Literature in Film Blog #3” “To Kill a Mockingbird”

"To Kill a Mockingbird" 

While watching this film I had some of the thoughts from the film, culture, and ideology packet that was distributed recently; I quickly attempted to view the film “To Kill a Mockingbird” to observe what it revealed about society or culture. The film certainly can file under the film and society, and film and mass culture headings; in fact, the film was highly received by many. Some claim the film as “one of the best ever made” and I must agree, “Just as film works on the meaning systems of culture-to renew, reproduce, or review them-it is also produced by those meaning systems. The filmmaker, like the novelist or the storyteller, is a bricoleur -a sort of handyman who does the best s/he can with the materials at hand. The filmmaker uses the representational conventions and repertoires available within the culture in order to make something fresh but familiar, new but generic, individual but representative.” The familiar in the film is the setting of inequality between blacks and whites in the town. It is a new spin on the old topic of modern slavery. Also, the film can stand on it’s own aside from the book, but also be unified in representation.  I believe the most interesting part of the novel is the application of Atticus as a lawyer; he has the powerful belief of every man having the same rights as the one beside him. Atticus makes the decision to defend Tom. Without even knowing the magnitude of racism, Scout also defends the black man by stepping in front of the crowd before they stormed into the jailhouse where Tom was held.

Literature in Film Blog #2: "Precious"

"Precious" 

I have always been interested in the titles chosen for movies, books, and poems. Without even reading the book, poem, or watching the movie, we catch a glimpse of what something can be about. Also, we may even be able to see a possible theme within the work of art. The original title for the novel is Push. However, the film’s title is “Precious” I wonder if Sapphire had any say in what the movie could be titled, or if she had any preference.  Regardless, both titles carry a significant amount of meaning on their own. Although, I would like to read the novel eventually and see a compounded significance between the two. My best guess about the book title is that precious had two children, Mongo and Abdul. It reminds me of the movies where women are giving birth and the nurse tells them to push and give that last ounce of strength they have. Throughout the movie, Claireece has had to push through her difficulties: the abuse she receives from her mother, being raped by her father, and the feeling of non acceptance everywhere she walks.

The gravity within the title of the movie appears when we see Claireece transform from herself, to Precious. Well, that is her middle name. However, by the end of the novel she is a completely different and stronger person, with a more positive outlook on life. At the end of the movie she finds out her father dies from AIDS and she is HIV positive, but she doesn't give up there. She stands up to her mother in the welfare office and tells her that she’ll never be seen by her again. Precious strives to take care of her kids and continue her education.

Literature in Film Blog #1: “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

Irony is the first rhetorical device/literary technique I notice in the film; furthermore, one could argue that the film’s foundation is built with bricks of irony. Starting with the irony presented in the end of the novel, we expect King Arthur and his knight to bravely retrieve the Holy Grail they have searched for the entire film. However, just before the large army storm the castle Arthur is arrested by modern police and the film ends to the investigation being started because of an old historian killed by a knight while filming. I found the historian an interesting play on time and the irony within the film.

In the beginning of the film we expect to see King Arthur riding on a powerful horse; instead, he rides along with his squire who bangs coconuts together to make the appearance of a horse riding (the introduction to the irony in the movie).The irony also adds to the comedy within the film giving the audience a few laughs. We expect the Black Knight to be brutally slain by King Arthur. Yet, after getting each limb cut off he still wants to fight King Arthur and is relentless in his obvious defeat. My favorite scene of irony includes a very cute rabbit that initially appears harmless. To my surprise, the rabbit is insanely deadly and fools the brave knights when they dare to enter the cave. I found the scene funny because of how wrong the knights were while approaching the rabbit. We expect the knights to be torn apart by the legendary beast of aarrgh, but the beast’s animator has a heart attack so they barely escape the monster.