(Honestly, I wasn’t able to finish reading the book. So I’ll compare the movie and the book here, and write another journal about the movie instead of the book.)
I actually watched the movie long ago, so I was able to picture the main characters that appear in the movie in while reading the book. The biggest advantage that a movie has is, of course, the visual vividness. Despite the various features of characters a reader could recognize from the book – speaking habits, general appearances, personality, etc – just knowing how characters look in the movie really helps my reading. As most of the students in class agreed after watching the movie, the movie was better to enjoy in a light manner.
But there was one important thing that the movie missed – the voice of Red. There must be a reason why Stephen King used a person other than the main character Andy Dufresne for his novel. Just because an outside perspective depicts the main character more objectively and accurately? We already know that Red, uneducated and confined in a very small world, cannot be a reliable narrator. No, the author didn’t intend that.
Readers tend to empathize with the main characters. And sometimes, sharing hero’s emotions and thoughts may not be helpful. Let’s imagine that the author wrote Andy’s story in his own voice. The most important lesson the readers could get is to maintain courage and endurance all the time to eventually break out of the cell. For the readers, the “cell” would be something other than the literal cell. But how effective is this message? Isn’t Andy to great for others to learn from? How different would this story be from other typical hero’s journey, such as Superman? Do we learn something from Superman? All we get is simple excitement, not real-life lessons.
Like Junho wrote in his journal, everyone has his or her own confinements or limitations that they’re locked in. Some might try to break them and a few might succeed, like Andy did in the novel. But this is not probably what King intended. Through the viewpoint of Red, who knows everything that goes in the prison, the readers see not only a person who broke out of the cell, but one who tries to enjoy life in cell, one who is so institutionalized that he commits suicide after being set free, and like Red, one who waits patiently, learns valuable lessons, and finally getting out. Andy’s case is not the only way to succeed in one’s life. Andy gained his freedom, but he would have suffered so much in the prison because he missed the outside world. For some people, simply trying to accept one’s limitations, or waiting patiently for opportunities to break them come would be better solutions. Without Red’s narrative, these messages couldn’t have been conveyed. And the movie failed to keep Red’s presence.
Thank you for admitting you didn't read the entire novella. I actually don't mind if you guys don't read the entire books, but hopefully at least enough to comment on the writer's style, tone, and to a point where you can evaluate an "ordinary world" on film compared to the book.
답글삭제Stephen King's instinct to use Red as the vehicle to more the story was definitely a key element. He's a master story-teller, and Red himself is an extension of that. Like you, I saw the movie first and read second, but the book has its own rewards.
Good to see you commenting on other student's work and gaining that additional insight. Hope you have something to say about Cuckoo's as it appears you have some literary background.