Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Alice in Wonderland vs. Alice

After viewing both movies Alice in Wonderland the Disney version directed by Geromi, Jackson & Luske and comparing it to Svankmajer’s Alice, I found that both movies were meant for different type of viewers. The Disney movie released in 1951 was clearly meant for the children as we see the cute little furry rabbit that catches Alice’s attention and draws her away from her sister’s side. As we enter into wonderland we are taken into a world with magic, where a small drink out of a bottle will makes Alice smaller and a small bite of cake makes her grow tremendously. As we discover more of the world we encounter more characters with their interesting personalities. One particular character is the Mad Hatter who we meet as Alice follows the path into the very memorable tea party. As we are taken into this tea party we automatically hear the musical tea cups and the singing of the Mad Hatter and the Mad Hare with their suits on and the Mad Hatter’s infamous hat. The Mad Hatter’s personality prompts Alice to sit and join them for tea, but unfortunately with Alice not being of their world she is suddenly annoyed at the constant changing seats not allowing her drink a cup of tea. Throughout the movie we are encountered with comical characters that are meant to draw in the children. For one we have the Chester Cat who follows Alice throughout the movie and who guides her throughout her adventures in wonderland. In watching the movie as an adult one gets the experience of being a child again and being amazed at talking animals and musical pots.
While the Disney version showed a cartoon like view of Alice’s adventures that keyed into the child side of us, Svankmajer’s Alice showed a different way of the original novel by Carroll. In this movie we don’t see the cartoon like as we saw in the Disney version, but we are encountered with a young Alice in the flesh. We encounter a different type of movie scenes as we go from the Alice in the flesh and to the doll version when we encounter different parts of the movie especially in those where she is suppose to be smaller. We really don’t get an idea as to when Alice crosses over to wonderland. We do see the beginning of the movie as she is intrigued by this stuffed dead rabbit that comes to life. Svankmajer used stuffed animals and puppets for his wonderland characters. The journey down to wonderland is very different from the Disney version, as we see her going down the tunnel we can see jars of what seems like animal parts and things that are rotten. Upon watching the movie I thought of it as a little repulsive. The idea of a stuffed dead white rabbit having to constantly eat sawdust to refill itself seemed a little weird and it didn’t seem normal to see a rabbi sowing himself back up.
Although these two movies had particular different ways of interpreting the novel Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, they did find different ways to represent the novel for different audiences. The Disney version played well with the children who love to see talking animals and are entertained by musical tea pots. On the other hand the movie Alice had a different interpretation that showed a different side to the novel with the use of stuffed animals and puppets and dolls.

"New Moon"

The Twilight series became an instant hit upon the release of its first novel Twilight by Stephen Meyer, the popularity of the book increased even more with the premier of the movie which created even more fans. It didn’t come as a surprise when the release of the second novel New Moon, created a bigger fan base. The novels are based on the life of a teenager Bella Swan as she transitions from living with her mother to moving into her father’s house and experiencing a new side of life. The book became #1 in the New York Best Seller List for Children’s Chapter Books upon its release.
The movie adaption of the book “New Moon”, directed by Chris Weitz and scripted by Melissa Rosenberg brought in a grossing total of $142,839,137. It depicted the life of Bella and how it changed after meeting Edward and learning of his vampire ways. Despite the incidents she went through in the previous book, she decides to stay with Edward and live with the dangers of being a vampire’s girlfriend. In the movie we see the story line unfold from its previous chapter as we see Bella dealing with her new life. The book begins with Bella waking up from a dream in which she sees herself and old woman alongside Edward and makes her dread her upcoming birthday. The reality of their different life’s sets in and she realizes that as the years go by she will age and Edward will remain the same as the day she met him. In the book we can see deep in her thoughts as she sees herself spending more time with Edward than with her friends. The director utilizes Bella’s surrounding’s in order to depict the way she feels about herself. She has places herself in a situation where the only people she surrounds herself with are lifeless forms of human’s. Upon the departure of Edward after the sudden incident of her birthday and her near death experience the director focuses into how Bella looks out into the world. Moreover it helps us get e bigger picture from what we get from reading the book and getting into her mind.
Along with the director finding its way to key into Bella’s emotions he manages to bring out a psychological stand point of the hallucinations that she was feeling throughout Edwards’s absence. She places herself in a depressive mode alienating herself from her friends. The director depicts this alienation through the scene of the revolving room as the seasons change outside her window as she watches the outside world move on with their lives while she stays in the her room. The director also taps into her psychological mind as he depicts the apparitions of Edward as she exposes herself into dangerous situations. Both in the book and the movie we see the most memorable apparition of her getting on the motorcycle with the complete stranger. By this point Bella has found out that the only way to find her close to Edward is to expose herself to danger to be able to see him again. Although it’s only for a small moment she exposes herself to such situations to satisfy herself with his appearance and that’s where we see in the novel that she is at her happiest.
The director’s take on the novel satisfied many of its viewers who were waiting for its release. He really played into Bella’s loneliness and the sudden rescue of his friend Jacob who became her strength to keep on going with her life by distracting her. In the novel we see the friendship that grows with their first project together in working on the bikes. The director takes that friendship further by showing the scene of Bella and Jacob going to the movie theater along with another friend and he has Jacob go and try to hold her hand. Both the novel and the movie play into the relationship between Bella and Jacob as they both see the friendship differently with Jacob wanting to pursue her in a boyfriend way , while Bella looking at Jacob and her only sanity to keep her from thinking about Edwards departure.
Chris Weitz adaptation of the book “New Moon” into the movie based itself on the mindset of Bella as her new life sets in and the consequences of her choices begin to appear. The director plays into the situations Bella places herself in after the departure of Edward. We see as he starts a mere glimpse of the next movie to come building anticipation till its release.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Lovely Bones

In search for a critique on the adaption of the novel "The Lovely Bones" a story of the life of a teenage girl Susie Salmon, both in life and after her murder. I found that this particular critiquer by the user name of The Linser, found the movie production to have lost its novel magic and found it to be a bit on the lesbian side. While I cannot really see where the critiquer found it to be somewhat of a lesbian manner in the character of Ruth, Susie's friend, I do agree in that the producer Peter Jackson did not quite catch the magic in the novel which takes part in most of the novel. On the other hand I will side with the director when I say he did capture some magical moments in the movie. One in particular that stuck with me was the scene in which Susie's father lights up the candle in which the critiquer also points out. The director did manage to grasp the vision that the novel was trying to portray to its readers as the cadle light manages to be a portal for her father to see Susie. As a fan of the Novel "The Lovely Bones", I was excited to view the movie and compare it to the novel and I found myself a bit disappointed, but found that the movie did clear up and managed to give faces and depict places to compare to the images that had formed in my head when I read the novel. Although movies do help bring out some aspects of a novel that might not be instantly seen through the story, I still hold true to the saying "The book is always better".

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

New Class Blog

I will be switching my blogs to my English 312 Literature & Film class with professor Hartfield