Are you more impressed with the film or the story? Why?
Personally, I felt the feelings of the characters in both the story and the T.V. I felt the compassion that Victor really actually had in the story more. It seemed as if the way the story was written gave you more feeling towards the characters such as Victor and Thomas rather than the movie. When watching the movie I knew that Victor was an angry kid and Thomas was just a happy story telling kid but the story made me feel more compassion towards Victor and made Victor seem much nicer than actually seeing in on T.V.
When seeing it on T.V. you could see that Victor was not nice to Thomas. I felt the anger more on T.V. But, I felt more of the bonding time between Victor and Thomas reading the story. When seeing how mean Victor was to Thomas on the T.V., they showed him actually beating Thomas up. Actually, seeing that a nice kid get beat up is more touching than just reading about it. There were more in depth details of how they got along on their trip in the story versus how they didn't get along.
I also felt Victor was much nicer to Thomas in the story versus the video. In the story you read detail by detail of Thomas telling one of his stories and Victor just laughing, which tells me he was listening to the story and interacting with Thomas. Finding out that Thomas went on this trip all along for repaying Victors dad was much more detailed in the story.
All in all, I enjoyed the story more because it seemed to put Victor and Thomas having a better relationship than the movie. I really enjoyed reading the story more than watching it on t.v. I have a hard time staying awake while watching t.v. So, the story made it much more interesting for me.:-)
Dina:
ReplyDeleteIt is so intereting to see the different views of people between a book versus a movie...we all seem to obtain things differently some of course comparable to other,but I must say I thought the movie protrayed a better understanding of this story because it was an expanded version as oppose to the book being more of a rough draft and shorter with including Suzy Song who I felt was vital to the story.
But most of the time when there is a book and film of a particular story the word is first and then the film. It seems that to me the film creates a fascinating and intriguing character and its easy to grasp than it is in the book.
It just comes down to how people obtain things better by sight or following words...thanks for your reading!!
Daye
Hi Dina,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the nuances of the relationship between Victor and Thomas are quite a bit different in both versions. In "Smoke Signals," we don't get the explanations we do in the story version; partially, this has to do with the nature of film. In film, all the meaning has to be conveyed through image and dialogue; the explanation we get in the story is left out.
I think this is the reason the end of the film has the dialogue while we see Victor throwing his father's ashes. This last theme would be completing missing without it. Perhaps Alexie struggled with the medium of film to fully convey his ideas.
Thanks for your insights.
Take care,
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the meaning has to be conveyed throug image and dialogue with the movie and the explanation is left out in the story. I always thought I was a visual learner and this has me thinking otherwise.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Dina
Hello ! I also noticed that the relationship that Thomas and Victor have is very different in the story. However, I enjoyed watching the movie more because it included many details that made it so entertaining. Yes, in the story Victor is presented as a more lay-back guy and doesn't seem to be as rude to Thomas. at the end of the movie Thomas and Victor have a built a friendship, on contrary at the end of the story Victor and Thomas agree not to be friends because Victor would be bullied by his other friends.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and finding out that we have completely different perspectives regarding the story and the film!
Thanks for sharing,
Natalia
Hi Dina,
ReplyDeleteWow, I is so cool to hear everyone take on the Movie and the book. I think we all have such different views. I have to say that I got so much more out of the movie then I did the, but I must confess that I think I became a little closed minded because of the tone of the story. I was so dark through most of it. I really like how the movie put in some really light hearted moments, like when we come upon the girls in the car driving back words and then we get to hear Thomas story I loved that part. I also understood Victor and Thomas relationship better watching it take place in the movie. I guess I got more out of watching this time then reading. Thanks for your insight it gave me something to think about.
Stacy
Hi Dina-
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I enjoyed the story more, like a said in my blog, I am not surprised that I liked the story more than the film because the book/reading are usually always better.
I think that you are right that in the film it shows the Victor is not nice to Thomas, whereas in the reading he seems genuine to Thomas and that he enjoys his company on there trip!!
Emily
I thought I was going to like the movie more just because on topics such as these I'm not a big fan of reading but I do agree the books and stories are always so much better than the movies. You feel more connection with the characters theres always more detail about an individual but then in the films and movies your able to visually see the traits and personalities of a person and you kind of get both and each of everything in the different versions.
ReplyDeleteI am more impressed with the movie because the incidents and actions presented in movie was more detail. Example presented of forgiveness in the movie was clearer. The most significant part of forgiveness presented between Thomas and Arnold was missing in the story. Also in the story, the occurrence when Victor tries to teach Thomas about real world out side of reservation was not given. This was shown in the incident when Victor insults the gymnast when Thomas believes her stories. In the reading some of the significant incidents were missing which could make a difference in the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Dina, I too also felt like Victor was more nice to thomas in the story then in the movie.There friendship seemed different from the movie then in the story.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny I enjoyed the movie much more than story. I had a hard time reading the story while the movie was fun to watch. This difference between enjoying the story and movie we like opposite things, like the relationship between Thomas and Victor. Having a visual of their relationship and seeing it grow to me was much more satisfying than reading about it. In the movie you see growth of their relationship while the story both Thomas and Victor are friends but at end of story they are still in the same place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how they had a better relationship with each other in the story. Victor was much nicer to Thomas for the most part in the story and all around didn't seem as mean. For me even though I usually like the book better I liked the movie better in this case. I think it was because I felt it was more detailed.
ReplyDeleteI do have to agree that their relationship was much better in the story than what was depicted in the movie. Even though that was the case, I really liked the movie a lot more than the story only because I felt that the movie gave more in depth detail with the story than the actual story did.
ReplyDelete