Adaptation

The movie adaptation explores the worlds of imagination and reality through the characters, a novel and a orchid flower. The movie opens up with the main character which is also the narrator, Charles. Charles is a screenwriter with low self esteem. He wants to make a movie based on a book called, The Orchid Thief. The book was written by a woman named Susan Orleans. Susan Orleans wrote this book because she wants to feel  passion for something. In the process of writing the book she discovered a man named John. John knew a lot about orchids so Susan decided to interview him and use the questions and answers in her book. As a result, Susan and John started having and affair and using orchids as drugs. As someone in the audience I am put into a position where I do not know what is real or not. It is hard to tell what is real or not because the author leaves you in suspense. The author is manipulating reality and imagination because he is pulling everything from the real world and joining it in with fiction clips to leave the audience questioning what is real or imaginary. However, there is a way to figure out what is real or what is a part of his imagination. A simple internet search can solve all the audience problems and put an end to all the questions. In a strange way most people do not want the answers because they enjoy not knowing the truth. The author is very creative about making the audience uncertain of reality because he makes it difficult to point out what aspects of the movie is real or not. The title of the movie however foreshadows the entire movie. The word adaptation can be used in a range of things. The reality of the movie is the title itself, adaptation. Although, the audience cannot tell what is real or not in the movie everything throughout the movie is caused to adapt. The man who wrote this movie touched on three different types of adaptation. One use of adaptation is the psychological theme of adaptation. Everyone in the movie was forced to adapt in their environment. The main character Charles was forced to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a movie. Susan Orleans was forced to adapt through her personal life experience. John was forced to adapt into Susan Orleans world and thought process. Another theme is the novel that is adapted into the movie. Charles struggles over a long period of time to find a way to turn the novel into a movie. The final use of adaptation is the biological use. The orchid itself was forced to adapt in the different environment. With all these events that are happening in the story it is hard to distinguish what is reality or imaginary. The people, orchid and novel are real, but the events taken place leaves a number of questions.  

LIB -Gertrude Stein poem

       The poem written by Gertrude Stein for Picasso was both objective and subjective. It was objective because it was a poem and the words used were not unique.  What I mean by the words were not unique is the words are in the dictionary they were not unusual and made up.  However, the words as well as the style of the poem made it subjective.

       In an objective sense, Ms. Stein just wanted to use a poem because that is her profession.  A poem was best for her because that is how she expresses herself. Picasso describes her in a painting because that is the way he express himself and she wrote a poem because that is the way she expresses herself. In general poems and painting are hobbies, but Picasso and Gertrude Stein express themselves with a different style.

        In a subjective sense ---- wrote the poem in a very unique way. For one the stanzas were very unusual because it did not follow a specific pattern. The rhythm was consistent, but the words did not rhyme. The words were repetitive, but not in different stanzas, they were collided together and repeated. The most subjective part about the poem was the music that came with it. Usually a poem makes it’s own beat based off of it’s own rhythm, but not this poem. To me it seemed as if she was writing to the beat. 

The Island of Dr. Moreau -Chapter Two

Chapter Two

In the second chapter, a young man has found Edward Prendick. Prendick is still recovering from starvation, lack of water and heat burn so; he is pretty oblivious to his surroundings. The setting takes place in a small and untidy cabin where Edward Prendick is found. He woke up in this cabin to a young man who appears to be someone in the medical field. The man is holding his wrist and asking him questions. Shortly, after, Prendick woke up to the man holding his wrist they starred at each other and heard a strange noise which distracted Prendick. The young man is telling Prendick about the way he found him and the condition he was in. However, Prendick introduces his interlocutor named Montgomery. Montgomery states he injected Edward Prendick with something that taste like blood, but made him stronger.  The medicine or stuff that was injected into Prendick made him “insensible for nearly thirty hours.”(6) Prendick continuously heard the strange noise while in the cabin, but ignored it and asked for something to eat. As Prendick memory began to recover he started to enlighten the other men about himself. Yet, Prendick continued to hear the strange sound but, this last time he heard it, the noise startled him an as he went to ask Montgomery about the noise, the interlocutor ran out of the door. After one day of sleep, Prendick felt fully recovered and was able to walk on his own.  That morning when Prendick woke up he asked Montgomery for clothes and the destination of the ship. Montgomery told him that the captain was a drunk so do not get on his bad side and the ship was headed to Hawaii.

Painting Description

Edvard Munch

Norwegian, 1863-1944

The Strom 1893 36 1/8 x51 ½” (91.8x 130.8 cm)

The setting in the painting says a stormy evening. You can see the objects in the painting, but not clearly. The community looks gated because you only see two homes rather than an entire community. This painting looks like a painting whereas other paintings portray itself as a photograph. All the figures in the painting seem to be women. In the background of the women there are homes. All the lights in the homes are turned on and have bright yellow lights. The rain is powerful because the tree is tilted to the left, emphasizing the strong wind. These women look fairly wealthy. The women look as if they all live together. The environment looks clean and sort of proper because of the brick walkway and beautiful homes. A woman in a white dress is standing out in the painting because the entire painting has dull colors like dark green, blue and brown. Then you have a woman in a shiny white dress standing alone. The other women hands are raised to the sky as if they are praying. The painting is clearly enough to see the figures, but you can tell the artists created this blurry painting for a reason. In the painting, you can see the strokes of the brush and that it is oil on canvas.

I chose this painting because it seemed unusual and stood out. The woman in the white dress caught my attention because it makes me wonder why she’s standing there alone. Although, the artist did not paint a clear picture I can still see the images and can paint a clear picture in my head because he gave it a title. The title helps because if you just look at the picture you would think the artist is just drawing women standing outside of their homes. I look at the painting and think maybe the rain means something emotional because usually rain makes you think of tears or death. The title says, “The Storm” making me feel like the painting is going to be dark, dull and full of rain, but in the painting you can hardly see the rain and there are aspects of the painting that are bright and stand out.

Comparison of Videos LIB

In the video, " In Search of Human Origins" by, Don Joe Hanson it explained the way Homohabilis survived years ago. This does not relate to the Dennis Dutton video because the Dennis Dutton video defined the true definition of beauty. However, I think the video by Don Joe Hanson and the Dennis Dutton video are trying to send the viewer the same message; everything we do today relates back to our ancestors. In the Don Joe Hanson video it dwelled on the art of survival and the different theories that came about based off fossils. In the Dennis Dutton video it defined beauty by going back to our ancestors and comparing what we do now and implying we developed from them. The process of how our ancestors may have lived using imagination and the scientific research connects to art because these early humans passed down our gift of being creative and thinking logically. SUMMARY OF DON JOE HANSON VIDEO: In the video, In Search of Human Origins it discussed the Homohabilis ways of surviving. The movie was about fossils found many years ago and the way researchers developed their theories about how our ancestors survived in the wild. The first theory was our ancestors were hunter and gatherers. The researchers based this theory off the fossils they found. The second theory was our ancestors were herbivores. The researchers based this off the fact that our ancestors gathered vegetables, berries and nuts. The third theory was our ancestors were scavengers. The researchers based this off the fact that these early humans did not kill animals. The early humans were scavengers because they would eat what another animal killed but, they did not kill animals themselves. The video discussed a woman named Lusie and said, " she was the first up-right human. This woman, Lusie, was the starting point of humans meaning she was the line between the apes and humans. The researchers looked at the way Lusie lived and realized our early humans did not have weapons making them very easy to kill.

A street car named desire 1st draft

In the play, " A Street Car Named Desire" by, Tennesse Williams he uses symbolism to illustrate the similarities and differences between the characters Stanley and Blanche.

Blanche is a main character in the play and portrayed as pure and innocent. The author even goes as far as telling the reader how elegant she was dressed and how delicate the fabric was, in the beginning of the play. Tennesse Williams says, "her appearance is incongruous to the setting. She looks as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district." (7) To the reader this implies Blanche is this pure and innocent butterfly because she is dressed in this "perfect" attire but, she is clearly overdressed making the reader assume she is in a dirty environment. Giving the impression that the environment is dirty and rough makes the reader assume Blanche is out of place and has no business being there. However, in the following sentence, after describing Blanche's beautiful appearance the author contradicts the character by calling her a moth. " There is something about her uncertain manner that suggest a moth." (7)A moth is defined as, " ...aren't pretty lil' butterflies at all... they are ugly yet clever little turds who find their way into your room at night." I believe in the beginning of the play Tennesse Williams uses a butterfly to define Blanche in order to foreshadow her other side symbolized by a moth. Blanche does turn out to be an sneaky and secretive woman who uses her body to manipulate men to get what she wants.
Stanley Kowalski is Blanche's brother in law and the first man she tried to manipulate with her "moth" ways. Stanley was portrayed as the macho man. In the beginning of the play it starts off with Stanley yelling at his wife. Stanley then, threw a package of meat covered in blood at his wife. " Stanely: tossing a package of meat, covered with blood, to Stella. Catch!" (6) Although, the author did not use direct symbolism with Stanley like Blanche, he uses actions to to imply what characteristics Stanley resembles, a caveman. Stanley like a caveman is ignorant to the outside world. Throughout, the play no matter how much his wife Stella tried to convince him of how much of a good person her sister Blanche was he could not comprehend because he was so stuck on the way he saw her. Likewise, a caveman was known for not wearing a shirt. Stanley first action he did in the play was take his shirt off he says, " my shirt is sticking to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable ?" (18) As you can see Stanley felt most comfortable with his caveman mentality, walking around without a shirt, yelling and living off red meat.