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Professional writers and published book authors Anne Giardini and Claudia Casper are accepting stories on the broad theme of “death” for a planned 2015 anthology called Death Where the Nights Are...
Are you interested in earning $500 for 5K words? Check out this anthology and get those writing juices flowing!
A Song, A Book Challenge: Day 23 - Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
By the Grace of God by Katy Perry is a song Perry wrote while she was deeply depressed and contemplating suicide. Thus, this song connects to Jay Asher's book which revolves around a young girl commits suicide and leaves tapes which explain the thirteen reasons why she killed herself.
The movie adaptation of Lois Lowry’s “The Giver” succeeded in becoming an extensively dumbed-down version of the classic novel. Of course, when dumbing-down a classic, it is important to remember the finished product will be an atrocious skeleton of untapped potential.
The movie failed to fully embody its novel counterpart because Lowry’s world was not properly defined at the onset and three main elements of the novel were over-looked. One: the Giver and Receiver are the only characters who experience true emotions. Two: the Giver and Receiver are not monitored by any other character. Three: death or loss of the Receiver-of-Memory is not in the best interest of the community.
I understand the book and movie mediums must take different approaches to story-telling. However, every story must start by clearly explaining the setting to the audience. Lowry spent one third of “The Giver” guiding her readers through Jonas’ world before Jonas was named Receiver-of-Memory. By comparison, the movie spends half as much time on the details of community life, and left the viewer without a strong sense of the community’s culture. This hurried introduction makes it difficult to recognize when changes, such as character development, take place.
The break-neck movie opening then sets up a lack-luster coming-of-age ceremony for Jonas. The novels entire message revolves around the fallout of this one ceremony but, somehow, the Chief Elder fails to adequately explain the position’s significance in a way which is actually memorable. The scene’s poor writing does not communicate something special has just taken place. And, because I know their are critis who will argue the ceremony was in keeping with the community's culture to gloss over anything which makes somebody "different" or "more special," I feel I must clarify that THIS difference was revered by the community. THIS difference made Jonas instantaneously "separate." THIS difference was supposed to be highlighted.
So, why did the movie producers decide to rush through these important moments of the movie? The only reason I can think of is that they did not trust their audience's attention span. They were more concerned with avoiding negative reviews which said 'I fell asleep at the beginning' than they were with telling the actual story. They simplified other elements of the book as well. For instance, they did not trust a modern audience's ability to suspend their belief if no scientific explanation for memory-extraction was provided. So, they turned the book's pill which suppresses "stirrings" into a daily injection which is taken by every citizen including pre-pubescent children. What is the harm in such a small change? The harm is that all these small changes add up to a simflification of the "real" story-line, and all these changes are rooted in the movie-maker's fear that the general public is unable to grasp more complex concepts. The result: a dumbed-down mess of ideas. The even scarier notion is that the true danger of "dumbing-down" is it makes potent ideas less radical and less dangerous. Thus, the lack of more complex ideas in this movie is particularly sad because the novel is based upon a culture where the citizens are not trusted to think for themselves. So, hey, movie makers! Trust you audience!
Besides the unclear community culture and inadequate job description, I was greatly disturbed when I realized Jonas and the Giver were not the only two characters who seemed to understand true emotions. While the Chief Elder recollects several memories, Jonas’ friends, Asher and Fiona, demonstrate an emotional attachment to Jonas. While I am sure the ultimate goal was to make Asher and Fiona more likable to movie-goers, the unprecedented character development undermines the core of Lowry’s work. Jonas needs to be the only character in the story that develops, because the contrast between him and the static characters is what ultimately becomes thought-provoking. I know producers may have feared Asher and Fiona would come across as bad friends, or worse, bad people if they remained stagnant. But, in my opinion, the producers should have had more faith in their audience’s intelligence. Viewers can recognize the difference between characters who are intentionally cruel and those who are too naïve to realize what their own actions mean.
I will, however, credit the producers with showing enough restraint to prevent the trio from becoming a love triangle. (Thank you for small miracles!)
The Chief Elder's knowledge of memories not only caused her on-screen time to become quite inflated compared to her in-book time, but it created a character who monitored and tried to control the Giver. She is a character who defies most details of who the Giver is supposed to be. He is the only member of the community who has a lock on his door. He is the only person who can break the rules and not be punished. He answers to nobody, yet his movie-self seems to be playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the Chief Elder. The notion seems ridiculous to me. Thus, of course, long before Jonas starts running for his life I have solidly decided the movie is a far cry from the novel it is supposed to represent.
I will admit, despite my overall disappointment, the movie does have its charming moments. The scenes where Jonas is playing with the baby his “family” is looking after are heartwarming, and the memory montages are breathtaking. Regardless, the book was better. (No surprise there!)
For more reviews of movies that are based on books, go here.
A Song, A Book Challenge: Day 18 - Looking for Alaska by John Green
I am pairing this book with the Youtube clip 50 famous last words in 4 minutes for two reasons. One: the clip features John Green. Two: the main character in Looking for Alaska memorizes the last words of famous people. Thus, I feel this clip is more appropriate than a song pairing.
