Extra Credit

Extra Credit

Extra Credit

            I really believe that both medium of communication are significant and we should value both for what they bring to us.  I think it would be better to create boundaries that are limitless rather than to construct ones that hold either the book or the film at bay.  My attitude towards either is they are both helpful, useful in the proper arena. 

            Mr. Cunningham’s writing is focused, and concrete.  There is risk taking that is offset by the book's originality, it’s grace and its commitment to the one day storyline.  Everything a writer sees, feels, emotionally touches, physical, psychologically and etc. must be there on the page to be seen, felt, heard and etc., whereas in a film one must rely on the actor to convey those things in what is said, or body language, or music, or scenery that will get the same result as the author of the book had intended.   

            I felt that the time order in the film was used well.  It brought each new character forth in a way in which you really could not miss the where of it all.  The way that both the movie and the book dealt with cause and effect was remarkable. 

Mrs. Dalloway’s memory of her kiss from Richard was great in the book, I liked the way the book constructed it like a lovely verdant walkway. 

“You kissed me beside a pond.”  

“Ten thousand years ago.” 

“It’s still happening.” 

“In a sense, yes.”   

“In reality.  it’s happening in that present.  This is happening in this present.”

…”We’re middle-aged and we’re young lovers standing beside a pond.  We’re everything, all at once.  Isn’t it remarkable?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have any regrets, really, except that one.  I wanted to write about you, about us, really.”   

            This was very climactic for me in the book; it allowed me to see Richard’s lovability and his vulnerability, his desire to give himself away to someone completely, wholly even to the memory of a kiss that he regretted not seeing where it could have gone.  The book seemed to maximize the emotional backdrop between the two of them; on the other hand the movie did not bring the vulnerable, desperately soft side of Richard out.  His dementia was more prominent in the book, that too was somewhat played down in the movie.  I think this writing about the past, the kiss, sharing part of their past helps to establish who they are in their own world now and how they might have been together.  Here I think the reflective writing was wonderful.  The personal questions, the purpose of examination, the voice of reflection spoke volumes.  I loved the way the movie along with the nuances made the reflections easy, no work, “here it is, come with me by body language, poses, facial expressions, the stop and think moments, we are all here let’s go further into the character.”   I believe Mrs. Dalloway’s attending Richard was duty, but their reflections upon each other and what they had that day and their questions were individuality.  

            There were other things in the book and movie that were really comparative, but both made me compare to other scenes for instance, all three women are interrupted in that day by two unexpected and one early visitor, all three had interest of death even Mrs. Dalloway was asked by Richard what she would do at his death.  Virginia Woolf lays her head down by the dead bird as if to examine it in death and Mrs. Brown dies a symbolic death with water covering her then awakens with a decision to walk away from the death she was living.  Mrs. Dalloway said, “When I am with Richard I am living, when not everything seems silly.”All three women were surrounded by books and even two of the men were involved with books.  Both the book and the film did well in establishing death and life.  Virginia’s death was her life and her husband’s life, Mrs. Brown walking away gave her life, and Mrs. Dalloway's life came after Richard’s death, Richard’s life would continue in his work.  I believe both the film and the book showed desire that was born and nourished in a deep passion, perhaps an imaginary passion and perhaps that is why it was so difficult to realize.     

            There were memorable places where the conflict of Person vs. Society was prevalent especially with Virginia Woolf and Mrs. Brown.  Fitting into and the responsibilities of a home, raising children, the responsibility of a spouse (whether male or female) can be difficult and can be unfulfilling.  Conflict for Mrs. Dalloway was more Person vs. Self both in the book and on screen seemed more challenging because she was in a lesbian relationship yet in love with a gay man.  First, I had to clear my own prejudices about such a relationship then it was easier to empathize with the characters of the story and understand the irony of it all.  Even the fact that we stick with our sexual identities when perhaps things might turn out better if we dropped the roles and just learned to go with what we really felt on the inside.