TKAM Film/Book Juxtaposition

Question Prompts:

1. How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more effective in delivering its message than the other? Be sure to provide specific pieces of evidence to support your opinion.

2. What is the purpose in having different versions of a story? Think about how different versions contribute to the overall understanding and interpretation of that piece of work. Use specific concepts to support your opinion.

It's common knowledge that movie adaptations of books rarely stay faithful to their originals, especially in the case of the Percy Jackson movies (which might as well be an alternate universe instead of an adaptation).

The movie adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird is no exception. Aunt Rachel is replaced as Dill's aunt by Stephanie, who is still the same as a character. We get to see Judge Taylor ask Atticus defend Tom Robinson. We never witness Scout's trip to First Purchase (I believe that's what the church is called, although I'm not entirely sure). The list of differences certainly does not stop there.

With all of these differences, any messages the story is supposed to convey might be affected, which means they could be potentially screwed up.

This is my own biased opinion, but I think that the book is more effective at delivering the message of empathy to its audience, simply because it is a book. It is more in-depth than the movie, which will help the reader understand the concepts introduced by the book more easily. Also, there are no child actors. This is more of a personal thought, really, but I've observed that child actors tend to force their acting, due to their inexperience.

If I were to support the idea that the movie is better at conveying this message, though, I would present Gregory Peck as evidence. There's a reason he won an award for this movie. His acting in the movie was perfect, which could be attributed to the fact that he is much like Atticus himself, as noted by the actor who played Scout.

Okay, but is there a need for different versions of a story? Isn't one version enough?

I think it's probably because there are different preferences when it comes to media. Some people understand movies best, others like books, some others audio books, and a few other people who prefer to play out the story through a video game.

(Aiming for more general understanding would probably be an incentive of the past. Media companies nowadays only hope for quick cash by jumping on the bandwagon...)

These different versions can come together to form a big picture. Movie depictions of characters can help someone reading the book envision those characters without trouble. Audio versions set the tone and mood for you, as well as leaving you to your imagination. Games let you experience what it's like being in the protagonist's shoes.
While there aren't any games based on To Kill A Mockingbird (that would just be awkward), the other three apply to it.

2nd Quarter Reflection

The end of the 2nd Quarter, huh? Usually, it would be the end of the 3rd Quarter for me. I am rather disoriented because of this, since I keep getting hopeful that school is going to end, and being disappointed when I realize I'm not in the Philippines anymore…

But I digress. I will try to reflect on this past quarter as best as I can.

「*In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in the English Language Arts?

This is a tough one, since I don't pay much attention to which skills I could improve. I would say that I've gotten a little better at staying on task in class. This applies mostly to late in the quarter. I've been able to keep up with the class constantly. My ability to do so at home hasn't changed, though, which sucks.

「*What is something you have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of?

I can't remember anything to be proud of related to this class aside from being able to submit my TKAM Comparative Analysis on time. It's rather small, but I feel like that was a start of keeping up more frequently.

「*What has been the most challenging part of 2nd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

This one is easy. Reading every single page of two chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird, supplying those pages with annotations of decent quality, and working on answering the questions for those two chapters; combined with my subpar time management skill. Due to regrettable decisions on my part, I usually had to stay up until around 1 a.m. Looking back on that time, I'm surprised I wasn't late to school more often.
Anyway, I only managed to do this by persisting in getting my work done, hitting my head when needed. Oh, and playing music I like while working also helped.

*Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why?

To Kill a Mockingbird. I both dislike the book and absolutely love it. I dislike it since it brings up some pretty bad memories of trying to squeeze out whatever I had left in my brain cells late at night to try and finish the day's work on the book. Though I love it because it has a realistic feel to it. Harper Lee, the author, supposedly based the book on real events that happened in her childhood. If that was the case, then I would believe that Harper Lee had eidetic memory at the time she was writing this, which allowed her to describe scenes and events in detail. And there are just a lot of characters in the book, you know? You could probably relate to one or some other. My point is, I really enjoyed reading through the book, even if it was late at night and I was in need of sleep.

TKAM Character Relationships

Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird has a wide cast of characters, most of them related to each other in some way. Some may have a direct relationship with Scout, while some might not. Those that do may serve as "alter egos" or "foils" for Scout.

I will try to analyze the relationship of one pair of characters, how they are alike or different, and from there, see if one of them acts as a foil or alter ego to Scout. I've chosen Dill and Francis as my subject.

Dill and Francis never interacted with each other directly, although Francis seems to know about the other. He expresses a negative opinion of Dill during Scout's visit to the Finch's Landing. There isn't much more to their actions concerning each other after that.

Dill is crafty, confident, and sensitive, while Francis is... rude. He's not a dirty person, exactly. He's proper and all that stuff. Such a waste, since he acts just like a spoiled child. In my opinion, he's obnoxious. Despite being around the same age, these boys have quite the number of differences. I can't think of any more similarities between them aside from their age and the fact that they can get any material thing that they ask for from their parents.

The only way these two could have any sort of relationship without actually meeting is through a "common medium", aka Scout. Dill is apparently "engaged" with Scout, something that goes on for the duration of the book. Although if Scout's initial treatment of Dill continued for much longer (she beat him up for not paying much attention to her) that wouldn't be the case. In reality, both of them are just close friends.

Francis's relationship to Scout, is something of the opposite. During the time span of Scout's visit, Francis constantly provokes her, challenging her self control, until Scout's mental fortitude breaks and she sends a flying one to his face. Simply put, she hates his guts. That's largely due to the fact that Scout and Francis are complete opposites. For example, Scout usually comes to conclusions on her own, while Francis gets his from his grandmother. Francis is an example of a foil for Scout.

Both Dill and Francis have a huge impact on Scout, even though Dill interacts with Scout over a much longer time period than Francis. Francis has a more obvious effect on Scout, since his provocations ultimately led to Scout getting punished by Uncle Jack. Scout learned an important lesson then (even though I can't grasp in my memory what it was). Dill was a change to Scout's everyday life after appearing one summer. It's possible that events concerning the "Boo Radley timeline" might not have even happened if Dill wasn't present, since he was usually the one who spearheaded any "Boo operations".

To finish this up, I believe that Francis had an immediate effect on Scout, while Dill had a long-term effect. Without both characters, the book would be rather dull.

TKAM Free Blog: Emotions While Reading

I was allowed to talk about anything related to TKAM in this blog post, but I had no ideas so I just took a blog prompt and responded to it.
(I am aware that I am not the most creative of people. Please don't ask about it if we meet.)

So, what emotions did I feel while reading the story?

This is the first time I've ever read a book while actively thinking about what I was reading. That brought with it plenty of new experiences.

The most notable of which was that I frequently felt emotions. I usually read a book for entertainment, and though I do get absorbed into the words of the book, I never really felt as if the characters were real people. I'm not sure if it was me paying more attention to the book or Harper's masterful storytelling (it could have been both) that made me actually see the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird as people. If I saw them as real people, of course, I would react to their interactions as if I was watching people in real life.

Though of course, I might miss something people usually react to, since I do not have my fair share of interacting with people, since I act like a recluse (or an antisocial, or a NEET, or a hikikomori, whichever you prefer) as evidenced by my absence in the outside world for the entire winter break.

My memory of the book isn't fresh, although it should be fine since it left a lasting impact on me.

The first instance that comes up is when Jem made a stab at ruining Mrs. Dubose's plants with the baton he bought Scout. I went silent when Jem started fighting with Scout, like I usually do when someone around me is livid. I was shocked, even, since Jem is usually the patient one between Scout and he.

Another situation where I felt more emotion was when Tom's verdict was given. I felt really shocked, so much that I gripped the book hard. Everything about the trial felt one-sided, on Atticus's side, from the reader's viewpoint. I doubted Jem's sureness on the whole matter, but I also felt sure the verdict would come out as "not guilty."

The last event I want to share is Boo Radley's appearance. Honestly, if I didn't read this part in public, I would have cried, which would be a first. I felt as if Harper was teasing us with all the mentions of Boo Radley throughout the story, which of course made me wonder if he would make an appearance later on. He did, and it shattered the negative image of him that was framed early in the story. He saved Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell, which made me happy--another first while reading.