I agree with Janet Maslin, writer of "Movie Review - Beloved - FILM REVIEW; No Peace From A Brutal Legacy", that the everyone that helped put this movie together was able to portray the feeling that times were hard and that people had to make sacrifices, so they could protect their loved ones. That people should read the book before watching the movie because even though depending how old you are it might be confusing. It is worth the effort to read the book and spending time reading passages over more than three times, because you are able to learn more about the characters that way. If you still are confused about the book by the end, the movie is a like a little review of what you have just read. A novel like this, thats very descriptive and makes the reader imagen in the head what is happening. It is better to watch the movie after so you can see how much description in a novel can really affect how much emotion and personality the actors have to have. After watching the movie you really notice the them of the novel which is when the supernatural and natural worlds meet, its can make people happy for a certain period of time but it does not specifically lead to happiness in life. I agree with Maslin, that because the movie begins calm and slow, it helps build the plot of the story . It leads to the reveal of the supernatural world as more dramatic and brings a lot of creativity to the film.(Maslin).
Maslin, Janet. "Movie Review - Beloved - FILM REVIEW; No
Peace From A Brutal Legacy - NYTimes.com."
Movie Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies -
New York Times - The New York Times. 16
Oct. 1998. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://movies.nytim
es.com/movie/reviewres=9405E4D813 3AF935A2
5753 C1A96E958260>.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Beloved ( reaction to the movie)
My first reaction to this movie is that it was very well planned out. What i mean is that they barely changed anything that occurred in the book, and unlike other book into movies, there where moments when i remembered that that was what the characters said exactly in the novel. It seemed less like you were being told a story because the director used a lot of point of view shots, making the person watching the movie feel as if they are one of the actors, and more connected to the movie. I noticed that the director played with the lighting a lot, for example when Paul D. first entered the house, the hall way emitted a flashing red like, which could symbolize evil or the devil during this scene. I really liked the movie better than the book because there were a lot of reaction shots and close-ups, so i was able to really see how each character felt during that scene. For me the novel seem as if it was trying to packed in a lot of information in just 300 pages, which made it a little confusing for me. However the movie, helped me understand those scenes because there were fades when Sethe would start to talk about the past, and about what had happened to her. I think that the actors really fit the characters personality especially the actress that played as Denver. I was able to understand Denver's emotion towards Beloved, and until i watched the movie i did not know that at the end Denver's emotion started to change about Beloved. But what surprised me the most was the actress for Beloved because i when i read the novel i did not think would be a crazy character as the one portrayed in the movie. However it gave a lot of emotion and life to the movie, and showed the awkwardness of Beloved. My favorite scene is when Denver is home with Beloved and she is leading her to the kitchen so that she could sit down and eat some bread. This is my favorite scene because the director uses a point of view shot, close up, reaction shot, and an over a shoulder shot, and also a tracking shot during this scene. These shots helps us see that Beloved looks like a grown teenager however she is like a baby who does not ever know how to even walk. We see that thats how Denver treats her, congratulating Beloved when she is able to walk to the chair. Overall i believe that this was one of the best book into movie films i have seen, and i felt like the director made ever thing fit together perfectly from the mood of the scene, to the selection of the song he uses, to the actors and the choice of shots he decides to use.
Beloved (Pgs 195-316)
Summary:Paul D. and Beloved stayed with Denver and Sethe at the house. Beloved would spend her days with Denver while Sethe was at work, playing games and being taken cared of by Denver. During dinner Beloved would ask questions about Sethe's past and about what happened to her family. One day when it was snowing out side and the river was just ice they decided to go skating on it each using on skate, or just sliding with their shoes. The entire time they could barely get anywhere without falling down, and when they tried to help each other up they would just fall down again and start bursting out laughing. They did this for a couple of hours until they decided to go back home and cover themselves with a blanket while drinking something hot, surrounding the fire. They sat on the kitchen floor just staring at the fire, quietly each deep in their own thoughts. Until Sethe noticed that there was someone that was humming. But what really caught her attention was that she was humming a song that she had made up, and only her and her children knew about the song. This is when Sethe eyes opened and noticed that the Beloved that was living at her house for weeks was not just a stranger that had the same name as her baby that she had killed long time about, but it was her baby that had came back to her in flesh as the age that she would be if she had never died. This changed the atmosphere in the house, Sethe became obsessed with Beloved, taking care of her feeding her treats and just loving her more than she could have. But all this love toward Beloved, meant that Denver was not being noticed that much anymore. Before all of this Denver was happy that her baby sister had came back to her however now she see that Beloved was not just loving her mother but slowly draining the life out of Sethe. Days passed and Sethe stopped going to work, and instead stayed home trying to please Beloved and keep her happy. While Beloved would just walk around the house and sleep anywhere she wanted to. Denver decides to get a job because they would starve to death if she did not. Other women from the community would also help by leaving a basket of eggs or food on the stump in front of the house. When the rest of the women in the community was informed by the ghost baby that was slowly killing Sethe they decided to try to get ride of her by going to the house with crosses and singing. When they did this Sethe and Beloved went outside and everyone say the naked beloved who had a stomach that was huge like she was pregnant. After Sethe fell into a hallucination and ran into the crowd of women with a ice pike in the air, with Denver running behind her trying to stop her mother from harming anyone. Beloved was left on the porch, and that was the first time she felt lonely and she started to scream to the point that she disappeared in thin air. After this happened Sethe could not leave her bed and Paul. D came back to visit her and told her that he still loved her. The novel ends with their life going back to how it use to be without Beloved and now with Denver having her own job and people communicating with their family again. However the incident with Beloved was never spoken of again as if it was just all just a bad dream.
Quote: "When the click came Sethe didn't know what it was. Afterward it was clear as daylight that the click came at the very beginning- a beat, almost, before it started; before she heard three notes; before the melody was even clear". (Morrison 202).
Reaction:
When i read this quote, i kind of yelled in my head thank you because i believed that it took Sethe a really long time to notice that Beloved was her dead baby that came back to life. And it was one of the things that really aggravated me during the story because how could you not noticed that she had the same name as her dead baby. I think that this was a great way that Toni Morrison made Sethe see the truth about who Beloved really was because when she started to talk about the clicking noise i thought about the click of a light switch. But after reading that passage over a couple more times, i thought the clicking noise could also resemble the crackling of the fire that they were sitting infront of. So the noise can be viewed more than one way. Even though i thought that it would have been better if Sethe seen who Beloved really was earlier in the story, it might have caused the book to be shorter and less interesting. Because by waiting till near the end for Sethe to find out about Beloved, it makes the reader want to read the book and find out what Sethe reaction is.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Beloved (Pgs 102-192)
Summary:
While they were outside someone started to choke Sethe and she thought is was Baby Suggs but the thing was that she was dead. Almost being choked to deaf she had believed that Paul D. was a blessing to he and Denver because thins started to change. Denver knew that it was Beloved who choked her mother but she kept on denying it. One night Beloved forced Paul D to have sex with her when he said he did not want to do it but by the time he knew it her shirt was off. He was screaming loud enough that Denver would hear or even Sethe. Beloved had a unusual love towards Sethe that she even said that she loved Sethe more than Sethe loved her. When Denver and Beloved was outside Denver started to cry uncontrollably because she thought that Beloved and left her and had gone back. While they were talking Paul D and Sethe decided on havoc a baby and he started staying at the house with the girls. But Beloved was becoming jealous and did not want him to stay at the house. After this the novel keeps on going back to when Baby Suggs was still alive. We find out she got her name from her husband And how she had reach 124. Paul D. saw how Sethe had changed and how she had love in her life and how she viewed things differently
Quote: "You got two feet, Sethe, not four". (Morrison 192 ).
Reaction:
When I first read this quote that was said by Paul D. I did not understand what he was talking about so I had to read it over twice. After reading it one more time I believed that Paul D. Was calling Sethe an animal because a person hade two legs and an animal have four legs. But he was trying to tell her that she is not an animal and what she did with her boys was a decision that she had to make. But I think that if he was trying to tell her that she is bot an animal that it was a very nice way. Without comparing the difference with her with an animal.
While they were outside someone started to choke Sethe and she thought is was Baby Suggs but the thing was that she was dead. Almost being choked to deaf she had believed that Paul D. was a blessing to he and Denver because thins started to change. Denver knew that it was Beloved who choked her mother but she kept on denying it. One night Beloved forced Paul D to have sex with her when he said he did not want to do it but by the time he knew it her shirt was off. He was screaming loud enough that Denver would hear or even Sethe. Beloved had a unusual love towards Sethe that she even said that she loved Sethe more than Sethe loved her. When Denver and Beloved was outside Denver started to cry uncontrollably because she thought that Beloved and left her and had gone back. While they were talking Paul D and Sethe decided on havoc a baby and he started staying at the house with the girls. But Beloved was becoming jealous and did not want him to stay at the house. After this the novel keeps on going back to when Baby Suggs was still alive. We find out she got her name from her husband And how she had reach 124. Paul D. saw how Sethe had changed and how she had love in her life and how she viewed things differently
Quote: "You got two feet, Sethe, not four". (Morrison 192 ).
Reaction:
When I first read this quote that was said by Paul D. I did not understand what he was talking about so I had to read it over twice. After reading it one more time I believed that Paul D. Was calling Sethe an animal because a person hade two legs and an animal have four legs. But he was trying to tell her that she is not an animal and what she did with her boys was a decision that she had to make. But I think that if he was trying to tell her that she is bot an animal that it was a very nice way. Without comparing the difference with her with an animal.
Beloved (Pgs 9-101)
Summary:
Sethe and her daughter were left alone after her two brothers ran away, her mother in law recently died and her baby girl Beloved also died by getting it's throat cut. Paul D comes to visit Sethe and hears the bad news that Baby Suggs her mother in law had been for nine years. When he enter the house he felt a sudden rush of grief and though it was from Baby Suggs's deaf however it was cause of Beloved. After a while Denver starts to cry and then Sethe. Paul D comforts Sethe by going up to the room while they left Denver at the porch. Before Paul D moved to the house Denver was told the story when he mother was pregnant and meet a woman named Amy that was looking for velvet. Denver tells her mother that she saw something in white next to her while she prayed. Denver tells her that the baby which is a ghost has plans. She believed that no one appreciated the ghost company, but it didn't matter cause it was gone. However Sethe was being haunted by the death and runaways that had occurred in her family. Paul D had a feeling that there was something wrong with Denver but Sethe believed she was fine. Paul D and Denver got into an argument however it ended with all three of them planing to go the the carnival. After the carnival they found a girl named Beloved who was around her twenties,near the house they had offered her to stay with them, until she knew where se\he was going to be heading off to. Paul D believed that she acted sick but didn't look sick at all. But she just reminded Sethe of her dead baby. Beloved stayed with them for days asking Sethe questions and listening to her stories. This lead to Denver not understanding how Beloved knew so much about her mother. Denver knew the truth about Beloved being her dead baby sister but she was going to tell her mother the truth.
Quote: " 'Good God.' He backed out the door onto the porch. 'What kind of evil you got in here?' ". (Morrison 15).
Reaction:
This quote was said by Paul D. When he took his shoes and was entering his house. this quote was random for me because i would have not thought that you would be able to sense evil or any presence of something that is dead. This made me think that ghost and spirts are a big part of their bveliefs. I think that it is not a presence of evil but on that is caring. Because the ghost is the only thing that is there that is part of them and that hasnt left them and to them they dont feel it as evil. Paul D. might of felt it as something evil because it might be protecting Sethe and Denver from the world. Also i dont think its an evil ghost because when the baby died it would have known what it was going on. I believe that it doesnt even know how it had died but i believe that there is an important reason why it is still haunting them.
Sethe and her daughter were left alone after her two brothers ran away, her mother in law recently died and her baby girl Beloved also died by getting it's throat cut. Paul D comes to visit Sethe and hears the bad news that Baby Suggs her mother in law had been for nine years. When he enter the house he felt a sudden rush of grief and though it was from Baby Suggs's deaf however it was cause of Beloved. After a while Denver starts to cry and then Sethe. Paul D comforts Sethe by going up to the room while they left Denver at the porch. Before Paul D moved to the house Denver was told the story when he mother was pregnant and meet a woman named Amy that was looking for velvet. Denver tells her mother that she saw something in white next to her while she prayed. Denver tells her that the baby which is a ghost has plans. She believed that no one appreciated the ghost company, but it didn't matter cause it was gone. However Sethe was being haunted by the death and runaways that had occurred in her family. Paul D had a feeling that there was something wrong with Denver but Sethe believed she was fine. Paul D and Denver got into an argument however it ended with all three of them planing to go the the carnival. After the carnival they found a girl named Beloved who was around her twenties,near the house they had offered her to stay with them, until she knew where se\he was going to be heading off to. Paul D believed that she acted sick but didn't look sick at all. But she just reminded Sethe of her dead baby. Beloved stayed with them for days asking Sethe questions and listening to her stories. This lead to Denver not understanding how Beloved knew so much about her mother. Denver knew the truth about Beloved being her dead baby sister but she was going to tell her mother the truth.
Quote: " 'Good God.' He backed out the door onto the porch. 'What kind of evil you got in here?' ". (Morrison 15).
Reaction:
This quote was said by Paul D. When he took his shoes and was entering his house. this quote was random for me because i would have not thought that you would be able to sense evil or any presence of something that is dead. This made me think that ghost and spirts are a big part of their bveliefs. I think that it is not a presence of evil but on that is caring. Because the ghost is the only thing that is there that is part of them and that hasnt left them and to them they dont feel it as evil. Paul D. might of felt it as something evil because it might be protecting Sethe and Denver from the world. Also i dont think its an evil ghost because when the baby died it would have known what it was going on. I believe that it doesnt even know how it had died but i believe that there is an important reason why it is still haunting them.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
My Lost and Found Life (Pgs 244-312)
Summary:
Ashley and Patrick go out to ear again before he leaves Thursday. After a night out she spends three nights with Patrick. She kisses him goodbye and just like that her romance with Patrick is over and he goes to Ireland. However her thoughts are not about Patrick instead about her mother. For thanksgiving she goes to Gloria's house and the only thing she can think about is missing her mother and wanting to hear her voice again. When getting gas she meets up with Cindy, Nicole's mother, and finds out that she is going out with Phil and that she is the reason why she is staying in the camper. Ashley goes back to Gloria's house to get some money from the cabinet in the garage. While searching she does not find the money and tells Gloria. For Christmas Ashley goes to Earl's house and spends it with his grandchildren and his daughter. One day at the coffee house a crazy comes in and lights the coffee house on fire and Ashley has to rush and get everyone out. She finds out that Jerry and the crazy man dies during the fire and is in shock. She denies that she is not okay and goes back to the camper. Few days pass by and she starts to get sick to the point that one day Earl had to call Strobel, a cop that was keeping an eye on he since her mother disappeared. She is sent to the hospital and gets many visits from Mal, Nicole, and from Gloria. After a while staying at Glora's she finds an apartment with two girls, gets a new job at a restaurant and starts to take classes at City College. While everything seemed like it was going great Strobel comes to her with news that her mother is dead and was found near Curtis's cabin and that she might have been there for a year and Boone had ever noticed. Gloria plans to arrange a funeral and a few people attend. Life goes on but Ashley promised herself that she would never forget that her mother did it all because she loved her that she would risk her job and that all that mattered was the future.
Quote: "There's no one to call". (Bowsher 273).
Reaction:
This quote was said by Ashley when she was asked if she wanted them to call someone. I think that this was a very power moment in the novel because Ashley all of a sudden realized that she was all alone. Even though she already knew this but she had a epiphany that her mother was not going to be there for her or anyone else because people believed that it was cause of her that her mother stole all that money. I also think that this was foreshadowing because she is saying that she has no one to call, which could mean that her mother never came back. As we see her mother doesn't come back because she dies before anyone was able to find her. When I read this quote I could not see myself in that situation having no one to call during a horrible event like that. I think that if she did not get help that she would have been in a depressed state because a lot of things were going wrong in her life and this would just be another load for her to handle.
Ashley and Patrick go out to ear again before he leaves Thursday. After a night out she spends three nights with Patrick. She kisses him goodbye and just like that her romance with Patrick is over and he goes to Ireland. However her thoughts are not about Patrick instead about her mother. For thanksgiving she goes to Gloria's house and the only thing she can think about is missing her mother and wanting to hear her voice again. When getting gas she meets up with Cindy, Nicole's mother, and finds out that she is going out with Phil and that she is the reason why she is staying in the camper. Ashley goes back to Gloria's house to get some money from the cabinet in the garage. While searching she does not find the money and tells Gloria. For Christmas Ashley goes to Earl's house and spends it with his grandchildren and his daughter. One day at the coffee house a crazy comes in and lights the coffee house on fire and Ashley has to rush and get everyone out. She finds out that Jerry and the crazy man dies during the fire and is in shock. She denies that she is not okay and goes back to the camper. Few days pass by and she starts to get sick to the point that one day Earl had to call Strobel, a cop that was keeping an eye on he since her mother disappeared. She is sent to the hospital and gets many visits from Mal, Nicole, and from Gloria. After a while staying at Glora's she finds an apartment with two girls, gets a new job at a restaurant and starts to take classes at City College. While everything seemed like it was going great Strobel comes to her with news that her mother is dead and was found near Curtis's cabin and that she might have been there for a year and Boone had ever noticed. Gloria plans to arrange a funeral and a few people attend. Life goes on but Ashley promised herself that she would never forget that her mother did it all because she loved her that she would risk her job and that all that mattered was the future.
Quote: "There's no one to call". (Bowsher 273).
Reaction:
This quote was said by Ashley when she was asked if she wanted them to call someone. I think that this was a very power moment in the novel because Ashley all of a sudden realized that she was all alone. Even though she already knew this but she had a epiphany that her mother was not going to be there for her or anyone else because people believed that it was cause of her that her mother stole all that money. I also think that this was foreshadowing because she is saying that she has no one to call, which could mean that her mother never came back. As we see her mother doesn't come back because she dies before anyone was able to find her. When I read this quote I could not see myself in that situation having no one to call during a horrible event like that. I think that if she did not get help that she would have been in a depressed state because a lot of things were going wrong in her life and this would just be another load for her to handle.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
My Lost and Found Life (Pgs 186-243)
Summary:
After a rough night sleeping in the damp camper, Ashley yelled at Jerry for snapping her bra, as a joke. She also called on him for always starring at her and always watching what she is doing. She embarrassed him to the point that Jerry leaves the coffee house. Mal her boss who is also gay, agreed with what she told Jerry. however he told her that she should try not to make everyone run away from the cafe because they need costumers. While Mal was doing one of his usual routines, which was talking to Patrick, Ashley was listening to their conversation. Without an invite she entered the conversation and told them some very good advice in Mal's perspective about relationships. This conversation was able to show the reader that even though Patrick was six years older than Ashley she had a thing for Patrick, and the feelings were mutual. After a long day at work she went to the camper and fell asleep. The next minute she heard banging at her door and thought it was a robber. Waiting for five minutes in the silent camper she went to check on Earl. She found him on the floor blending so she called the ambulance and Phil. So for the night she went to Gloria's house and slept in her car for the night and left early in the morning. Later that day she rented a room to sleep in and got reacquainted with Tattie. Who had quit her job because she got sick of old men looking at her naked body for money. While at a book store she meet Patrick who was so amazed that he would find her reading. She left the bookstore and he followed behind her, after walking with each other for a while they decided to go get a cup of coffee to drink. While drinking coffee they started to talk about their lives, and find out that they both like movies and plan to go to the movies latter that week. When they meet up to go to the movies they make more plans with each other and Ashley finds out that he was going back to Ireland. So they plan to spend a weekend together at his friends cabin. That is when Patrick finds out that Ashley is six years younger than him but Ashley did not care because that was the best time she had since her mother left her.
Quote:
"No, he couldn't have known you were there." (Bowser 205 ).
Reaction:
This quote was said by Earl to Ashley when she went to go see if he was okay after the robbery. When i read this quote, and image of someone going to Ashley's camper popped in my head. For a while I thought that the person that went to her camper was her mother. I thought this because if it wasn't the robber then it would be someone that Ashley knew. And if it was the robber i think that he would have been more aggressive. Would had broken the lock to get into the camper. But how it was described in the book, it felt as if someone was trying to warn Ashley that something was wrong instead of trying to steal her stuff. It was part of the book that i thought that her mother had come back for her daughter and was going to bring her with her. But instead the reader just does not know who the mystery person is. I believe that by the end of the novel we will find out who the stranger was by the end of the novel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)