Response to Course Material - Sept. 7

In the past couple of weeks, we have been working on how to analyze literature. From using DIDLS, to looking for tone and structure, we have many ways to pick apart a work. Most of the time, what I do in class is separate from how I work at home and in daily life. That is not, however, the case as of now. Today, I spent the morning watching Taken 2. Not a piece of written literature, you say? Sure.. maybe so. But the entire time I was totally geeked out, imagining how the movie would be written out. Weird, I know. But true. Diction is fairly obvious, the words that characters use. It really didn't have an effect on the movie (or if it had been written out...) since it was mainly just easy to follow, simple words. Imagery, obviously, was the scene of the movie. But... would writing it out make it any more powerful? Yes. I believe the answer is yes. We all have our favorite book-turned-movie. Sadly, the movies simply do not compare. One of the reasons, is the use of imagery. In a book, imagery appeals to the senses and has great detail that the reader must pay attention to. With a movie, people are simply shown; which doesn't necessarily appeal to the audience's senses. One part that I would have liked to read - instead of watch- would be when the dad is taken into a tiny, dark room. They showed the setting, but had it been described, it would have been that much more powerful and would have made it seem more intense. There would have been words like "the humid moisture clung to his forehead as he patiently fumbled to reach his phone..." There. Not just shown, but gave more feeling that each person can relate to their own experience. Skipping to syntax, my most embarrassing moment was leaning over to my friend, talking about a fight scene and how it would look written out. His response...? A blank stare. Odd, but I had to explain. See, as it was filmed, there were short and quick movements that made the watcher confused and unsure of who was winning which fight. On the page, I eagerly pushed on, the set up would be very similar. Short, quick sentences. To the point, very choppy. This would interrupt the flow and the structure would parallel with the fights themselves. Again... just a blank stare. Sadly, my geek moment could not be shared, but with that, I realized that how I read literature will be change drastically if I have already tried to analyze my own rendition of a movie.