Lit Action, Live from Summer 2010

 A Walk to Rememberby Nicholas Sparks is a novel about love, faith, and precious time. It is a beautiful story of how a boy unexpectedly falls in love only to face the biggest tragedy of his life. The novel was written for Sparks’ sister, who suffered and died from cancer.  The novel was made into a film in 2002, staring Mandy Moore and Shane West. While the movie followed the basic plot line of the book, each is completely different works. Sparks decided to make the changes in the movie in order to appeal to the right audience, teens. The novel was set in the 1950s, while the movie was set in 1998. Sparks recognized that making a movie set in the 1950s would not entice the audience that he wanted to appeal to. While many people criticize the major differences in the film and novel, I think it was a bold move, but ultimately a good decision. For Sparks it wasn’t about staying true to the novel, line by line, but to get out his message.

 When speaking about adaptations, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention perhaps the biggest adaptations of all, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, and the rest of the stories written down in Grimm’s Fairytales. While some stories have not been adapted from the classic Grimm versions, other have been twisted and shaped into completely different stories. These stories, and probably many others fairy tales, are guilty of changing the message of their stories to inhibit the “adult material” that is portrayed to children on a daily basis.  Mainly, I want to focus on Little Red Riding Hood. I chose two not very well known adaptations of Red Riding Hood: a Tex Avery Short and The Company of Wolves.  

Movie Adaptation

  I think "Fiesta" by Junot Diaz was strange with the mix of languages and the way the author switched points of view. He changed the point of view from yunior to rafa which gave a feel of self alienation. The family seemed isolated in some ways by the father's affair with a Puerto Rican woman and just the life they lived. The father seemed distant but so did the sons. 

 "The American Society" was about a Chinese family that came to America and started out with a small restaurant. What i found interesting was that at every turn the family was trying to fit into the American society. The mother wanted to join the country club the father stopped treating his employees like human beings and more like servants but in the end they still separated themselves from the American society in the end. 

I liked the story "Fiesta" because it reminded me of the fiestas my family has. There is always a lot of people making a lot of noise and with voices so loud the whole neighborhood can hear. There is always a lot of delicious food like in the story and a lot of dancing. Fortunatelly there is not that much drama at our parties. I really did not like the father not only because he cheated on his wife but also because he had the nerve to take his children to meet his mistress...who does that? I felt sorry for the mother because she was so out of the loop.

I think the title of this story was a little ironic. When I first saw the title I thought it would be a happy story because I usually associate the term fiesta with a Hispanic party with a pinata or something that would occur in my middle school Spanish classes. Sadly, it was about the role of Hispanic men in society. I hated how this story is true and exemplifies many Hispanic family situations. You would think that this type of family only exists in the past but unfortunately, is still pretty normal in Hispanic society. The term "muchismo" is unfamiliar to many but should be familiar to all to raise awareness.

Is this a true story (or based on a true story)? Because other than that factor of realism I don't really get this work of literature. It's not a badly written story, but it's not a particularly interesting one either. There is a lot of talk in this story (quotes, conversations). And often times I feel like I'm just sitting down listening to a family of Chinese immigrants talk about things, various things, and that's it.

I have trouble deciding whether or not the family in this story represents the American dream or not. Many people believe that the American dream only consists of being successful and making a lot of money but is that really the American dream? Although they are Asian American, they still weren't respected enough to be accepted into the country club and were embarrassed by the drunk guy at the party. Although the mother tried her hardest by trying to fit in such as wanting to join a country club, buying her husband a nice suit, and buying nice clothes, people still see them as different and not good enough. So it makes me wonder if the American dream can really be attainable.