The majority of our time in class has been spent with Death of a Salesman, more specifically the film version. I was honestly rather surprised that we spent so much time going over the movie and so little (in comparison, at least) time going over the actual text. Perhaps it just felt that way to me because I dislike the movie more. Either way, it was really quite interesting to compare the two, as we spent several days doing. I hadn't realized there'd been any changes made at all until I read the book as the movie played in the background. It certainly gave me some respect for the filmmakers. I had assumed cutting out text would be fairly easy, but reading the text with that in mind made me realize how much every line counted. Cutting even a single line took away from the conflicts and characterization. I suspect it's mostly because of its form as a play. It's meant to be acted out, so fluff is just a waste of the audience's time.
The rest of our time has been spent reading Hamlet aloud. I am extremely glad Mrs. Holmes is here for this. Typically, out-loud readings of Shakespeare's plays are nothing but painful in highschool classes. Nobody knows how to pronounce his abbreviations, everyone is so confused with their words that adding any actual spirit or voice is impossible, and we're bombarded with new, complex information at such a fast rate that actually comprehending it is a mammoth task best reserved for later readings. Mrs. Holmes has made the "comprehending" part a lot easier. Frustratingly, I'm still baffled by some of the language, and her explanations make everything fall into place. She's also added a lot to the characters, which I found rather flat before. Polonius is my favorite.
I'm looking forward to reading more of the play. While I don't doubt that it's brilliant, I've heard so much about it and it's been referenced so many times that I have to wonder what about it makes it so memorable. Hopefully we can find out.
Hi Madaleine! Great post, I agree that the Death of a Salesman movie was not my favorite, but it was interesting to see how they made the play into a movie. When you are talking about how you compare the movie and play maybe you could give some examples of this as opposed to just stating that you compared them. This way when you look back on the post you will remember more about the play. I have to disagree with you, I don't like Polonius at all, I think him to be selfish and conniving. However, I enjoyed reading Hamlet, and as you said, Ms. Holmes' explanations are helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about DoS. I felt like we went over the movie way too much, when the text would have been a better source to look at. The text was the original source to start with, so I felt that looking at the symbols and messages it gave would be better than looking at an adaptation and just looking for differences.
ReplyDeleteGood point about Hamlet as well. I like having things explained by Ms. Holmes, but I feel like we go overboard sometimes. For example, something that can be explained in a minute or two takes five or ten. Not exactly productive.
I definitely think that reading DoS would reveal a lot more information than watching the movie. A lot of important lines are mumbled by characters or just ignored.
ReplyDeleteI just want Holmesy to read ALL THE PARTS, but in different voices. Hamlet would become so much more amazing. While Holmesy was explaining each scene, I would scribble those notes on sticky-notes. She just knows so much about Hamlet that it scares me.
What else did we cover? What do these texts remind you of? How do they connect to previous course concepts/other courses/the world outside out doors?
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