My Adaptation of "You're Ugly, Too"

PLOT

If I were to adapt "You're Ugly, Too" into a film, I would elaborate more on the individual scenes of Zoe's life. From the book, it is difficult to understand her relationships with her students, co-workers, doctors, and friends because we do not personally witness those common relationships when reading the short story. For example, I would want some sort of display of her every day life. I would want to see Zoe at her house in the morning and when she picks up her morning coffee on the way to work, and Zoe in the classroom interacting with her students. I want to see Zoe go home and make a TV dinner for herself while she laughs, alone, watching the pathetic lives of people on reality television shows. Also, I want to see her with her sister Evan, and how they communicate with one another. By showing their relationship through actions, the audience can see if it is a love-hate, sisterly relationship, or if it is more similar to being best friends or complete enemies. Towards the end of the story, there is a scene where Zoe is at a party and interacts with a man named Earl. Instead of ending the film at this scene, I would want to extend the movie to show Zoe leaving the party, heading home, and being comfortable with her life. I do not want some elaborate romantic relationship because Zoe seems to be happy when she is alone, and changing that would mean I was changing Zoe as a character. If the film were to be adopted, I would be sure to leave her personality unchanged.

SETTING

Similar as to what I said earlier, I would want Zoe to be active in several locations throughout the movie. I enjoy the modern time period because it fits Zoe as an independent character. However, I think I would change her location in the story. I want her to live in a suburban community in New York. By doing this, it would show Zoe being content with a less-glamorous life, and satisfaction towards the home she has made for herself. I would want a setting at her home, in the garden attempting to tend to her yard, at school where she interacts with her students, in the city with her sister, at the movies, and at the party where she meets Earl. Also, I want a few scenes where she is in the doctor's office. Throughout the short story, Zoe occasionally speaks of her illness, but we are never fully-informed. I want to see how she handles her illness and how she handles the news from her doctors. Having her in the doctor's office means that we are able to physically see the reaction on her face when she receives the news.

POINT OF VIEW

For the film, I would want first-person point of view in which Zoe narrates the film. I want her thoughts to become words, so that the audience can understand her reasoning behind her actions and her statements. Personally, I found her actions to be humorous; therefore, I am almost positive that her thoughts which develop those actions are more amusing. Also, I think that having her narrate the film would be mean that we would get to see Zoe as a more complex person. Although we occassionally see her emotional side, such as the scene where she decides not to tell Evan of the suicide, I want to see more of her serious side. I want to know if she feels lonely, and if she does, does it bother her. I do not necessarily want to provoke sympathy towards Zoe as a character, I just want people to understand the thoughts that process inside her head, instead of developing theories on their own. I know, an imaginitive audience is not a bad thing, but I really love Zoe and I want others to enjoy her, too.

Characterization

When adapting “You’re Ugly, Too” into a film, I would use indirect characterization to reveal the personality behind the main character, Zoe. Her eccentric behavior could not reasonably be described without demonstration. Her actions have to speak as a description of her character. However, the film would be narrated in Zoe’s point of view, so naturally the audience would hear her thoughts aloud which would also help reveal Zoe’s character. When she is interacting with others, I want her to tell jokes and be sarcastic, but I do not want her to sound bitter when telling the jokes, but light-hearted. I want to portray Zoe as a woman who is content with being alone. I do not want others to misinterpret her character, thinking that she is a bitter lady with resentment towards love utterly because she is lonely. Therefore, I would be sure to enhance the scene where Zoe tells Earl her feelings toward love. I want her explanation of love to look as if it is directed toward him because he hurt her feelings for calling out the piece of toilet paper on her face. I do not want her to look as if she is saying such pessimistic things because she really feels love is this terrible thing. Never will Zoe look desperate in my film, but rather, independent.

Theme

Throughout the film, there would be aspects of women independence. This is the reason I think I am so fond of the short story. I love that Zoe overcomes the frequent stereotypes where women are inferior to men, and women are these sappy, love-obsessed people. She is the antagonist of dependability. She tends to her home and her yard, when yard work is often seen as a man’s job. She provides for herself, and she does not rely on a man to make her happy. Independence would be the theme I would try to portray the most. Also, I want the audience to be aware of strength when dealing with difficulties. Obviously throughout the short story she is dealing with an illness in her gall bladder. I do not want to evoke sympathy, but I do want the audience to recognize her strength when dealing with the side effects of her illness. I want her to be a happy person, and when she communicates with others she has a smile on her face, even after she is making a blunt joke.

"The Body" --Film Blog

Plot

One of the main differences I saw in plot during the movie, was the way the differences between the older group of boys (the antagonists) and the younger group of boys (protagonists) interacted. In the book, we did not see a real entanglement between the groups until they both arrived at the scene of the body. However, in the movie, Ace throws Chris onto the ground and holds a cigarette to this face. Although it is not seen in the book, I think it helps to show a violent scene in the commencement of the film. Because the reader knows how abusive the elder group is, it is easier for us to understand the young boys' fear. Then, when they both are present at the scene of the body, it makes the younger boys' look far more courageous. Also, another difference in that scene would be the one who pointed the gun at the older kids. In the book, it is Chris who has possession of the gun during the scene; on the other hand, in the movie, it is Gordie who has possession of the gun. For the most part, because Gordie is the narrator, the movie seems to be more focused on himself, so when Chris had the gun and was threatening the older boys, it seemed to be more heroic. He was the underdog, classified as a thief and bad kid, who turned out to be the hero. One last scene in the book that was not displayed in the film was the telling of Gordie's story, "Stud City." In the book, it made Gordie's writing seem advanced and mature compared the story he tells called "Revenge of the Lardass Hogan." Because it is left out in the movie, we do not get to see how Gordie relates his work to his life. In "Stud City" there are aspects that reflect his dead brother. He said, "It was the first time I had ever really used the place I knew and the things I felt in a piece of fiction, and there was a dreadful exhilaration in seeing things that had troubled me for years come out in a new form." (page 327) Also, the frame story allowed the reader to know more complex details about Gordie's personality that we would have never picked up on in only the movie.

Characterization

Similar to the characterization in the short story, the author presents each of the individual characters in a direct manner. The beginning of the film is purely based on introducing the characters, their background, their town, and the upcoming adventure that will take place. Because of the direct characterization, it is easy to understand why the characters behave the way that they do on their journey to find the body. One difference I did see in the book and movie was Vern's personality and the way he reacted to situations. In the book, Vern is understood to be uneducated and easily-influenced. However, in the film, he is seen as more of a "sissy boy" or a "cry baby." While reading the book, I did not not think Vern was neither annoying nor naive. But while I was watching the movie, he always was panicking, or almost in tears. "'So anyway, you want to go see it?' Vern asked. He was squirming around like he had to go to the bathroom he was so excited."' (page 305) Instead of being scared and hestitant like he was in the movie, Vern is positive and excited about going to find the body in the short story. This made the group of boys seem different to me. In the book, they seem older and more mature than their age. In the film, the immaturity of Vern reminded me of their age and showed the boys' innocence.

Theme

The theme in the movie and the theme in the short story are very similar. In both versions, the boys are overcome aspects of innocence. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when the boys are walking back to town on their adventure, and the narrator says, "The town looked smaller to us than it had before." In the beginning of the book and the movie, Gordie tells the audience that although the town was small, it seemed like the world to them. The fact that the boys realize there is much more out in the world than they see in the small town made them seem like they had aged. The other theme, overcoming stereotypes, was not seen as much in the movie as it was in the short story. The ending of the movie did not focus as much on the boys' futures besides Gordie's. We were given short descriptions of each, but nothing that elaborated. Also, Chris was not the one holding the gun at the scene of the body, but Gordie was the hero instead. Both of these instances clarified that Chris had overcome the labels of society, but in the movie he had not.

Point of View

The film is also told in first-person point of view. Also, similar to the book, the narrator is Gordie, an older version of one of the characters who discovers the body. Because it is told in first person, the story itself seems more realistic; it is a pasttime. In the beginning of the movie, Gordie is seen holding a newspaper on the road near the railroad. The newspaper has an article about the death of Chris, his childhood friend. Because of this scene, the audience immediately understands that this event had a huge impact on his life. Although it was just two days in his entire life, it still had an effect on him as an adult. In the end of the movie, Gordie is shown typing the story at his computer in which he says that those were the best friends he had ever had. This shows that Gordie wanted to share his story with other people, and it created a more personal point of view to the story, instead of it being a stranger telling about four random boys. The story had more meaning because it was being told by someone who was impacted by the journey.

Setting

The film is also about a small town in Maine during 1960, and the entire setting in the film is almost exactly like the setting in the short story. In one of the opening scenes of the film, the boys are sitting around in their treehouse smoking cigarettes. Every time I have watched the movie, that scene is struck me as insane! I would never imagine a twelve-year-old-boy smoking cigarettes legally. However, knowing that this was fifty years ago makes the situation more believable. Also, it shows the differences in the lives of children then, and the lives of children today. Instead of going out and roaming the woods, kids sit inside and play video games all day. Although the cigarettes and cussing, such as "Suck my fat one," (said by Gordie in the movie) might be a little old-fashioned, the adventurous nature of the boys should not be.

"Popular Mechanics"

Another one of your freak show stories. I know this question has been asked a thousand times, because I was one of those thousand people, but I just want to debate on it for awhile. Is the baby at the end of the story dead or alive??! I am so sick of these stupid, vague answers that try and tell me it does not matter. Okay...maybe it does not matter in the opinion of the author because that is not what they're trying to convey through the story, but it matters to the reader! It's like in the movie Elf, when Walter Hobbs tries to publish a story without the last two pages, so the children don't know what happens in the end. The children were confused and wanted to know. They don't care about the hidden message or theme or whatever; they just want to know what happened in the end!! In my opinion, the baby did not rip in half. I am mostly saying that because I do not want to believe any of the limbs on the baby's body were ripped off, but also because I think it makes sense. The father was leaning so hard that he pulled the baby out of its mother's arms, so the mother lost and the father won. Honestly, this is the most ridiculous way to solve a debate between who recevies custody of the children and does not. And yes, I am guessing that this is the message the author is trying to convey, but still! I am so sick of ambiguous endings!

"You're Ugly, Too"

At the end of class yesterday, Mr. Costello, you asked the class to think about how we felt towards Zoe. Personally, I really enjoyed her character. Often times, I do not understand the humor in some of these extremely lame stories. When people point them out in class, I am always surprised because I would have never picked up on the humor by myself. But with this story, I thought there were many lines that I thought to be funny. My favorite is when she is at dinner with the second boyfriend she talks about on page 357.

"I knew a dog who could do that," said Zoe with her mouth full..."It was a Talking Lab, and after about ten minutes of listening to the dinner conversation this dog knew everyone's name..."

She has such a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and I love it. The guy she was on a date with was a total jerk, and she called him out on his poor sense of respect and women. It was hilarious! Also, I really like how blunt and pessimistic she is when she talks to Earl about her opinion on love. Not that I agree with her (because I am a total hopeless romantic), but I really like how brutally honest she is. She wasn't trying to win Earl over with some cheesy show, but she just told him how it was. Straight up. This was probably my favorite story we have read this year.

"The Drunkard"

There is plenty of irony to discuss in this blog, so here it goes. One of the most obvious, of course, would be the young boy getting plastered, cussing at old women ("Go away, ye bloody bitches!" pg 350), and stumbling down the street on his way home. How often do you see that? I mean, nobody would ever look at the boy and think the situation was normal. Another example of irony is how the father talks about the funeral. It is almost as if he is excited to attend the funeral of his good friend instead of mourning over his death. He even dares to call the funeral, "excellent". He sort of compares the funeral to some sort of social event he is attending, and uses it as an excuse to drink himself away at a bar. One last irony I found within the story was how for years, the family has been embarrassed by the father's drunk behavior, and his spending of money when he is on these drinking binges. However, when walking down the street with his son, the father is now the one who is embarrassed. He says, "Twill be all over the road...Never again, never again, not if I live to be a thousand!" (page 350)

"The Lottery"

According to dictionary.com, a lottery is either:

A.) a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes.

OR

B.) any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance

When I first read the title, I expected it to be some sort of happy story about a family or someone who is fortunate enough to win loads of money. However, to my disappointment, I found that instead of being granted money, the lucky chosen one was granted death. Yippee! At first, I would have said that this story was not a lottery because I have become so accustomed to the meaning that society uses today. But in all actuality, this is a perfect title for the story (check out definition #2). Not that I enjoyed the story, because I definitely did not, but it was interesting how the entire town just let this innocent killing take place. I can't say that I would ever choose to read this story again, but I do have to hand it to you, Mr. Costello. You always choose the most bizarre and eccentric stories.