The Caine Mutiny - Analysis of the Book and the Movie
Every time I read a book, which made into a future film later, with my daughter, we always watch its movie after reading the book. When we talk about the book and the movie after, we have been harsh on the film. There is always something lacking in the movie due to the fact that certain demands of movie industry and time constraints. The Caine Mutiny, the book and the movie are not free from the generalizations. The movie, a classic drama, with its cast, is amazing, however, they only packed that much into two hours. While the movie has so many memorable moments from the book, time constraints mainly caused beginning and last part of the book to be left out completely. Moreover, the book is about mainly maturity of Willie Keith, his relationship with his mother, his father and, girlfriend, his struggle to be independent, his reactions to the behavior of different captains, whereas, the focus of the movie shifted to the events around commanding and leadership of a navy ship, the Caine. Moreover, throughout the book, Willie’s interaction with Tom Keefer plays an important role from the moment he stepped in the Caine until the end of the book, however, the movie focused on other characters, Captain Queeg and Mr. Maryk more.
I think the first leadership moment is that when Willie met with The Captain De Vriess with half naked in his office? This scene is slightly different in the book in a way that Mr. Keith and Mr.
The Defiant Ones (1958) directed by Stanley Kramer showed the racial relations going on in the United States of America. The film features two men, one black and one white becoming friends, which was almost unheard of at the time. Although when this film came out segregation was illegal it still was not fully accepted as being the new norm. This film starts to try to shape America into accepting all races and stopping segregation, but also tries to mirror society when a third party is brought in and tries to come between the two men and their friendship. Kramer uses The Defiant Ones as a way to mirror the public of the times opinion and shape there new opinion of the changing world.
Children today have access to many forms of literature, some of which are books made into movies. As the children become older, comments such as “the book was way better” or “the movie didn’t even come close to matching the book” or “the movie and book are the exact same, so save time and just watch the movie” are heard once children begin to make connections between the book and the film. It is important to me, as a future teacher, to be able to address such comments from my students and, in turn, help them understand why and how movies can either help or hinder the book’s original value and message. To help me prepare, I will compare a children’s film to the literary work that came from it.
Good leaders ensure the world continues to advance. In contrast, bad leaders allow cruelty to spread and are often over controlling, taking away the freedom of their people. Richard Adams’s Watership Down is a story about rabbits trying to establish a warren, a society. Hazel, the main character of the book, has been informed that his warren is in danger. He leads a group of rabbits to try and start a new warren in a better environment, away from peril. While trying to find this location, Hazel and his rabbits stumble upon another warren, Efrafa. The secretive warren is led by a fierce rabbit, General Woundwort. Though Hazel and General Woundwort are both leaders, they lead in two distinct ways. Hazel and General Woundwort are drastically different leaders because they take power in contrasting ways, have incongruent methods of leadership, and view their role as leader differently.
Translating a book into a movie can be a very elusive task for many reasons. This is due to the fact that a book has many key points in it and compressing them all into a certain time frame can be very arduous. Mark Forster’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is a rather weak portrayal of what the author had originally wrote because of its bad casting choices, very significant and harmful cuts to the novel and scenes added throughout the film. Although the director’s intention to recreate a very touching story into a movie was a great idea, the author could have given more attention to some crucial and important aspects of the novel.
In the short story, “The Boat” by Alistair Macleod, symbolism is used to represent an abstract idea. The boat, being a major symbol of the story was the way of life for the family. As the story goes on, the boat starts to make the family feel confined giving them a choice to leave or stay with the boat. There were symbols that impacted the story that had connection towards the boat. Chain bracelets, the father’s clothes, the books that the father read are all symbols that tied to the boat. The father's chain bracelets and clothes represent the father feeling trapped as a fisherman since he never changes out of them. We find out more about the characters and their personal connection with the boat and the other symbols and what it means to them. The family starts to fall apart due to the kids learning about the father’s books leading to them moving away from home. Symbolism is used when one thing is meant to represent something else adding meaning and emotion to the story which is well represented throughout the story.
The Patriot. A person who is willing to fight for their country against enemies. The Patriot begins in the year 1776 in the colony of South Carolina. Mel Gibson plays a planation farmer who fought in the French-Indian war named Benjamin Martin. A War was about to begin and Benjamin wanted no share partaking in the soon-to-be American Revolutionary War. He was more concerned about his two eldest sons who wanted to fight under General George Washington. The beginning of the movie starts out with Benjamin Martin peacefully living with his kids whom no longer have a living mother. Benjamin’s oldest son, Gabriel, joins the war without permission from his father. As the rest of the family are at home one afternoon, Colonel William Travington burns the Martin Plantation to the ground and his second oldest son was killed immediately for interrupting Travington’s plan. Benjamin finds a way to seek revenge because of the rage he experiences after his family is hurt. He begins to realize that he needs to fight for his children and he will not do it alone. Both Benjamin and his oldest son, Gabriel, decide to join the militia as a way of showing what they are capable of. Throughout the film, Benjamin Martin becomes a soldier whom others respect and admire. He shows the militia what it means to truly care for not only his men, but also for his family. As the film progresses, a turn of events take place that show Benjamin’s continued want of revenge against General Charles Cornwallis. The Continentals and the militia soon commence the battle at Cowpens. This is when Benjamin Martin meets his enemy, Travington, who murdered his two eldest sons. After a drawn-out battle, Benjamin stabs Travington in the neck and kills him for the sake of his children. It is then that General Cornwallis retreats his forces and the rest celebrate. Even though some portions of The Patriot aren’t as accurate as we perceive, it is a film full of war and despair, but also a film that contributes to the importance of dignity and the love for one’s family.
Glory is the story of Robert Gould Shaw and his command over the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, which was one of the first all-black active duty regiments in the Union Army in November of 1862. The movie speaks of Colonel (Col) Shaw’s bravery, his pride, his empathy and love for his Soldiers. Col Shaw himself was from a wealthy Boston family with parents who were influential abolitionists. At 23 years old, Robert Shaw dropped out of Harvard to be commissioned in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War of the States. This movie is based on a true story and the letters that Robert Shaw wrote home and in his personal journal are currently located in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. The movie is based on the factual accounts of these letters. The manner in which Robert Shaw led the 54th Infantry was a direct result of his first experience in combat; it was the Battle of Antietam (Maryland).
The Tuskegee Airmen movie was about the hardships that the first African American fighter pilots faced in the United States Army Air Corporation. This movie is based on a true story of how the African Americans pilots battled against racism and for equal rights. They became one of the greatest and fearless fighter pilot teams in the United States during World War II. Hannibal Lee is on a train ride to Tuskegee Air Base in Alabama. He meets two passengers, Walter and Leroi, who are going to join the 99th Fighter Squadron as fight cadets. One example of segregation occurs on the train because these three black airmen are forced to give up their seats for German prisoners because there was no more room to sit. Lieutenant Glenn was the first man they met when they got to Tuskegee. He was the man in charge along with other people in the unit. The people who were training to be cadets were African American, middle class and well educated men.
Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate.
Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?
The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.
The second attack is on a small boy in the sea at a crowded beach on
Released in 1975, Jaws was probably one of the best adventure, action, and suspense films of that era. Directed by Steven Spielberg with the following staring main cast members Roy Scheider as "Martin Bordy" (chief police officer), Richard Dreyfuss as "Matt Hooper" (marine biologist), Robert Shaw as "Quint" (local fisherman), Murray Hamilton as "Larry Vaughan" (town mayor). "Jaws" the movie, is not like any other any other fish story. The film is about a gigantic 26 foot shark that has an appetite for people; how horrifying is that? The unusual story takes place on the seasides' of Amity Island. When Chief Brody uncovers the partial body of a teenage girl with shark like bites, Chief Brody contacts a shark specialist to verify if the bite
The discussion of wether film adaptations are better than their novels is ongoing. Khaled Hosseni’s “The Kite Runner” was a New York Times bestseller that was better than the film made for it. Films have time constraints as a long novels must be fit within a 1-2 hour time frame. They have production issues as some scenes from the book are inappropriate for all viewers. Movies also need to target a range of audiences to become blockbuster hits, whereas, novels do not. Although directors strive to make novel-based films as closely related to the books as possible, inevitable distinctions continue to exist.
“The Mission” is a film that gives a historically accurate depiction of the events that took place in South America around 1750, displaying the jesuit missions and their attempt at expanding missionary ventures in the area. These missions foresaw the Jesuits going to uncharted areas of the jungle inhabited by the Guarani people, demonstrating the significance assimilating the Guarani people meant to the Jesuits. Additionally, the Guarani people were accurately displayed as a self-sustained society where basic components such as: productivity, protection, justice regulations and a form of a leader was evident in the form of their King. Nonetheless, the Guarani were an isolated group of individuals who were secluded to the outside world; their only contact with outside personnelles were slave traders who would put them into forced slavery for personal benefits. Not to mention the “Treaty of Madrid”, which resulted in the social and political disputes between the, Portuguese, Spanish and Catholic community; manifesting in the form of territorial conflicts and misunderstandings amongst the three vigorous societies, where each have a different purpose for the Guarani people.