Friday, June 22, 2012

Kafka's written work vs. Carlos's film


Eh102
Gerald Courtney
Movie vs. Written Work
“The Metamorphosis” is both a movie and a written story about a traveling sales man who was transformed into a giant insect which made him physically unable to care for his family. I will be describing and giving examples of his ordeal in both the film and written work.  The metamorphosis film which was made in 1993 by carols had many differences compared to Kafka’s 1915 original written story. Many film producers do not stick to what the original story line was in their film that they make, even Carlos added a couple of changes to his version of the metamorphosis. The film did give a more visual feeling of what Gregor’s ordeals were and how deeply they affected him (wikapedia ).
Both the film and the movie have their similarity and differences like for example in the story Gregor’s was transformed into a giant insect, while in the film he was transformed into a half human half insect monster. The similarities in both works are few for example, the time that both of the stories took place. In Carlos’s film it took place during Hitler’s rise to power, were as Kafka’s took place many years before that happened. Carlos’s film painted a more terrible ordeal of fear when in the film Gregor’s family was Jewish and had lost their bread winner but, what made  their ordeals more desperate and stressful was when a Nazi showed up at their front door. In Kafka’s written version Gregor’s inability to communicate was one of his greatest ordeals that he endured in Kafka’s written work. For Gregor to have no ability to speak or communicate made his ordeal more depressing, even thought he could not communicate Gregor could still understand what his family members were saying about him and their true intentions on what to do with Gregor. From Breckman’s theory Gregor’s inability to speak came from his detachment to his humanity (Breckmen). In both the movie and film Gregor developed an appetite for rotten food given to him by his sister. Gregor’s depressing and sad state made him so weak and miserable that he had no desire to walk out of his room because he was afraid of what his family might do or think of him if he were to leave his room.
In both the film and movie Gregors ordeals had psychologically affection his human aspect of thinking, including his sleepless nights and constant thinking. His sleepless nights of constant thinking drove him insane the same thought ran thought his mind nonstop “what has happened to me” (Breckmen). In Carlos’s film there was no scene that showed Gregor was constantly thinking and pondering the question about what he has become and why . Gregor was worried about his job when he realized that he could never return to work in his condition but, when he realized that the company sent someone to find out what was up with his absence Gregor realized that his job would be lost. In the movie no such scene showed that he was concerned about his job. Gregor was worried about his family and their financial security; the thought of his family losing their security that he provides for them drove him crazy and insane.
The loss of Gregor’s humanity stressed his parents emotionally and financially in both the film and written story. If there were more similarities in the movie and story it would be in the emotional reaction from his family members. In both the movie and written story Gregors is falsely accused of attacking his mother and is cased down by his father being pelted with apples that were thrown by his frustrated and angry father that has lost all hope of ever getting his human son back. In the film Gregor is being hit with apples on the roof of their house, while in the story he is being pelted with apples in the kitchen (Carlos’s film). Gregors mother was still hoping that her son would return to normal but at the end of both film and movie her hopes would be cursed when Gregors passes away. Her love for her son was so great that she pleaded with her daughter to take her to see her son but, each time she left to see Gregor she would pass out or faint because of what her son looked like. In the movie that was shown more often and frequent than in the written work.
In conclusion both film and written work show and demonstrate both similarities and differences between each other’s psychological aspects of the written work and film. The film gave a more modern and dramatic feelings about what Gregors ordeals were in the film story. The written work presented more detail about what was Gregors thinking during the time that he was an insect to the time of his death.  
Work cited
1 Breckmen, Warren. kafkas metamorphosis in his time and ours. n.d. web. 19 6 2012.
2  wikapedia . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis. 19 6 2012. web encyclopedia. 20 6 2012.
     

4 comments:

  1. You should not add any url in you blog. If you want, you should create the hyperlinks. I see you compare the film with the original work. It looks like the essay just for the compare them. If that is you want, it is a good essay, but if it is not, you are better to type your main opinion in the first and last paragraph.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your essay is good, and you did a better comparative analysis here than in the original one. You also used reliable sources to support your analysis, but the only mistake you did was using URLS in your work cited. You did a good job

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pretty good analysis. However, I feel your into could have been better. the opening sentence is a little bland. Other then that, I feel you did a good job revising. I also liked that you used plenty of sites to support you theory. Good job revising your analysis.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your essay is well organized. I noticed that you did the point-by-point organizational scheme, and this made me understand your analysis much better. I agree with you when you said "The film did give a more visual feeling of what Gregor’s ordeals were and how deeply they affected him". And you show a lot of examples to prove this point. Also you have a great sources to back up your argument!

    ReplyDelete