Honors Adaptation: Reminders & Talking Points

Reminders:
1) Bring Being There novella to class with two passages marked about television.
2) Read "The Wisdom of Eve" and find two passages that highlight the narrator's personality or tone.
3) Start reading ahead in Ghost World and find two places where important information is presented in a mainly visual way.
4) Continue reading The Long Goodbye and find three passages that paint word pictures.



Talking Points: Being There
1) What does the movie's walking-on-water ending mean?
2) Is this a political novella and/or movie?
3) What does the title mean?
4) Different characters see different things in Chance. How does each character see him?

Honors Adaptation: Reminders & Talking Points

Reminders:
1) Bring A Room with a View (the novel) to class with 3 passages marked about a character or characters.
2) As you read Being There, mark two passages that say something about television.

Talking Points: A Room with a View
1) Who is the hero of A Room with a View?
2) What themes does the novel explore that are not explored (or only touched on) in the film?
3) How is the Mr. Beebe of the novel different from the Mr. Beebe of the film?
4) How does music figure in both the novel and the film?

Honors Adaptation: Talking Points & Reminders

Talking Points:
1) How are the characters in the movie Stagecoach different from the characters in the short story "Stage to Lordsburg"?
2) Who is your favorite character in each version? Who is the most interesting character in each version?
3) What's going on with the banker in the movie?

Reminders:
1) Bring your text to class.
2) Find 2 passages in "Stage to Lordsburg" in which information is revealed indirectly.
3) Finish reading A Room With a View and find 3 passages that highlight a character or characters.
4) As you read Being There, find 2 passages that make statements about TV.

Honors Adaptation: Reminders & Talking Points

Reminders:
1) Bring your Adaptations text with you on 5/20.
2) Have 2 passages marked in "Bringing Up Baby" that highlight the couple's relationship.
3) Continue reading A Room With a View, finding 3 passages that tell you something about a character or characters.
4) Read "Stage to Lordsburg" and mark 2 passages that present information indirectly.

Talking Points: Bringing Up Baby
1) Where do you see evidence of the "screwball comedy" spirit in the film version?
2) Which is more romantic: The short story or the film? Why?
3) What are the similarities between the short story & the film?
4) Which version do you prefer?

Honors Adaptation: First Class Meeting

Great first class meeting!

Reminders
1) As it says in your syllabus: Find two passages in the short story "Bringing Up Baby" that highlight the couple's relationship.
2) We'll be talking about the short story & film Rear Window on Wednesday, so be sure to bring your text with you.

Talking Points for Wednesday's discussion:
1) What are the differences between film & short story of Rear Window?
2) What is the short story about (thematically)?
3) What is the movie about (thematically)?
4) How is the music in the movie distinctive?

The Great Gatsby: Review

Well, old sport, Gatsby isn't great, but it could have been a lot worse. The first half, with the flashy parties and all, is sort of fun. Leo is a convincingly romantic presence in the title role and Carey Mulligan, as Daisy, is as fresh as one (and also lazily sinister, which is right for the character). Tobey Maguire is the observer/narrator Nick Carraway. He reads some of Fitzgerald's prose in voice-overs, but his quiet monotone (which has been surprisingly effective at other times) doesn't begin to do those lovely words justice. (Did I mention that Gatsby is my favorite novel?) The biggest problem is the last 45 minutes or so. There's some violence in the novel, which Fitzgerald handles swiftly and elegantly. Of course, the movie's director, Baz Luhrmann, really milks that section for its melodramatic potential. Yuck! Still, he sometimes achieves something striking. Call it The Occasionally Almost Good Gatsby.  

Iron Man 3

Too bad about Iron Man 3. I mean, it certainly seems to be popular. But I found it disappointing, and I've been liking pretty much all the "official" Marvel movies since the first Iron Man. I think the problem is that the "pros" are starting to take over. By "pros," I mean a guy like Shane Black, who directed the new Iron Man. He was a writer on the Lethal Weapon  series, which was also popular and also pretty tedious overall. Pros like Black know how to make super-violent action flicks that appeal to a certain kind of moviegoer, but they lack the light touch (and an understanding of the distinctive appeal of comic books) that guys like Jon Favreau (who directed the first two Iron Mans) or Joss Whedon (The Avengers) has. Has anyone noticed, for example, that IM3 is basically a zombie movie? Yes, Ben Kingsley is great in this film in a totally unexpected way. Yes, there are a few other nice touches. (The post-credits gag isn't bad.) But there's about an hour in there that's a long, dispiriting slog. I hope that Black is the first and last of the pros to get a hold of a modern superhero movie, but somehow I doubt it.