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.