I found the movie and the reading significantly different. The movie’s portrayal of drunk Arnold Joseph accidentally setting fire to Thomas’s home and saving Thomas from the fire was not mentioned in the reading. In the movie Arnold essentially left the reservation and his family because the considerable amount of guilt he suffered for his role in the accidental initiation of the fire. I sympathized with Arnold Joseph for leaving the reservation. He not only caused pain for himself, but also for his family through a terrible accident. I believed he left his son Victor because he thought his mistake was unforgivable.
My perspective changed without the fire element of the story included in the reading. I became confused and wondered why Arnold moved to Phoenix. Consequently Arnold appeared selfish in the reading because we did not receive any understandable excuse for him leaving his family. In the reading Arnold’s character differences affected the depiction of Victor’s character too. He was more open and friendly to strangers. He did not appear as bitter towards his father and the world. He got along better with Thomas during their travels. I felt the movie offered the viewers a more in-depth and dramatic insight into guilt, forgiveness, and redemption.
Yeah I agree the story did leave out a lot of information, thats one of the reasons I liked the movie because it give us much more detail of the characters journey and personal growth. But the story seemed to have a stronger connection between reader and character. But the story did mess up the story line a bit if you hand't of seen the movie so there's a lot of things that were left out that were crucial for us readers to have known. So in some ways I liked the movie better and in other ways I liked the story a little better.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWow. Thats interesting. It didn't cross my mind that the fire accident didn't occur in the reading. I think it was just so tramatic and stuck in my head that is what happened and the reason his father left. That gives the reading a whole other light. Because now it does seem selfish of his father to leave and you are not sure why. Thanks for the insight.
Mandy Ericson
In the move there are three incidences where forgiveness played the major part but in reading there were only two occurrences. In the movie Victor being able to forgive his father for leaving him and his mother and decides to go to Phoenix to collect his ashes was the first occurrence of forgiveness. Second one was Thomas being able to forgive Victor for all his rude and discriminating behavior. Third and most important example of forgiveness was Thomas being able to forgive Victor’s father, even after knowing that he was one who started fire killing Thomas’s parents. Instead of regarding Victor’s father as villain who killed his parents, he always remembered him as the hero who saved him. In reading both Victor forgiving his father and Thomas forgiving Victor was presented but the most important lesson of forgiveness taught by Thomas when he forgive Arnold was not presented.
ReplyDeleteHello Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI agree the fire completely change my view on the story and the characters in the movie. The movie made me see the characters forever entwined because of this devastating event. The boys came out of the same situations and had to completely different outlooks on life. The journey that they went through finally made them both realize how important it was for them to go through that event and how they completed each other.
The story however was just about someone almost a stranger helping another person out in away that no other person would or could. The person who gave such a big gift and not even wanting anything in return and the receiver not having enough integrity to relive that the person that was willing to give him so much was someone that was a good friend or a person that deserved the respect of him and others.
I agree with you. When I read the story I thought that Arnold was just being selfish for leaving the reservation but more importantly leaving his family. After watching the movie I also sympathsized with Arnold. I could not imagine what it would feel like to have that guilt hanging over my head every day. I also felt that the story left out a lot of key points that the movie picked up on. I also felt that the story was somewhat hard to follow with all of the "flashbacks" in time.
ReplyDeleteI think that the movie and reading were extremely differen't. I think that it is really hard to compare a movie with the reading because "hollywood" tends to change things a lot for effect. I think that the movie did a good job and giving you a full understanding of the story and the story was somewhat of a snip it of it.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I was glad that I was not the only one who noticed that the story did not give as much explanation as the movie did. If it weren't for the movie I would be lost with just the reading to have complete understanding on why things occured and why the characters acted the way they did. The story did not take enough time to explain in detail on pretty much anything.
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