films vs. books

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Winter's Bone Comparison

A Novel Idea

The novel Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell follows a young heroine named Ree Dolly who is confronted with the arduous task of saving her family's home. Her father, a methamphetamine cook, has gone missing while out on bail. The bond company is threatening to seize the home if her father cannot be located. Add to this struggle her role as caretaker for a sick mother and two younger siblings and Ree has her hands full. The film of the same name, while telling Ree's story adequately, falls short of conveying the deepness of emotion, important character roles as well as cultural convictions that the author intended.

Films are, by their own limitations, operating within strict parameters. Time constrains their length and budgets constrain the depictions of even the season in which it is set. The season Woodrell chose for the story is integral to any worthy interpretation. In this, the film is found lacking. Winter is depicted, but not with the severity that the story deserves. The movie shows cold but not with the added

voices of drifts, flakes or ice. I realize that this can be costly for any worthwhile production. The choice to forgo this primary theme of the novel has left the viewer disadvantaged. Woodrell, even from the first sentence, alluded to the effect on Ree which the coming of the season held. “Ree Dolly stood at break of day on her cold front steps and smelled coming flurries and saw meat.” (Woodrell 3) This vivid description contained within the text of the first paragraph gives the reader a sense of impending struggle against the elements which are sure to come. The deadline of the forfeited bond looms but the coming harsh season looms as well. By choosing to not include the physical depiction of winter's attributes, the filmmakers missed their mark in translating the story effectively.

Many films have successfully integrated homosexual themes as a method to provoke societal discussion. Winter's Bone is no exception. It is a subtle element, but an element nonetheless. In it's written form, unadulterated by the screenwriters, the author describes a “pseudo-lesbian” relationship between Ree and her best friend Gail. It was important enough for Mr. Woodrell to include yet somehow lost in the film adaptation. The hinting of youthful experimentation between Gail and Ree contained within the book is not what I mean. It is the way in which these characters interact that is relevant. Ree, who is resistant to the world around her, confides in Gail and no one else. Although the women in Ree's family offer a sympathetic tone, they are controlled by masculine fear and offer no solace in any substantial way. The role of Gail in the novel provides a refuge for Ree which is lost to the movie's audience. The choice by the filmmakers to forgo this important relationship between two of the major characters is a disservice to the audience as well as the author.

The film failed to depict the true patriarchal role which Ree has assumed in her family to the extent which Woodrell intended. Her father's absence has left a void that Ree has chosen to fill. This is the role of moral compass, instructor and mentor to her young siblings. Being familiar with Ozark culture himself, Woodrell included allusions to corporal punishment which exist in this micro-society as a method of establishing the importance of lessons being taught. The movie opens with the scene where her younger brother Harold proposes asking Ree if they should enlist the help of a family member who lives across the street. The family is hungry and left without the means to feed themselves. Ree seizes this opportunity in order to teach an important life lesson to the child. “She then looked at Harold, with his easy smile, black hair riffling in the wind, then snatched his nearest ear and twisted until his jaw fell loose and he raised his hand to swat at hers. She twisted until he bore up under the pain and stopped swatting. “Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.” (Woodrell 5) The filmmakers chose to use the dialogue without including the ear twisting. This illustration of corporal enforcement within Ozark culture is necessary if the audience is to gain a true understanding of the ways in which this culture instructs it's youth. I myself have firsthand experience with this and can speak to the effectiveness of such methods. Growing up I attended church services with my Uncle Russ who hails from Missouri. One Sunday while seated in the pew, I chose to pass a note instead of giving proper attention to the speaker. My Uncle did not hesitate to pinch the top of my thigh, squeeze, and twist mercilessly until tears welled up in my eyes. I doubt if I would be remembering that lesson today if not for the infliction of physical pain which had accompanied it. I am at a loss as to the reason this important societal element was not included in the film. The screen time would have been exactly the same, the graphic nature in the film is established in a much more severe way later on. By choosing to leave out his important cultural belief, the film has done the author, Ozark culture, and ultimately the audience a great disservice.

Filmmakers have a responsibility to translate the work of authors effectively, realistically, and with the intention of imparting the full implications of setting, roles, and culture contained within the text. Somehow this was lost in the process of bringing this wonderful story to the screen. Although telling the story adequately, the film falls short of conveying the deepness of emotion, important character roles as well as many cultural convictions that the author intended.

Works Cited

Woodrell, Daniel. Winter's Bone. 1st ed. New York: Little Brown and, 2006. Print.

To Live and Learn

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“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein 

The skills I have learned in this class are many so I will touch briefly on the ones I have found most helpful. It's amazing how I was able to implement these techniques into other coursework as soon as they were learned. Close reading of text was something we learned early on in this semester and I found to be very useful. Just the act of underlining any words that I found interesting or looking for themes that are re-occurring within the text is a very useful skill. I used to be afraid to mark up a book and refrained from this practice. Now I find that this practice has me looking for elements within the text much more closely. It's like a scavenger hunt! I find that I am erasing from all of my textbooks at this point in the year in order to turn them back in. But that's a good thing. It means that I am using this skill that I have learned in this class. I really enjoyed the reading of “Bartleby the Scrivener” the most. The style of Melville is unique and I have since took to finally reading “Moby Dick” after all of these years. I was surprised by “A Modest Proposal” having no fondness for it initially but having that change after looking for the underlying message contained within. I have met the learning outcomes by effectively synthesizing information into well focused essays. By relying on good essay structure and method I was able to construct papers of which I am very proud. By sticking to the formula of pre-writing, outlining, developing focused thesis statements and topic sentences for each supporting paragraph I was able to hone the craft of communicating effectively through writing. I have seen the benefit in real time in my papers constructed in other classes. One of the challenges I have met and overcome in this class I have mentioned previously. This has to do with reading and analyzing text that I did not believe I would enjoy such as Swift. I find that I have a different taste of subject matter and was resistant to this work at the outset. However, when I looked for elements hidden within such as character roles and the like I found the text I was adverse to open up before me and come alive in a new and profound way. Great class Ms. Cline! Thank you.

Would you like to read more quotes on learning?

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/learning

Learning is Learning (or is it?)

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Many years ago I read a short story by the science fiction write Ray Bradbury. I have not, to this very day, been able to find the work. Nonetheless this piece stuck in my mind as a profound analysis of the disconnect between people as a result of technology. It described a lamenting man who while strolling through a residential area noticed that there were no people outside their homes. There were no children playing, there were no neighbors conversing over the common fences, there were no gatherings of women in the empty streets. This man could only see a faint blue light flickering from the front window of each home. As I ponder the online learning environment, I can't help but feel as the character walking the ghostly street. I feel as though the interactions between students are superficial at best. We all stare at the pale blue light of our computers which claim to assist us in being better connected. But are we? We as humans need the interaction of our peers to complete a well-rounded learning environment. They provide sources for peer review and feedback which are vital to catching things we often miss being too close to our own work. They are at arms length to be questioned or aid us in real time if need be. Here in lies my dilemma.  I hold these beliefs on one hand while simultaneously proving the opposite. Let me explain. You see I have received the best grades of all of the classes I have taken in the online environment. This is adverse to what I truly believe and yet the results speak for themselves. While technology advances we as students must embrace it or suffer a disadvantage in future endeavors. I had a difficult time this semester getting in the habit of creating a well developed blog post. I had no experience with this technology. Honestly, I had no idea exactly what a blog was. Looking back this seems silly and after the initial post was finished I felt quite accomplished. With each subsequent posting the sting was less and I found (to my surprise) that I was beginning to enjoy the process. So in closing I must say that there are pros and cons to everything and this is no exception. I look forward to the next technological advance that might in some way re-establish the significant role of interpersonal communication in the online learning environment. In the mean time I will also lament the pale blue glow.

If you would like to learn more about learning online:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

Revision Decision

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I use to be the most lazy pre-writer you have ever seen. This lead to a great deal of revision later on. Not just revision...major substantial revision. Not grammar, or punctuation but serious nuts and bolts of composition. I've learned though, (the hard way) that I was just hurting myself. I fought this advise from teachers as one step that a good writer might very well skip.......boy was I wrong. Revision might be directly related to pre-writing. I usually go about the revision process in the following ways. First I make sure to read the paper out loud and slow. something takes place when your own words are physically spoken into your own ears. This is where I usually pick up my need for commas and the like. I get a feel for the "cadence" of my prose and really ""feel the tone I've tried to impart to the piece. The next step is to enlist peer review. I used to fight this concept as well only to my own demise. You would be surprised by what gets missed when you focus so closely on your own work. The phrase "Can't see the forest for the trees." comes to mind. Just getting a fresh set of eyes on your work takes revision to a very productive level. But this can only be achieved if one can get passed the adversity to criticism. The peer you choose is not criticizing your work as an attack or with malicious intent. Quite the contrary, they are helping to improve your work and prove to be very beneficial. The re-working of our current paper has been very easy as I really focused on pre-writing on this one. Boy! what a difference. If I had known how beneficial this was to the process I would have started this much earlier. Now the only revisions I have are grammatical or involve punctuation and the like. I'm pretty happy with the composition as a whole and will keep the format very close to the outline I started with. Good Luck with your papers.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Daniel

If you would like to learn more tips on revision follow the following link:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/revising-drafts/

How Cohesive a Thesis!

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The Sheriff of Hardyville, Arkansas has been called to the scene of a terrible accident. The body of a young farmhand has been found under the wheel of his still running tractor. The sheriff had never seen anything like it before although he has served this area for over thirty years. Through the sobs of the young man's young brides tears he senses that she knows more than she is saying as to the circumstances surrounding this tragedy. She is taken in for questioning where the truth finally comes out. The young man has been awake for nearly a week using crystal-meth and fell from his seat under the tractors wheel when his body couldn't take any more. The story of "Winter's Bone" written by Daniel Woodrell takes place in a town deep in the Ozarks  with many similarities to Hardyville. The grip of  methamphetamine seems to be tighter on such rural areas across the country. By choosing a rural setting for his novel "Winter's Bone" Daniel Woodrell has shed light on the social conditions existing in rural areas which promote the manufacturing and use of methamphetamines.

If you or someone you love is struggling with meth addiction and wants help clink on the link below for more information:

http://www.stopmethaddiction.com/Meth_Addiction_Help.htm

Cooking Meth in Hell's Kitchen

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In a 2002 New York Times Article entitled “Meth Building Its Hell's Kitchen in Rural America” reporter Timothy Egan describes the devastating effects of the growing meth epidemic in rural America. The reader is enlightened to the crisis through the experiences of Sheriff Rick Bart of Snohomish County in the State of Washington. The article describes the effects of this dangerous drug upon this rural area both to the individuals who use it, as well as the criminal justice system there. Mr. Egan chronicles the history of the drug's onset and educates the reader as to the reasons it has seemed to gravitate towards similar geographical areas. Sheriff Bart supplied startling statistical evidences which lent credibility to the points being made by the author. One such example is as follows, “I'd say it's getting to the point where 80 percent of all our calls are somehow related to meth.” Another statistic which enforces the idea that meth effects many persons other than the user is relayed by social worker Cammy Hart-Anderson, “Almost two-thirds of referrals to social workers in Snohomish County for domestic violence or abandoned or neglected children are related to meth...” The author also discusses the ease by which the drug is manufactured as well as the danger of the toxic ingredients involved.

This article directly relates to “Winter's Bone” as the characters in the novel were effected by the drugs use and distribution adversely just as the examples described by Sheriff Bart. One user described performing “home dentistry” while under the effects of this powerful chemical. Another drives around aimlessly while chewing her fingernails to nubs attempting to fill a shopping list of dangerous ingredients used in it's manufacture. Just as the fictitious account of child abandonment in the story, the article uses true evidences brought forth from social workers on the front lines. This article would be an excellent source for use in essay #3 as it has the credibility of both law enforcement as well as social workers who are directly impacted each and every day by this scourge.

If you would like to read the article in it's entirety: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/06/us/meth-building-its-hell-s-kitchen-in-rural-america.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

works cited

 
Egan, Timothy. "Meth Building Its Hell's Kitchen in Rural America." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Feb. 2002. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/06/us/meth-building-its-hell-s-kitchen-in-rural-america.html?pagewanted=2>.