For this week, I want you to think of various ways the arts interrelate with each other. It can be a painting, such as Van Gogh's Starry Night compared to Don McLean's song "Vincent." Or, you can compare and contrast a book and movie you've seen and read.
I think of watching the movie, Even Cowgirls get the Blues, starring Uma Thurman. The book, which I have read several times is one of my favorites. I didn't see how anyone could make a good movie out of such a delightful and enjoyable book. I was right. They couldn't.
Tell how and why you think the interrelationships worked or didn't.
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As soon as I finished reading this assignment, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom sprang to my mind. I was assigned to read Albom’s Tuesday’s with Morrie and loved it so much I bought his other book as soon as I spotted it. When we discussed our favorite literature I remember seeing some people talking about The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I agreed with everyone who said it was a great book. It was. I think it was the first book that I felt so much for the main character and was able to cry for him in the end. Albom has such a way of writing. I was excited when I heard they were making a movie based on the book. Yeah, I knew that some books made bad movies but I believed that a book so good couldn’t make a bad movie, no matter who was in it or who directed it. I learned my lesson. I thought it was a disappointing reenactment. It was as if all of the feeling I felt in the book disappeared. As if the man in the movie was incapable of feeling. What I found the most interesting was that it felt like I sat watching the movie longer than I sat reading the book. I decided right then and there that if I really liked a book, and knew there was a movie out there, I would not watch that movie. I still think The Five People You Meet In Heaven holds a very special meaning and I will read it again, but as far was the movie, I would not recommend it if you are a book lover.
The first thing that came to mind after reading the blog assignment was the Harry Potter series. The books are so detailed you can see everything that is happening. Then when you watch the movies they are even better. I really look forward to watching the last two Harry Potter movies. The books are really great and I can not wait to see if the movies are as good. I really enjoy reading books that also have movies out to be able to compare the two. In high school for most of our book reports we were not able to read books that had movies. Then for one of our reports we had to pick a book that did have a movie out and we had to sign up on a sheet so no one would be doing the same book and movie. I had A Walk to Remember. I had never read the book before watching the movie so everything that I knew was from the movie. While reading the book I found differences from the movie. Overall the books seem to be more detailed then the movies. I do think in the two examples that I have brought up that the movies and books did work well together. I know that there are some movies that people watch after reading the book that they say just ruined it, but personally I have not had that problem yet.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind while doing this weeks assignment (I'm not sure why, however) is the movie Ella Enchanted. I read the book by Gail Carlson Levigne,and loved it. (I know... it's supposed to be a "girls" book. Who cares! :) Anyway, it was just a fun, enjoyable book to read, and I liked every minute of it. Well, the book was sucha hit that a movie was made of it a couple of years ago. Of course, my experience with books turned into movies has not been incredibly good, and this one proved to be no exception. The movie was horrible. It was not consistant with the book, it was completely modern with its music, costumes, etc., and a there was even a lot of stupid crude humor intesperssed. It always amazes (and frusterates) me whenever film companies put forth something that completely destroys a great book. For any of you that saw the movie, the whole "evil uncle and the snake" thing was pretty dumb. Agree?! Anyway, the book had a happy, kind of care free feeling about it that I believe the movie failed to capture. They destroyed all "sweetness" about it in regards to Ella and Char, and completely disrupted the fantastical feel of book by adding modern music and costumes.
I’ll go for “The Passion” this week comparing it to the actual account in the Bible of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I guess I don’t think of the Bible as art, but it is great literature, so I it will work. I think that Mel Gibson did a great job sticking to the true account; most movies of the Bible don’t follow the written account which makes them hard for me to appreciate fully. But in The Passion, having the visual pictures help paint a more accurate picture for me of what Christ actually went through. In reading the Bible, it’s hard to visualize really what He went through looking at it through our cultural context. Floggings, beatings, and crucifixions aren’t things we see in America these days. But it happened back then, and wasn’t all that uncommon. It really helped me see the reality of what Christ did and how much He actually suffered for us. Beyond the physical, I liked the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane with Satan as a snake getting his head crushed, just like it says will happen in the book of Genesis. Mel helped bring a visual picture to not only the physical realities of what happened, but also the spiritual side of what was going on. I think I only watched it once, but it left a lasting impression and was one of the movies made from a book that I felt did justice to the book. Most movies like that leave me disappointed.
Dan
Zachary, I'm with you in that I'm not ashamed to say that I like a few "girl books!" I haven't read the book Ella Enchanted, but I did see the movie and was totally disappointed. Very dumb movie. I had no desire to read the book, but after reading your post, you have changed my mind. I should have already known that to be true seeing most movies ruin the book or at the very least don't tell half the storie. I think it is because of the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words and movie makers figure with all the pictures they don't need much of a story. Not true!
Dan
The movie and book that cam to my mind is the Chronicles of Narina, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The movie and the book fit together so well. C.S. Lewis is an amazing author. I love his worlds that he made up and the names of the creatures and kingdoms.
The book is very well written it paints the scene in your mind and hooks you so you don’t want to put the book down. I am in the process of reading the third book and it’s hard to stop reading some nights!
The movie is so great I can’t find anything missing. The way the creatures and the world come together to create this place called Narina is simply amazing.
My favorite character is Aslan. He is the lion the king of Narina! I’m not sure why I like him so much but he is such a string point and character in the movie and the book. My other favorite is probably Peter the eldest brother of the four children. He must find courage in himself and overcome the witch who wants the eliminate Aslan and everything to do with the good side of Narina.
Now that have explained the lion and the witch I will now explain the wardrobe. The movie takes place in WW2 and the kids need to be sent to the country side and live with an elder couple and Lucy (the youngest sister) find the wardrobe while they were playing hide and seek. She crawls in the wardrobe and walks out the other end into the world of Narina.
Now anyone who knows Lewis’s work knows that this book is the second one the first is called the Magician’s Nephew and the elder man in the movie is the magician. So you can see how it all fits together.
in repsonse to vanessa
i love the harry potter series the are one os my favroites i laos own all of the movies so far and working on owning the books.
I totally agree Dan. I can't think of a movie yet that comes close to doing a good job in representing a book. The only one that comes to mind, like you mentioned, was the passion by Mel Gibson. Every other one that I've seen has added/subtracted/changed or altered something (or everything) in the plot. I'm not sure what they think they gain by doing that either. I mean, no one wants to see their favorite book turned into a Hollywood failure. If only they'd follow the books they'd pry attract more viewers. Obviously there are restrictions on time, costs, etc. But if they can't do it well... then DON'T DO IT!
This assignment brings to mind the Book Of Mice and Men. I loved the book and I don't like to read. I was assigned to read this book in the 10th grade so a really long time ago. I am surprised I remember it. I really don't remember much detail about the book but I remember the major points. I actually think the movie did a good job after reading the book. The only disappionting thing to me is when I read a book I try ot imagine the people and what everything would look like if I was there. So when I watched the movie I was thing my imagination was off. But the movie really brought thinks to life for me. To actually watch the older brother kill his younger brother was a tear jerker.Yeah it was sad in the book but I think our minds save us from from seeing the after affects. As the movie went on after that it was real to see the older brothers face go from happiness before his death to depression from killing his brother. When you are reading a book you don't understand and it is for homework it is nice to have a movie there to help you understand it better. Like Romeo and Juliet. When I read that book for school I didn't even know where to begin understanding that. I bought the movie and even though it was way off from the book it got the main points across for my homework assignments I needed to do for the book. Sad I know.
In response to Zackary,
Are they altered because of what you imagined they were like in your mind. Maybe the people making the film see what is going on in the book differently then we see it in our mind. But I do agree books are normally better. I don't read for fun though. It is just my experience from high school books we were forced to read.
in response to Aschwartz
Well, they could definitely be viewed differently, but I am primarily talking about complete plot changes. For instance, in Ella Enchanted, there was no evil uncle, wierd snake or any of that. The movie was also completely devoid of several parts that were, in my opinion, key to the plot, and, not to mention IN THE BOOK. This is what I am meaning when I am saying that it's frustrating when movies are changed and done differently from the way that I thought they should look. After all, the way I think they should look is in line with the book itself. Thus, if it's not done to my liking, then there's a pretty good chance that they deviated from the book as well. Sorry if that sounded kinda haughty or something. :)
in response to mschimek:
I agree with you about the movie and the book, the movie just was not as captivating as the book was. They tried i'll give them that and for someone who never read the book they might have liked it but if you read the book first the movie kind of wrecked it.
The first book that I thought of when I read the discussion question was “The Polar Express”. Working with children I have read this book a couple of different times. We also did a unit on it in school. I think that both the book and movie are really done well. I would have to say that the book is obviously better. When reading it you can imagine more about what they are talking about because they don’t show you everything, were in the movie nothing is left to the imagination. I do think that compared to some other books that they made into movies they did a pretty good job with “The Polar Express”. In both they really show the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes. A good thing about the movie is that they kept all of the main events that happened in the book. They all happened the same way also.
This one has got me stumped!! I'm not a big reader (mostly text books) so to relate a movie and a book doesn't fit my expirence. However, the next thing that crossed my mind was Dance or Ballet and music. These are two arts that are interrelated all the time.
I saw my first ballet this semester. The dance and the music I guess you could say, are one art. As the book calls it "synthesis". The ballet could be described as a visual expression of what story the music has to tell.I have to say that this interrelationship is one of the best in that together they are complementary and alone they create different feelings altogether!
In response to aschwartz~
I agree when you say that, while reading a book you imagine how things would look if you were there. Like putting yourself in the story. I think that is why alot of times the movies aren't as good as the books. Because when we read we create our own thoughts and ideas about how the peolple places and things should look, so when we see the movie we don't have the same satisfaction as when we could imagine our own story!
This was an easy topic for me this week. I saw a play called the Daughters of Edward D Boit. The play was written by Don Negro. It was inspired by a famous painting by John Singer Sargent. The painting was of 4 little girls. Don Negro was so inspired by the painting that he wrote a play to give voice to the girls. The particular play I watched on the subject was a one act. I found it interesting that the playwright was able to get into the minds of the girls just from looking at the painting. He gave each a personality and developed a comedic banter between the girls. I would recommend this for anyone if you have the opportunity to see it. I have only seen pictures of the original painting but beleive that the artist who painted the portrait of the girls was so talented in his ablity to capture the essence of his subjects that he made the playwrites joy easy. As far a other forms of art - books inspire movies. Movie scenes inspire songs, pictures inspire prose etc the arts are truly related.
One movie versus book that I thought of immediately that I have read and watched is the Green Mile. I remember the book and how graphic and in depth the details were. The details of that book made the main character that was on death row, seem like a genuine, real person. In the movie I lost that a little bit. It showed the emotion and character of the man, but as usual in the movie the details were lost a bit. The book tugged at my heart much more than the movie, and I actually found myself crying during reading the book, and only teary eyed as I watched the movie.
I think that this is most often the case, that the book has greater detail than the movie, although both of these were very good, I usually always prefer the book.
In response to Krolfes:
I wish that I would have thought to do that movie/book! That is a great example, and I agree that usually the book is always better than the movie.
In response to Mschimek: I really enjoyed Five People You Meet in Heaven, Tuesday's with Morrie, and The author, Mitch Albom also wrote a book about himself that he started but died before he finished it. It is called - Morrie: In His Own Words- A Remarkable Man, and it is a great story about the thoughts of a dying man. They have not made a movie about it and I hope they don't. It is such a good book, hope you can read it sometime. It is so true to say "A book can often have a better story than when trying to make a movie out of it."
I have found a painting of which I own and a book written tells about the artist's vision for painting it and book she wrote. The Earth Is My Mother, by Bev Doolittle. She is a remarkable person and has picture of a face of a women which is had hidden pictures of animals in each square which brings nature to the surface of the picture. The book is written as an adventure of a young girl in the highest peaks of Magic Canyon. It was something the author wanted to tell about a young girl's struggle to save a fragile desert canyon from development. Her passion was/is saving nature as it is. She is so interesting in what she show's in this picture and the others that she has done in the past. A collection that can be looked at on Greenwich Workshop Website. She is very involved in enviromental issues and respecting nature as it is today. The relationship is portrayed in her ability to paint and the books that she has written about her passion in nature.
When I first look at this assignment I could immediately think of so many books that were turned into films. I believe that there is no film that is going to be as great as the novel. What is so great about books is that the reader can think of the story line in their head as they want. But I do know of a film and a book that are both great. "The Divine secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" is one of my favorite movies of all time, and the book as well; as long as I do not put them in the same category and compare them. The film stars Ashley Judd and Sandra Bolluck. I read the novel as a preteen with some friends. We loved the storyline of girls who turned into ole women and still had this bond that held them together. The story is about how friendships can outlast a war, heartbreak, depression and alcoholism. While I found that film to showcase the basis of the novel, the film was much harder to watch. In a way it was so gruesome, and harsh; made for more adult audience. And what i did not like about the film was that it cut out what I found to be very important parts of the book. That is what I hate about films that are based upon novels; the parts the reader finds important are either cut or not focused on enough.
In response to rustadrenee... Wow. I would have never thought of comparing a book and a painting. I enjoyed reading your blog, and felt intrigued by the book and the painting. What an interesting way to interrupt a painting. I look at a painting and believe that there is in fact a story behind it. What found is truly a masterpiece. I would love to experience it. Reading the book and admiring the painting would be a great journey.
The first thing i thought of is the book Flower In the Attic by V.C Andrews. I think i wrote about this book earleir this semester, but years ago when i first read the book i found out that a movie had been made. I was so excited to watch the movie because i loved the book, but after watching the movie i was extremely dissapointed! There were so many parts that are in the book that they didnt put in the movie. Little details and even bigs ones were left out and some were even slightly changed. It didn't make any sense so me.
When i saw this assignment i was like that would be easy but really to pick just one was really hard for me as any book that they make into a movie never compares to how awesome the book was. The one that popped in my head was Along came a spider. I am a big James Patterson and love all his books as there is so much detail and definately a page turns for me. So when this book came out into a movie i was so excited to see it but then i did and wished i hadnt as the book was do detailed and the movie was a disappointment. No movies could ever do as good as what you read in a book as you can get so much detail and beeter off just using your imagination then watching a movie of it.
response to brittany
I am glad i never read the book in a sense as Green Mile is one of my favorite movies, its one i can watch over and over again. By the sounds of it i would have been disappointed by the movie.
Callie Olson's response
The only book I remember reading after watching the movie "The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn." I don't read books. We read and watched this movie in a class in high school. It as been quiet a few years since then, but I do remeber being disappointed after watching the movie. I had the entire book thought out in my mind. The characters and the settings looked a certain way to me as I was reading the book. I had images of everything and then as i watched the movie I felt like I read the book wrong and mis-interpreted the way things were supposed be. I also remember the father being a drunk and very mean in the book, but the movie didn't portray this image of him. I think that whe you read a book you are much more creative and let your imagination flow. Movies all that stuff is already there for you, so you really can't think as creavtily.
After reading some of the other blogs I realized that I have read a couple of the Harry Potter books and I have seen all of the movies. In this case I agree with Vanessa that the movies are better than the books because of all the visuals and actions. The Harry Potter movies are very techincal and display great graphics.
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