Plot
I picture the plot of the lottery going a lot like it did in the short story. It would definitely leave the fact that it is a . . . different kind of lottery very ambiguous until the end but I think there would need to be a little more build up. I would probably have it start with a random family and their day before the lottery and have them allude to the lottery in all kinds of round about ways. Then I would have it do this with 2 or 3 more families telling there story because I think that it would make the ending scene a lot more intense if you knew who the people who were going to be involved in the lottery. The actual drawing and scene involving the lottery would definitely be the longest, I kind of picture they’re being the presentation before the lottery and random people would be drawing and it would kind of go in and out of its focus from the people drawing and the families that were introduced. In the end I think that right after the final drawing you would finally find out that the lottery wasn’t for money, it was for who to be killed but then all of the hints would become much more apparent. I also picture a very abrupt ending with the children closing in around the lady who is to be stoned and right before she dies it goes black and you hear her scream. Kind of crazy but I think that would be a cool ending.
Point of View
The point of view would definitely have to change. I would go to third person omniscient I think that would allow a lot more freedom in the plot and in the movie in general. It wouldn’t really be possible to have the different families introduced from the point of view of one person but maybe the point of view could kind of change from one person to another. Like it starts out as a family member in one of the families and then they somehow come into interaction with another person from a different family and the point of view would change. I don’t know how it could change though, I wouldn’t want it to be awkward but if it could work I think it would be kind of cool like maybe some kind of common theme that causes the POV to change like something that happened every time right before the POV switched. I don’t know though I wouldn’t want it to be cheesy or awkward that would ruin the intensity of the movie.
Characterization
The characterization would probably be somewhat ambiguous. I would want the audience to know these peoples lives but not fully. Maybe at the lottery when the camera is going from family to family they could be having flashbacks of bad things they have done in their lives. They could range from small things to maybe like something really bad and it could allude to the really bad guy winning the lottery and the audience would be kind of mad but then they would realize that the lottery isn’t for money and it will all be clear. This would play right into the THEME.
Setting
The setting wouldn’t be too terribly important. It would just need to be a small town that’s pretty close. Other than that I don’t really know what would be necessary. I think it’s obvious that it should be warm outside since it wouldn’t make sense for it to be cold. The place should probably be southern too, it just seems like it’s more likely for there to be a small radically different southern town than a northern one. Maybe there should be a lot of guys with confederate flags and other things such as that. Really though, setting isn’t that important, just like in the short story. It’s more of a plot based story.
Theme
Ahh the theme I think this story could share a valuable theme in an awesome way. I mentioned earlier that the guy or girl who had committed a terrible crime, ooohh another thought, maybe it’s a not punishable by law like he has a really nice wife and when you meet them in the beginning they seem like a really perfect family and his flashback is of his affair he’s having with some girl, that would be awesome, anyway though, the guy would win the lottery and the audience would think that justice would not be served but after they learned what the lottery really was they would see that even if the justice that is served isn’t apparent it is still served.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Curios Case of Benjmain Button (round 2)
Plot
Well the story and film were actually very different although they did share similarities. The main theme was the same, a man who ages backwards however from the get go many aspects of the plot are different. First off the movie tells the story through a journal that an old lady has. Also in the story the father is very unhappy with his son but still keeps him and raises him. In the film the father dumps Benjamin on the stairs to the apartment of a young couple and the woman decided to take care of him. The lady that takes Benjamin in helps care for the elderly so Benjamin lives in a nursing home. This difference further stresses the comparison between the elderly and the young since they both face many of the same problems. For instance when Benjamin takes his first steps as an old man it is similar to a baby's first steps. In the short story Benjamin plays football in college and in the movie there is no mention of him playing football.
Point of View
The point of view in the movie and the story are COMPLETELY different. The story has an omniscient narrator who simply tells the reader the events that occurred in Benjamin's life without providing much opinion. In the film the story starts with a woman who is presumably on the verge of death and asks her daughter to read a journal to her. Since the journal is Benjamin's the story is told from his point of view however the old lady occasionally adds to his memories since she was married to Benjamin for a time. After Benjamin had aged or gotten younger or, well, he couldn't tell his story anymore the old woman continued his story and this evoked a great amount of empathy since he had such an eventful life but could no longer remember any of it.
Characterization
In the movie Benjamin is both directly and indirectly characterized. Benjamin meets many people throughout the movie but the most important are those he has with Queenie, and Daisy. Queenie, especially later in the movie, makes reveals how much Benjamin cares about his mother and how he is a loyal son, it also evokes pity when he finds out that she has died. Daisy is a small girl when Benjamin and her meet. This relationship is a bit odd because of this since mentally they are the same agae but physically they are not even close. This relationship also makes the audience like Benjamin since he is so in love with Daisy and is willing to do anything for her, even if that means leaving her for the good of their daughter. All of these relationships help reveal how complex Benjamin is and, through the characterization of Benjamin, further stress one of the themes that Benjamin is able to live a relatively normal life despite his reverse aging.
Setting
The movie is set later in the than the story. The old woman who is dying is set in present day and since she was married to Benjamin the movie is takes place from about the 30's to present day. This brings a new set of conflicts into the plot such as WW2. The movie is set in Lousiana although this detail isn't entirely crucial to the plot. The setting does allow for Benjamin to make the clock at the train station since this is really the only time period I feel like they would hire a clock maker to put in a big clock like that. I really think they chose this time period for a few reasons. One so that some of it could be set present day, two so that people would understand more of it. If it were set in say, the 1800's, much of the point would be lost in the different customs and different ways people were.
Theme
Well although the theme was at the most basic level the same, the comparison between the old and young, there were small differences. When Benjamin is really old physically but young mentally he tells people he's different but he's OK with it and he knows its not a bad thing. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the clock. The clock was made to run backwards because thats the way that he wanted to make it. When the clock is revealed everyone sees it as a problem at first but once the maker explains that that's how he wanted it most of the people seem fine with it. It is really a big metaphor for Benjamin's life. I really liked how they had the clock at the end being taken over by the flood waters. It stopped running just like Benjamin's life did.
Well the story and film were actually very different although they did share similarities. The main theme was the same, a man who ages backwards however from the get go many aspects of the plot are different. First off the movie tells the story through a journal that an old lady has. Also in the story the father is very unhappy with his son but still keeps him and raises him. In the film the father dumps Benjamin on the stairs to the apartment of a young couple and the woman decided to take care of him. The lady that takes Benjamin in helps care for the elderly so Benjamin lives in a nursing home. This difference further stresses the comparison between the elderly and the young since they both face many of the same problems. For instance when Benjamin takes his first steps as an old man it is similar to a baby's first steps. In the short story Benjamin plays football in college and in the movie there is no mention of him playing football.
Point of View
The point of view in the movie and the story are COMPLETELY different. The story has an omniscient narrator who simply tells the reader the events that occurred in Benjamin's life without providing much opinion. In the film the story starts with a woman who is presumably on the verge of death and asks her daughter to read a journal to her. Since the journal is Benjamin's the story is told from his point of view however the old lady occasionally adds to his memories since she was married to Benjamin for a time. After Benjamin had aged or gotten younger or, well, he couldn't tell his story anymore the old woman continued his story and this evoked a great amount of empathy since he had such an eventful life but could no longer remember any of it.
Characterization
In the movie Benjamin is both directly and indirectly characterized. Benjamin meets many people throughout the movie but the most important are those he has with Queenie, and Daisy. Queenie, especially later in the movie, makes reveals how much Benjamin cares about his mother and how he is a loyal son, it also evokes pity when he finds out that she has died. Daisy is a small girl when Benjamin and her meet. This relationship is a bit odd because of this since mentally they are the same agae but physically they are not even close. This relationship also makes the audience like Benjamin since he is so in love with Daisy and is willing to do anything for her, even if that means leaving her for the good of their daughter. All of these relationships help reveal how complex Benjamin is and, through the characterization of Benjamin, further stress one of the themes that Benjamin is able to live a relatively normal life despite his reverse aging.
Setting
The movie is set later in the than the story. The old woman who is dying is set in present day and since she was married to Benjamin the movie is takes place from about the 30's to present day. This brings a new set of conflicts into the plot such as WW2. The movie is set in Lousiana although this detail isn't entirely crucial to the plot. The setting does allow for Benjamin to make the clock at the train station since this is really the only time period I feel like they would hire a clock maker to put in a big clock like that. I really think they chose this time period for a few reasons. One so that some of it could be set present day, two so that people would understand more of it. If it were set in say, the 1800's, much of the point would be lost in the different customs and different ways people were.
Theme
Well although the theme was at the most basic level the same, the comparison between the old and young, there were small differences. When Benjamin is really old physically but young mentally he tells people he's different but he's OK with it and he knows its not a bad thing. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the clock. The clock was made to run backwards because thats the way that he wanted to make it. When the clock is revealed everyone sees it as a problem at first but once the maker explains that that's how he wanted it most of the people seem fine with it. It is really a big metaphor for Benjamin's life. I really liked how they had the clock at the end being taken over by the flood waters. It stopped running just like Benjamin's life did.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
You're Ugly Too
3. This story makes extensive use of jokes. Discuss the importance of jokes to the characterization of Zoe and to the story as a whole.
Hendricks really liked telling jokes. Her jokes were often sarcastic and a bit pessimistic in a way but were normally pretty funny in my opinion. The story's title comes from a joke about a man who is told by his doctor that he has six weeks to live. The man says he wants another opinion. "You want a second opinion? OK," says the doctor. "You're ugly, too." At first I really didn't think the joke and the story were related at all I thought it was completely unrelated. Thinking about it though, this joke fits the same exact type of jokes that Hendricks tells, sarcastic and a bit evil. It seems like most of the people in the story don't really get her jokes though.
Overall I guess I liked Zoe though, she seemed not to care too much about what other people thought about her and she was pretty kooky and quirky.
Hendricks really liked telling jokes. Her jokes were often sarcastic and a bit pessimistic in a way but were normally pretty funny in my opinion. The story's title comes from a joke about a man who is told by his doctor that he has six weeks to live. The man says he wants another opinion. "You want a second opinion? OK," says the doctor. "You're ugly, too." At first I really didn't think the joke and the story were related at all I thought it was completely unrelated. Thinking about it though, this joke fits the same exact type of jokes that Hendricks tells, sarcastic and a bit evil. It seems like most of the people in the story don't really get her jokes though.
Overall I guess I liked Zoe though, she seemed not to care too much about what other people thought about her and she was pretty kooky and quirky.
The Drunkard
This story is interesting . . . to say the least. I think that the humor and irony is a bit amusing but is almost entirely based on the fact that we wouldn't expect the things that happen. The thought of a 8-12 year old boy stumbling around drunk is funny. I also thought it was pretty funny the way he "cursed" at the women. This story was meant, I think, to point out how it is clearly not okay for anyone to be an alcoholic. The story uses a small boy to show this because although in our society it isn't accepted for people to be alcoholics, it seems that a lot of people kind of turn a blind eye to it. I think that the title might be meant to refer to the son instead of the father as would be expected. I think it is meant to refer to the way the son viewed his father and for this day the son became "the drunkard"
The Lottery
Well this story is disturbing. It almost seems satirical, like its making fun of tradition and how strictly people follow it without thinking about what they are really doing. There are many allusions to the fact that this is a tradition for instance when they say, "Used to be a saying ‘lottery in June, corn be heavy soon’. First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery.” The last line seems like everyone's justification for why they do the lottery, there's always been one, that's it. However to me the most disturbing line was “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use the stones.” This statement reminds me of the how people sometimes say that people forget the good things that someones done and remember the bad. I think this statement is meant to say that for all of us and this whole story is supposed to represent a much larger scale of people although it is taken to the extreme so that it points out the flaws in our society.
Popular Mechanics
Well this is a very interesting and thought provoking story despite its length. First off the title is very appropriate for the story. The title "Popular Mechanics" (popular meaning of the people and mechanics meaning how something works) is very applicable because not only are the people in the story arguing in a very human way and the author seems to be insinuating that this is what all people do, but the baby's mechanics are also put to the test in a much more literal way when he is caught in the middle of the couples argument. I also think that the fact that there are no quotes make the peoples words much stronger, possibly representing that they are yelling without thinking since there is "no time" to put the quotation marks. The end of the story though, namely the last line, "In this manner, the issue was decided." is very ambiguous. Although most people think that they tore the baby I still feel like that is assuming too much. Once again though this is probably a story where whether they actually ripped him in half doesn't really matter because regardless of the babies physical condition the first part of his life probably isn't going to be very pleasant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
