delusion. In the film, the Substance-D drug causes users to hallucinate from bugs, creatures, and paranoia. James Barris (Robert Downey, Jr.) speaks about information and suspicious activity that makes his character seem real or delusional. Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) was overwhelmed with delusions that he thought bugs were crawling all over him. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) speaks about having two little children. He also sees his family sitting in the living room of his home. Is this real or is it delusional. He realizes that his life has become useless to his employers after having cognitive brain damage from Substance-D, only to find that what we thought was an officer was Donna Hawthorne who was a part of a larger plan to have Arctor go to the farm to see if they could prove the growth of the blue flower, which Arctor demonstrates he will do at Thanksgiving. The levels upon levels of delusion blending into reality assists in making this a postmodernism film.

No Country for Old Men – Critical Analysis

 

Three Amazing Actors on the Big Screen

1. Analysis of the Book
In the novel, No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy, there is a hidden theme of a Western with lawmen and outlaws. The psychopathic hitman, Anton, is determined to track down Moss to recover the 2 million dollars that he recovered from the scene of a drug deal that went extremely bad. The hitman kills people using a high-powered air gun that can blow the locks off of doors and blast through the skulls of his victims. The hitman carries a coin that he uses to help his victims control their fate and the case of Moss, the fate of his wife. As the book progresses, Moss becomes more determined to stay on the move with the money. In the end, the question remains, are you willing to give up your family and your life for money like Moss? Life is greater than $2M. This story gives a whole new meaning to Finder’s Keepers.

2. Analysis of the Film
Moss notices a drug deal that went wrong, finds a briefcase of money and goes home. He returns to the scene of the crime to check on a man that was barely alive. This is when Moss is discovered by bad men who try to shoot him. Anton is a contracted hitman who has been hired to track down the money from Moss. Moss is an easy target because there is a tracking device in the briefcase with the money. Although Moss manages to get away from Anton once, before the movie ends, Moss and everyone that Moss encounters is killed by Anton. Even Carson Wells, the highly skilled operative hired to protect Moss in return for the money, is killed by Anton. The characters portray different roles in the film. Sherriff Bell represents the law while attempting to understand the new wave of violence in the world. Bell’s uncle, an ex-police officer, helps Bell to understand that violence has always been around and one man will ever be able to end violence. Moss is ruled by his greed even until death. Anton is a man of destruction to everyone he encounters, although very few are spared based on a coin toss.

The film received Oscars in 2007 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and won British Academy Film Awards, Golden Globes and was selected Movie of the Year.

3. Adaptation
The film was written and directed by two brothers, the Coen brothers who try to instill some humor in the American thriller. One such scene is when Moss crosses the Mexican border and is awakened by a mariachi band. Another instance is when Moss leaves the hospital wearing a hospital gown and his recently purchased boots. Despite all of the danger Moss has gotten himself in, a driver informs him of the dangers of hitchhiking. For the most part, Anton does not have much dialogue with those he encounters. In a sense, it is best not to have a conversation with him because he is more likely to present a coin to determine life or death rather than just leave peacefully. It is important to know that Anton’s hair style was not mentioned in the book, but for the movie it was important to distinguish him as a different, outsider, and rather weird man in town. The film omits Bell’s experience in WWII, the 15-year old hitchhiker and narration.

4. Online Research

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/23/the-men-of-no-country-for_n_82946.html
Tommy Lee Jones (Ed Tom Bell), Javier Bardem (Anton Chigurh) and Josh Brolin (llewlyn Moss) discuss the Coen brother’s movie, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Each character speaks of their symbolic roles.

http://finearts.uvic.ca/writing/websites/writ218/screenplays/award_winning/no_country_for_old_men.pdf
This is a wonderful adaptation of the novel with director’s notes. The copy of the screenplay includes notations around the time of day, costumes, clothing, and lighting on the set.  It allows those interested in reading and directing a common place to get the details about the characters, the set, and the skills in portraying the realism of the characters.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~jhartzog/nocountryadaptationquestions.html
This site provides questions with answers regarding the No Country for Old Men film and even requests differences between the film and the book.

5. Critical Analysis
There have been discussions regarding No Country for Old Men, in terms of good versus evil, Bell verses Chigurh but this is a conceptual stretch for the Coen brothers’ film adaptation. In good verses evil films, there is typically a good person that wants to eliminate the evil person from the equation. In the film adaptation, all of the evil that Chigurh perfomed is not countered or corrected in any way by Bell. Although Bell is empathetic and wants to help put an end to the violence, he gets preoccupied with the violent changes of the world. The truth is that Bell never tries to capture or defeat the evil. Bell simply tries to understand the evil. Bell tries to think like the evil to see what instrument of death he uses and the way in which he tracks down his victims. It would be easy to say that the evil is eradicated and the good is exonerated, but in the story, the good retires, leaving the evil one to roam the streets until he dies.  There is no good conquering evil in the story to make a conclusion such as indicated.

 

Adaptation – Critical Analysis

The Ghost Orchid

1.       Analysis of the Book
In the book, The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean a staff writer for The New Yorker tells the story about John Larouche who has a passion for rare orchids and develops a business germinating orchids. For over two years, Orlean shadows Larouche and learns to appreciate the various kinds of orchids after seeing the passion Larouche has for the orchids.  One of the themes of the book is that of beauty. The beauty of the plant, the beauty of Orlean and the obsession of obtaining more orchids. 

 2.       Analysis of the Film
The film, Adaptation, explored writing about a written piece of work to turn it into a screenplay. The actor, Charlie, experiences writer’s block as a result of wanting to keep the movie strictly about plants and not incorporate love and relationships. After attending a seminar by Robert McKee who suggests that he add life-like issues to make the story interesting. Charlie opened himself up to other possibilities and incorporated within the story, love, adultery, guns, drugs, car accidents, and death. This is with the inspiration of seeing the success of his brother Donald’s first screenplay success as an inspiration of his brother Charlie. 

 3.       Adaptation
Susan Orlean was the author of The Orchid Thief. In the film, Susan was one of the main characters in the book. Her interviews with John Larouche started off as interviews but they later became perfect excuses to speak with Larouche and to see Larouche for orchid sightings. The story became a love story among Larouche and Orlean. Through the ongoing visits, Larouche began giving Orlean extracted powder from the Orchid which caused a high sensation that Orlean began to enjoy and began to look forward to receiving during her visits. When Charlie discovers the new person Orlean has become, Orlean resolves to kill Charlie to save her reputation. 

 4.       Online Research

•  http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-01-16-cooper_x.htm
  Typically actors audition for a role by reading a 20-minute scene. Chris Cooper requested an hour so that he could perform 4 versions of the scene. Whenever they taped his scenes, they taped all four ways the scene could be performed and used many of them in the final version.

•  http://www.monologuedb.com/comedic-male-monologues/adaptation-nicolas-cage/
  In the beginning of the movie, Charlie Kaufman has a reflective monologue. This is the script for his monologue to see the extent of the various conversations he entertains in his head. It is the conversations that make Charlie a slave within himself because he constantly demonstrates low self-esteem for being a procrastinator, fat, bald, and more. 
• http://susanorlean.com/books/the-orchid-thief.php
  This article provides an overall summary of the book and highlights the themes within the book.

5.       Critical Analysis
The film reflects the perils and pleasures of writing for both seasoned and aspiring writers as it explores the differences in the writing process of Susan and Charlie and that of Donald and Charlie. A peril in writing is experiencing writer’s block when a writer can’t decide how or where to start and typically sits before a blank piece of paper. The pleasures of writing are creatively expressing thoughts and information fluently from the mind through the fingertips and onto the printed page. In the film, we saw the difference in writing styles of Susan Orlean as her words seemed to flow naturally because she was writing something that she felt passionate about. Susan also met with John Larouche and interviewed him to better understand what she would include in her writing and how she would include it knowing his personality and style after having met with him. In the case of Charlie, he experienced a difficult time primarily because he could not muster up the courage to speak to Susan Orlean before writing. Unlike Susan, Charlie had to research and read Susan’s work before he could adapt her work for film. This put him at a disadvantage of wondering how he would tell the story. The writing style of Donald was that of a free spirit where many possibilities are options for an exciting story. Unlike Donald, Charlie knew he wanted to write only about flowers. This is incredibly limiting. Although there will be perils and pleasures of writing for both the novice, beginner and seasoned, the successful writer gets through them and conveys the word, thoughts, and stories effectively. 

 

The Hours – Critical Analysis

1. Analysis of the Book:   Michael Cunningham’s book, The Hours, takes the literary work of Virginia Woolf and the characters of her book, such as Mrs. Dalloway, and blends it with the lives of two women living in another time period. The character, Mrs. Dalloway, is comparable to Clarissa Vaughn, an editor that likes to host parties, while Laura Brown lives a routine life as a housewife and mother who retreats to Virginia Woolf’s book as an outlet from reality and a literary advisor. The back and forth movement through time takes the audience through time periods within the twentieth century and across the world from London, New York, to California. The Hours also takes the audience through the world of lesbianism, as well as life and suicide. 

2. Analysis of the Film:  The Hours uses four outstanding actors to bring the novel onto the screen. Meryl Streep plays Clarissa Vaughan who parallels the life of the Virginia Woolf’s character Mrs. Dalloway. Vaughn cares for her ex-lover and best friend who has AIDS and is to be the guest of honor at her party. The ex-lover and best friend, played by Ed Harris, commits suicide after letting Vaughn know he has been staying alive for her. Laura Brown, played by Julianne Moore, is a housewife that faces the endless routine of motherhood and makes a decision to leave her family. Nicole Kidman plays Virginia Woolf, who battles with depression and lesbianism while writing the novel Mrs. Dalloway before committing suicide.  The film addresses lesbianism among all three women: Vaughan lives with her woman lover, Brown tries romantically kissing her female friend, and Kidman reveals her lesbianism also.

 3. Adaptation: The adaptation of the book The Hours to the movie, allows the reader to see the characters portrayed in real-life. The nuances of style, dress, and props carefully and creatively shows the time periods in which the characters lived. The film also transitions from one location to another capturing the essence of the streets of New York in comparison to the homes of London. In addition, the film allows the audience to enter into the lives of the characters by seeing the crabs in the sink at Vaughan’s home, the darkness of Richard’s apartment, and the Victorian feel of the Woolf’s house. Given the visual context, the reader and viewer can share an understanding of the issues the characters share and how the issues have an impact on the characters/actors and those that love and serve them.

4. Online Research:

• http://www.traditioninaction.org/movies/004mrTheHours.htm
  The review by Marian Horvant provides a critical analysis of each character and the significance of their role and the things that they do within their roles as it contributes to the overall literary work. 
• http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/hours
  The review calls the movie “tense and sad” and discusses the two suicides, near-suicide, gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual characters that are positively portrayed as a caring community.
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/feb/28/artsfeatures5
  This review provides an overview of the  importance of the soundtrack developed for the movie with the intent on transforming the events into powerful dramatizations.

5. Critical Analysis:  There is a strong theme of homosexuality within the film that drastically impacts the lives of the characters and supporting characters to the point of changing the entire story line of the movie if the homosexuality theme was to be removed. The movie based the character of Richard on being a bi-sexual male with AIDS. If the theme of homosexuality was removed, the dynamics of Richard’s role and his influence on the life of Vaughan would not exist. It is through the dynamics of Richard and Vaughan that we learn a great deal about bi-sexual struggles, friendship, and tendencies that conflict with the mind and the heart. Additionally, the other female characters that deal with lesbianism either by living with a lesbian partner or by trying lesbian practices, would find that there roles would be changed to living normal sexual lives or living asexual lives. Therefore, the theme of homosexuality permeates the film so intensely that any removal of the theme  would drastically change the character dynamics, interactions, and overall story line.

  

Tristram Shandy – Critical Analysis

I. Analysis of the Book: Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, began writing the novel in installments over the course of eight years. Throughout the writing, the nonlinear discourse if filled with disjointed narrations, chronological displacements and digressions. Although the story may lead to several tangents, there are actual historical events to attempt to give the novel credibility. However, the story is delivered through the narration of the author. The author attempts to write about his life. Rather than writing an autobiography, the author digresses into writing a story about writing a book. 

II. Analysis of the Film: Throughout the film, Tristram Shandy plays himself and his father, while taking time to look into the camera and speak directly to the audience. The many characters and supporting characters of the play are used to convey thoughts between one another and to seamlessly overlap time frames, especially when Tristram was being born and now. The audience is able to move about through time effortlessly.  As the characters know they are filming, the film becomes a movie about making a movie, with the commentary. As characters compete for time on air, the final product excludes a lot of time and events that the producers and film crew worked hard to film and just as hard to remove.

III. Adaptation: People and critics have said the the novel written by Sterne is unable to be filmed. However, under the direction of Michael Winterbottom, the film was attainable. The film, like the novel, uses many instances for narration to help the audience understand what’s happening. There is no comparison to the endless novel installments when compared to the nearly two hour movie. The movie does a wonderful job in the struggle between the previous and current life of Tristram. The adaptation of the obsessions, compromises, and relationships carried over well and were genuinely manifested and better understood in the adaptation.

IV. Online Research:

• http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/oct2000.html –  This is an extensive collection of the various volumes and the illustrations. It also shows the frontespiece where pictures speak a thousand words.
• http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20060216/REVIEWS/60206003/1023  – Unfortunately, there are many mixed emotions about the movie getting sidetracked rather than addressing the issues in the book, it is a movie that addresses making a film based on a book about writing a book.

• http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/07/book-review-tristram-shandy.html   – The author of this blog expresses the Black pages and the Marble pages and the significance of them.

V. Critical Analysis: The producers of the film-within-the-film appear to be obsessed with battle scenes and love stories. This could be perceived as a send-up of Hollywood-style entertainment films because the audience tends to put battles with love stories. Something about the going away to defend and the returning home to the family is a Hollywood money-making theme. The film had simultaneous love scenes between the intern and Tristam and the girlfriend and Tristam. The war and the mentions of war, attempted to add credibility to the fictional story line.

Bride and Prejudice – Critical Analysis

1. Analysis of the Book: In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, we enter into the lives of the Bennetts, a wealthy family of seven living in an estate in England during the eighteenth century. The family is made up of five daughters who must be successfully married off to preferably wealthy men. Daughters who were not married off were unable to support themselves, resulting in prostitution or family burdens. Most marriages were strategically arranged since the marriage consisted of more than the daughters, but also the properties and inheritances of the daughters becoming that of the husbands upon marriage. The notion of property also extends to the fact that upon marriage, the woman becomes the property of her husband. Even though the theme of property permeates the novel, other themes are more prominent in the novel. The themes of classism, politics, marital arrangements, and gender are strong themes in the novel. 
2. Analysis of the Film: The film Bride and Prejudice by Gurinder Chada is a Bollywood/Hollywood musical that tells the story of a multicultural relationship between an Indian female and an English/British male. The story-line of the film reveals the struggle of understanding cultural differences and cultural perceptions between Indians and Britians. Although the ending of the film represents many of the cultural perceptions as misconceptions, there are underlying struggles which the interracial couple must overcome when it comes to the traditions of their mothers wanting to keep the marriages among like cultures (Indian girl must marry an Indian man, while an English man must marry an English woman). This becomes one of the many major themes of the film: culturalism, feminism, classism, inter-racialism, economics, and prearranged marriages. The appropriate mix of musical numbers with the story-line made the film an appropriate and effective means of getting the audience to understand the difference in cultures, geographic locations, social and economics. 
3. Adaptation: The adaptation of the novel into film could have been done by using a direct match in cultures and dialogues. With the adaptation of Bride and Prejudice the film uses two different cultures to reflect prejudices, preconceptions, and pre-arranged marriages as a platform for presenting the story by way of a musical. The musical numbers, songs, dancing, and festive colors made the story more entertaining than serious. Remaining on the entertaining side of the story, the relationship that developed between Lucky and the cunningly dangerous Wickam ended in Lucky returning to her family rather than eloping as foretold in the novel. The adaption from the novel to the Bollywood musical was an effective and creative method of revealing the story-line. 
4. Online Research: Below are additional online research relating to the novel and the film.
   • Journal  http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/06-mathur.php  – In this journal, the author contrasts “Pride” with “Bride.” There is an obvious translation of the novel identified in the novel and a more complex translation revealed in the movie.  
   • A Film Education Assignment     http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/resources/secondary/Bride_and_Prejudice.pdf   This is an assignment that guides you through the adaptation of a novel into a film using the Pride and Prejudice and the Bride and Prejudice adaptation as a means of understanding the implications involved. It emphasizes the importance of not being pre-judgmental of the cover before experiencing the text and film.
   • New York Times Review                       http://www.newstimes.com/entertainment/article/Page-Turners-Taking-a-look-at-the-Pride-and-930532.php                                                                                         This takes a look at the different ways in which Pride and Prejudice can be understood. Because there are many ways in which the story can be adapted, there leaves many opportunities for additional versions in the upcoming years. 
5. Critical Analysis: Some critics and reviewers express that Bride and Prejudice is a “feel good, entertaining” film that causes the audience to become distracted rather than face the issues. As an avid musical lover, I would have to disagree. The musical is geared towards the more visual and artsy audiences. The fact that there are songs, dance routines, and comedy throughout the film, there is more than enough instances where the issues are well represented. One instance among many is the pre-arrangement of Indian daughters is not that different from the well-accepted marital arrangement of the English man to maintain  the economic sustainability of the family. Although the film has an overall “feel good” nature, there are instances where you see males as leading the women on, female flirtations, women-pursuing-men/men-pursuing-women, wealth/strategic alliances, among other issues that are well-presented in the film. It is important to reveal the critical issues because not only were their issues of classism in the novel, but the film needs to have the same issues interlaced within the story. The film adds more complexity by adding the multiculturalism to the story-line. Despite the extreme difference in layout from novel to film, both are effectively communicated to their audiences. 

Alice in Wonderland – Critical Analysis

1. Analysis of the book: The book is organized in a way that demonstrates the phrase “curiouser and curiouser” in that it begins with the initial curiosity of Alice to follow the rabbit and progresses through curiosity of trying new things such as food, friends, and various realms of settings. Although the book provides certain undertones, there are no clear or distinct undertones to emphatically state a direction or position of the text other that it’s seemingly understandable context. Even though some scholars have tried to “read between the lines” of the text to profess certain underlying intentions, claims, or literary interpretations, it is just as intriguing to accept the story as written without searching for a deeper meaning behind the story. 

2. Analysis of the film: The film provides another view of the story from a darkened, gothic perspective. There are many things in the film, such as the abundance of skulls, that were not in the original text. The innocence of Alice and those around Alice, tends to be more prominent in the film. From the costumes that accentuate the female anatomy to the music that accompanies the action and curiosity of the film, the audience is unable to resist the next scene and what it reveals. The character features are also among things accentuated in the film, as makeup magnifies some features over other features. 

3. Analysis of the adaptation: The original story has undergone many adaptations. As society develops, the imagery and use of technology enhances our Alice in Wonderland experience. The visual pictures change from one adaptation to the next, even among the main characters. The use of film and television has allowed enhancements of scenery, morbidity, and sexuality to enter into a new reality that the various adaptations of the book seem to ignore or briefly describe. In the original versions, Alice is a sweet and naive girl, but as writers, society, and time changes, she becomes more of a brave and warrior-like female. Additionally, the film uses terminology that the book does not contain, such as the replacement of “Wonderland” to “Underland.” Such a replacement of the word itself creates the perception from something beautiful, enchanting and wonderful to something dark, mysterious, and disenchanting. 

4. Online research on the film: 

• http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/07/24/five-disturbing-versions-of-alice-in-wonderland-that-werent-created-by-tim-burton/ – Discusses other versions of Alice in Wonderland that were also dark, like Tim Burton’s version, but not authored and produced by Tim Burton. 
• http://literaryanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/movie-review-alice-in-wonderland/ This is a blog that discusses the title of the story, the trailer of the story, and the posters that bring people to the movies as a means of setting the stage for what’s to come, but there are many unexpected events of the movie that are not directly like the book. 
• http://nextwaving.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/feminist-analysis-disney-movies/ This is a blog that discusses the feminism in the Disney story of Alice in Wonderland vs. the feminism that is displayed in the movie. Aside from the movie version creating a story around Alice being a more mature 19 year old rather than the Disney’s younger teenage version, the movie captures much in accentuating the feminine sexuality. The movie also transcends Alice as a brave young lady that resembles much like a hero, rather than a naive and curious girl. There is a blurring of what is real vs. what is fantasy which is ultimately a dream. 

5. Critical analysis: The effectiveness of Alice in Wonderland in the book version and the movie version appeals to society of various age groups based on the expectations of the discourse, but it speaks differently to 21st century teenagers and adults than it does to 19th century children and parents. In the book, the reader is given details about a young girl that is naive and curious about life and the things that she discovers in life through metamorphic changes in herself and in the experiences she gains from the people and places she encounters. In the film, the audience is able to take advantage of technology to enhance the experiences of Alice, better define and blend realism, utilize graphics to demonstrate an ambiance that you not only understand by actually see – leaving no room for personal interpretations. With the availability of both mediums, readers and audiences can have a choice of the style in which they want to hear and understand the story. In the 19th century, there was more innocence in reading and with the 21st century, the innocence is more a thing of the past and the bad girl, heroic and brave dynamic has taken over as well as the sexuality which permeates the 21st century and appeals to the audiences. Although the basic themes and plots remain fundamentally intact between literature and cinema, the variations and adaptations make the experiences engaging for all ages according to society norms and the times in which they live.