PROMPT #4
Final Assignment
Due Saturday, August 19, 2017
Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to. See the instructions on my homework page for details about what your response should include and look like in order to receive full credit.
Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to. See the instructions on my homework page for details about what your response should include and look like in order to receive full credit.
A. There is no film version of A Prayer for Owen Meany. It was attempted once, but during filming, John Irving pulled his name and the title when he saw that the story being made had begun to drift too far from what he had written. Now that you have had time to think about the story and its characters, what would you identify as some of the challenges this book might present to filmmakers wanting to translate it onto the big screen? Are there particular actors you could imagine in certain roles? Which scenes or parts of the book do you think could be cut, if they had to be, in order to turn the book into a movie? If you were writing the screenplay, are there any events you would change to make the story "better" or more appealing to a wide audience?
B. Choose one literary device used by John Irving and describe its effect on the work as a whole. (symbolism, point of view, allegory, style, dialogue, etc.) Give several examples of Irving's use of the device, and explain how its use adds to the reader's experience of the story, and/or how its absence or alteration would change that experience.
Prompt A, Zoe Downs
ReplyDeleteFor starters, one of the biggest challenges that'd be presented in translating the book to film would be how the events are presented in the novel. Directors seem to not understand this very well, but pacing is very important in most forms of storytelling, and in the book there are a few things that are very gradually revealed to be signs of Owen's otherworldly knowledge and to be symbols, such as the dressmaker's dummy, the armadillo's claws, and Mary's missing head and arms. Another serious problem would be the religious theme. I'm not saying that it couldn't be done, but I couldn't very easily see a big studio offering a huge budget for a film like this without toning down the prophetic messages; which, in my opinion, would detract from the film's experience entirely.
Speaking of toning things down, I do believe that in terms of scenes that would have to be glossed over or cut entirely would be the themes of incest between Hester and John in their early childhood. Yikes, could you even imagine the outcry that sort of thing would have? I do believe that implying that sort of thing would be okay if you were to do it subtly enough, but otherwise I think it would distract modern audiences.
Most of the chapters in this book are necessary in order to understand the ending properly, but one chapter I would at least partially skip through/omit would be the Christmas Carol scene. Most of the characters there in my opinion are mainly there for worldbuilding, Dan and Owen being the exceptions. The entire thing just kind of drags on for a bit before finally getting to the point --- that being that Owen sees the date of his death. This is the one thing that the chapter builds up to, and the rest I kind of regarded as filler.
Otherwise, if the filmmakers were to make this movie and follow their own guildelines, I'd think they'd do a fine job as long as they listened to the author. It's important to make sure that there aren't conflicting visions in such an important film adaptation.
Jesse Gehman
ReplyDeletePrompt A
In a book, a bunch of words and sentences tell a story, while in a movie, the story is told through moving images. A book can be as long or short as it wants to be, but a movie is only one and a half to two and a half hours long, with the occasional four hour long movie. In the book A Prayer for Owen Meany, the writer describes different aspects of his life. If a movie was made of the book, it would probably remove a bunch of the scenes first off because the story is really long; 617 pages. Also, in a story, it can detail what a person is thinking and their inner struggle. This is hard to translate into onscreen actions, although it is not impossible. If I were in charge of turning this epic story into a motion picture, I would not include any of the references to s*x, such as the beetle skins; I would also minimize the showing of beating amongst characters, especially Hester; and I'd minimize the showing of Hester throwing up and doing some not so great things. When I say I'd minimize, I don't mean in entirety. I would see about minimizing the part about lust. I wouldn't show in depth the scene where Owen cuts off John's finger so he doesn't have to go to Vietnam. I would also minimize the rhetoric against Ronald Reagan. I would make the imagery of the different eras as accurate as possible. I don't have any idea for what famous actor would play who. Another setback for it becoming a film would be the subject of religion. Owen does not like Catholics, neither do I, but catholics might want to watch the movie. In our current era, there is the worry of offensiveness and political correctness junk. Also, in the movie, there wouldn't be so much cursing and profanity, such as the headmaster yelling "Jesus F**king Christ!" Maybe the story would have a narrator, similar to Forrest Gump, along with sharing a few other qualities with the classic. Another thing, It might prove difficult to most properly show Owen Meany. For one thing, one of his major attributes is his "unique" voice. Also it might be a challenge to correctly show his other worldliness. Even though there would be hurdles and obstacles, this classic story would make a very great movie in my opinion.
A lot of the important details from the book are hard to show on camera, it’s more of an imagnation thing. For example Owen Meany was unnatural in size and in his voice. The directors would have had to cast a child play his part, but Owen was not a child throughout the book. Another thing is “the shot”. It woud have been very difficult for two actors learn to do the shot in under three seconds, so that would have ruined the whole ending. Also, the book skips around a lot with flashbacks when John was little, to when he is older in Toronto, and that is very difficult to show throughout a movie without it being confusing. I could not imagine any actors taking on any parts in this book, I believe they would not live up to the readers expectations. I think a lot of the scenes in Toronto would be cut because no action happens in those scenes, and again it would be confusing to the audience. They most likely would have to cut out a lot more too because of how long of a book it is. If I was writing the screenplay I don’t think I could change anything about the book. I think John Irving did a good job telling the story and I would not want to change his work. The only thing I would even consider changing is how John ends up alone. I think he should find someone inToronto because he doesn’t have anyone anymore besides Dan, who doesn't live near him anymore. He lost his mom, his best friend, and his grandmother and I don’t think he deserves to be alone.
ReplyDeletePrompt A.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be very hard to capture everything that makes the book so unique. It would especially be hard to find someone to match Owen's voice and image. I can't think of an actor that would do the part justice. I don't think this movie would come across as the truly magical piece of art work that it truly is if it was a cartoon. I think the only way it would work as a cartoon was if it was the same style as the "Little Prince". That movie is animated, but the way it is done makes it seem like it isn't animated. I think that making it animated would take away from the message because the characters would be made ridiculous and they'd make Owen look goofy. I think it would be hard to cut parts of the book. You can't cut the grandmother because she was so close with Owen. John's mother and Dan were also important people. I think you can get rid of mentioning the aunt and uncle too much, but they will need to be there a little because of Hester. If it was made a show instead of a movie you would be able to get more detail involved, but after you finished the book things would be changed just to keep they story alive. Another thing that would be made too ridiculous is the Nativity play. Yes it was a disaster, but I feel like it would be too over the top if adapted into a movie. Also the Christmas Carol play was dragged out, but needed because it was the first time Owen saw the day he'd died.
The one actor I can see as John is Freddie Highmore. He seems to always have the laid back personality that is needed and the slight curiosity about his father. He had the innocence that is needed, but can act mature too. I think Jessica Lange could be the grandmother because she can be uppity but also caring.
Making this book into a movie or show would take away the true beauty and magic of this novel. Hollywood would not take the book as serious as it needs to be. The characters would be obscure, some scenes would be ruined or deleted, and the magic would be lost. Some books shouldn't be made into movies because they are too good. If someone really wants to hear the story of Owen Meany they must read the book. If they can't do that then I guess they'll never know him or why he's such a miracle.
Prompt B
ReplyDeleteThe first symbol was the stuffed armadillo. A present from Dan to John, that both Owen and John adored. After Tabitha's death, Owen gives John his baseball cards. John returns the cards and also gives Owen the armadillo. Before Owen returns the armadillo, he removes its claws. In a way this would make the animal armless or defenseless. The armadillo symbolized Owen and John's friendship. It was something that meant a lot to both of them and they truly bonded over it.
Another symbol was Tabby's dummy, which was also armless. The dummy was just like Tabitha. Owen and John used to dress up the dummy and make new outfits for Tabby. However that's not the only thing Owen had experienced with that dummy. One night Owen slept over and wandered into Tabitha's room and thought the dummy was an Angel of Death. Later on Owen killed Tabby and might have felt less guilty because he stopped the Angel of Death but still killed Tabby.
The baseball that Owen hit is also a symbol. The baseball was the instrument of Death. Owen had a passion for baseball and collected many cards but that one baseball that hit Tabitha change his whole love for the game. Even the crack from hitting the baseball with the bat effected Owen and John.
Mary Magdalene's statue is the last symbol. Owen steals this statue and cuts off its head and arms. I think the statue was suppose to symbolize Tabby in a way because he saws off her head and that's how Tabby died, the baseball to the head.
The symbolism throughout the story helps the reader stay interested and gives them something to focus on. All these symbols truly add to the experience of this book because, for me, it reminded of what had happened and foreshadowed the future.
A filmmakers job is to turn a story into a movie that will be more appealing to audiences. I feel as though the writers may change or tone down the religious side to the story, which plays a huge part considering Owen is a thought to be descendant of God. They also might have to cut out some parts of the story that large groups of viewers may find offensive, for example, the weird preteen relationship between cousins, Hester and John. I think it would be extremely difficult to cast some of the characters in the movie. No one was quite like Owen Meany and it would be almost impossible to cast someone with the look and definitely impossible to find someone with Owen's voice. Another thing that would also be really hard to portray would be the relationships between the characters. John and Owen had a special friendship and I don't think my actor could do that justice. A movie is usually between an hour and a half to 3 hours long so fitting every piece of this book into that amount of time is basically impossible. Instead of going back and forth between John's older years and his years with Owen, the movie should just really focus mostly on those with Owen with a few flash forwards, but still be narrated by the older John in the book. The Christmas play could be made a shorter scene because that part of the story dragged on. It could just show the more important parts like when Owen sees the date of his death. I feel as though some viewers may not understand the amputee symbolism in the movie. At the end of the movie the narrator may have to explain how the armadillo's claws, the armless totem, Lydia's leg, John's finger, and finally the armless Owen were a symbol for the the important loss they noticed. At the end of the movie there should be a part where Owen reaches out to John and shows him that he's watching over him or John finds the armadillo when going through old things and pictures game they used to play. The ending should have some sort of closure for the audience and shows that John isn't alone and him and Owen will always be together.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest challenges translating this book to film would be how much information is presented in the book. There are many scenes in the book and a decent amount of the book would have to be cut in order to make the movie a understandable length, such as the flashbacks everything would have to be placed in order so that the viewers could understand the story properly. Although removing the flashbacks would take away a huge part of the plot and story which would drastically ruin the story. Also i would say that finding a character for Owen would be extremely hard, he would have to be very short and have an incredibly high voice.
ReplyDelete