Amber Rutan

Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

TE 838 Final Reflection
Introduction:
Since I was a child, I have grown up with TV and films as a daily, ordinary part of my life. I also
grew up with books. But when I saw my books transform into movies, I was adamant to see that
transformation be as literal as possible. Although I loved watching TV and visiting the movie
theatres, I was a book reader at heart. Still I was always excited to see my favorite books be idolized
on film; however, I felt the one and only way to properly do that was for directors to keep absolute
fidelity to what the author had already created.
I also always looked at those movie renditions as just a movie, and nothing else. I almost
always had read the book, so watching the film version became an irate compare and contrast
experience. I never realized that there is a very distinct piece of literary design in a film within
itselfuntil now.
Ive come to realize that the mindsets that once defined my movie watching experiences,
especially my mindless comparison/contrast to literature, have been very damaging and limiting to
my learning. The fact is, I live in a time where films are a huge part of our popular culture, and they
deserve some critical reading just like the literature we studied. Films are worthy a good read
themselves, and the belief that films must keep absolute fidelity to the text they stemmed from is
both unrealistic and restrictive. And like you said, "I discovered that films based on literature are
actually more a product of their social and historical context than they are products of the
literature." There is a lot more going on within a film rendition than just copying a books down into
a movie script, and a lot more influences beneath the cinematic surfaceand it is definitely worth
discussion.
And most importantly, Ive come to realize that there is still a need to critically look, debate,
and explore films and literature side by side, but in deeper ways, and this is worthwithout a
doubtexamination in the classroom.
Learning to Read Books and Film:
The love of literature often accompanies the way one can read a story, pick it a part, and
analyze what the author has created, from plot to characters, setting to language choices. Part of
what makes literature so fascinating to study is the opportunity to pick it a part, and discuss why.
Why does the writer do the things that they do? Why is this literature written this way? Why did the
author do that to this character? Whywhyit can go on and on, and into so many different facets
within the literary piece itself. The passion people have to talk and discuss what they are reading is a
crucial example of analysis. Yet sadly, many people think that analysis is limited to books and only
books.
But why not a movie? Why not film as well?

Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

The interesting thing about film, regardless if it stems from a piece of literature or not, is
films are still a story, and still consist of the same unique structures and design that shape many of
our favorite pieces of literature. Movies needs characters. They need setting. Plot. Language,
especially dialogue. And style. Just like a writer is able to craft sentences, words, and chapters in
their own unique and defining style, so does a director on film. Directors like Tim Burton have their
own directoring style with their actor selections, set designs, and so on. When Tim Burton did his
own version of Roalds Dahls Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, many audiences easily knew it was
Tim Burton because of the way he created Wonkas Chocolate Room (which may remind us of his
designs in The Nightmare Before Christmas and other his films) and his use of some of his favorite
actors like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Films are in many ways the close cousins of
books and written texts, and as such, they deserve to be given the same level of analysis and
discussion. In fact, films could offer an even more enriching analysis because of the visuals, sounds,
and other cinematic elements that are needed to create it.
A lot of audience members dont really understand or appreciate the artwork that goes into
making a film. Yes, a good film usually starts with a good story, but there is also a lot of
consideration placed into elements like casting, lighting, camera angles, graphics, editing, and more.
Just like a writer has to decide what chapter goes first, or what plot point goes where, a director has
to decide the way their different scenes will be seen by their theatre audiencesand that is very
different than what a reader sees on a white piece of paper. Audiences dont always notice that the
camera is at a high angle to show a characters weakness, or that the lighting in a scene has gone to
high key to show a happier change in mood or tone. Consider some of the cinematic elements and
design in Victor Flemings infamous 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy is sucked up in the
cyclone, the camera shows several wonderful film designs in which audiences see what Dorothy sees
out the window, like her evil neighbor transform into the Wicked Witch, or how the camera looks
over Dorothys shoulder as she opens the door to see the brilliant colors of Munkinland, verses the
clever choice of Sepia for the land of Kansas. Taking the time to pause and reflect on a directors
construction of a film, just like a writers construction of a book, could lead to some enriching
discussions. Imagine the conversations people could and already have had about the Flemings
Wizard of Oz. Why were the shoes red? Why did the director make Dorothys visit to Oz a dream? The
discussions have been very interesting in the past, and also very important because our world is
become more and more involved in television and film every day.
Although some people think films are destroying books and the literary culture, films could
be just as enriching to analyze, and in fact, need to be. We cant deny that movies are become ever
more prevalent in our culturejust look at the millions, if not billions, of dollars that are put into
films every year. Also, think about how many times you hear about what movies broke what records
over the weekend of their first release. Its staggering. It also proves that films are a huge part of
our world and more people need to realize there is a distinct art in making a really good movie, just
like there is in writing a good book. By learning how to read a film, people could have just as an
enriching experience watching a film, as they do reading a book and get some even more exposure
to analysis.


Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

Fidelity to the Original:
Now films in general are worth a good critical read, but things can get a little messier when
you look at films based off of literature. Too many people became solely dedicated to the original
text, and then their ability to look at film is overshadowed and they fall into this sort of fidelity tunnel
visionwhere nothing but the original text is going to satisfy them.
The problem is films, and the literature behind them, will never be able to stay fully faithful to
the text that came before them, for several reasons. The first, is the medium of a book verses and
film and the time constraints a director faces. When we see a piece of literature put onto the big
screen it is bound to experience one or two thingsit will have to cut down, meaning scenes from
the book will be taken out, or it has to be bulked up, and new scenes will have to be added. Consider
the two picture books by Chris Van Allsburg: Jumanji and The Polar Express. Both books were
original picture books and were too short to create full length films, so the directors had to add to
the original storyline. Also consider another childrens classic, E.B. Whites Charlottes Web. That
book184 pageswas too long, and some scenes had to be cut out, in both the 1973 and 2006 film
version. And sometimes you see both, things getting cut out and new things being added. Movies
traditionally are around 1 -2 hours long (some films have flirted with the over 3 hours, but are
usually criticized as too long), and often times a completely faithful literature adaptation would need
to too little or too much time that is unrealistic for a film production.
The fact is a film is a different genre than a book, or a short story, and there are going to be
some changes as its goes through a transformation from one genre to another. However, if a viewer
is able to become more open minded, and move away from the belief in absolute fidelity, they might
be able to see their favorite written texts evolve and grow in new ways. For instance, when Mel
Stuart created his 1973 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, he took several different
liberations with the Roald Dahls original childrens story. One significant change he made was the
new plot point with Slugworth and the Everlasting Gobster. In the original story, Charlie won the
factory, essentially, by defaultall of the other children lost out of the competition one by one and
only Charlie was left. However, in Stuarts film, Charlie had to earn his right to the factory by proving
his honesty and not forfeiting the Everlasting Gobster to another candy company for his own
personal gain. We also see Charlie as a more realistic little boy in the film, capable of making his own
mistakes, like sneaking fizzy lifting drinks, but also capable of doing the right thing when no one
elseadult or childwould. Those changes show that not only do movies veer away from absolute
fidelity to a text, the changes that are made can actually make you enjoy a story, or character even
more. Stuart, like many other directors who made film adaptations, was able to capture some of
Dahls original themes, but also brought a new reading experience to his viewers. Instead of
getting upset or shutting down to these changes, audiences need to see how directors are making
their own mark on the original text, and how they are offering new surprises and details for the
audience to enjoy beyond what they have already read in the literature first.
Films are also going to change because of the time period in which they are created. While
some films are created closely after the book is released, most films are produced years after their
inspiring text was published, and the cultural climate that those movies vs. books have been created
in may have changed. A film reimagining can become an interesting reflection of the social and
political times that their director had, or are living in. We saw that in the 1995 film version of Jumanji
Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

by Joe Johnston. It is interesting to see how Johnstons movie may reflect what was happening to
so many of the small towns and businesses in America from the late 1960s-1990s. Johnston took a
very dramatic turn from the original picture book by Chris Van Allsburg to add a new character, Alan
Parrish, and a new setting, a small town thats main economic livelihood was Alans fathers shoe
factory. Viewers who watch the film see the once bustling town in 1969 change into a very different,
completely run-down and economically depressed setting. The changes in that town are connected
to Alan Parrishs disappearance via the Jumanji game, but also seem to reflect what we have seen all
throughout the country as a result of things like economic recessions, rising conglomerates, and
even the impact of the Vietnam War. It seems apparent that Johnstons film is reflecting the social
and political landscape he was living in, which was not even mentioned or explored in the original
picture book.
We see another instance of these types of influences changing a piece of literature in its film
adaptations with the Disney version of The Little Mermaid. Disney dramatically changed the role and
presence of the sea witch in Hans Christian Andersens fairy tale, and made her into a portly villain,
which was a very interesting deviation from the traditionally skinny villains in Disneys past films. It
could be argued that we see, once again, a film being created as a reflection of the times. The Little
Mermaid was released in 1989, just as America was becoming more concerned about obesity. It
seems apparent that Ursulas large-esque figure was chosen in reaction to the crisis on Americans
growing size and corpulence. Once again, before people argue that every movie must be stay
absolutely and completely faithful to the text that inspired it, it is important for people to realize that
it is just not possible. The social and political context that a film is produced in is bound to be
reflected in the directors choices whether or not it is present in the authors original book.
The only way for people to be open to alternations in their favorite stories when they reach
the big screen is to start realizing that absolute fidelity to the original is never truly possible, nor is
it really helpful to the reading experience of a movie. As people start to look at film and literature
together, this is a discussion that needs to be made and explored to help people move forward and
see the good things that a movie does differently, but in relationship to its textual predecessor.
Books and Films as Popular Culture
Like it or not, films will probably continue to rise and in some ways overshadow the
entertainment of the pastlike books. And even more interesting is how we have seen a change in
the way books are being picked for publication. We are seeing more of a demand, and motivation to
choose books that will fit into our popular culture, and part of the popular culture is film itself.
So what comes first? The book or the movie?
In many ways, the old belief was that the book is written first and in many years down the
road, after its gain success and popularity, it is selectively chosen and then changed into a film is
starting to flip upside down. We have seen that more and more publishers are picking books that
will definitely spark a film, and quickly. In a way, publishers are looking for new books for the
bookshelves that will lead to new media and marketing, and the question of will this make for a great
movie? is asked more and more and could determine if an author should even be put on the shelves.
In some ways, this connects back to the fidelity to the text issues. Take the Harry Potter series as an
Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

example. Harry Potter has sparked not one, but eight films based on its seven books by J.K. Rowling.
The film producers were even able to squeeze out another film by splitting up the last book into a
two part movie. The evolution of Harry Potter from an original text, to a very faithful first movie
rendition, to a huge explosion of media and marketing, shows how much film and literature have
changed with our popular culture. They also reveal that the literature we are reading is changing as a
direct result of the growing film industry.
As said before, like it or not, the choices of books on our book shelves have become deeply
intertwined with the possible cinematic futures these stories could yield. And because this is
happening, it is even more important for people to consider how they read films, and how the
books will change when a director puts them on a big screen. It even return us to the identity of
fidelity to the text and make us ask, are the stories we are reading really books, or are they merely
the rough drafts to a guaranteed future movie script? It kind of takes the fun out of the whole
literary and film viewing experience, doesnt it? But the fact is, this are the changes that will be
shaping our future entertainment worldfor both films and booksbut being able to have a critical
reading eye for both genres, and exploring the culture that these stories and film are being
created in, could help produce some very dynamic discussions of film and literature in the classroom.
The truth is as teachers of the 21
st
century, we will be educating a new group of readers, and they
arent just reading books anymore.
Applications:
As a teacher, it is my responsibility to give my students strategies to think critically about the
world around them. As an English teacher, I am suppose to focus the most on what students read,
but as the 21
st
century and our popular culture has evolved, it is also what they see and hear on film
and other media that I need to focus on as well.
Most of my students are huge consumers of the visual, preferring to watch stories unfold on
the screenlike on TV, movies, and the internetverses reading the stories unfold on the page. And
rather than deny that these are the changes in our world today, I want to help students learn to
critically read and analyze these new mediums rather than ignore their growing presence in our
current teens and childrens daily lives.
Another realization I have made is how few people know, or even realize, that there is a way
to critically read films. So many people have dismissed movies as lethargic entertainment, but there
is a very enriching way to experience film. The problem is there are too many people do not have the
skill set to do so, and there is not a lot of emphasis placed on it in many school curriculums. Often
the belief is that people already know how to watch TV; they know how to turn it on and look at it,
but the truth is that is not an engaging and meaningful experience. It could be. But in order to make
that possible, students need to be exposed to all that goes into a film. They need to realize how a
film is put together, as well as the issues that surround it, like what I have experienced in our
different modules this summer. I have thought about this more and more because of the age level I
work with at my current school district.
I work with mostly 11
th
and 12
th
grade students, and these are the future minds and
generations that will be in the workforce in five or so years. This is also the future generations that
Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

are huge visual consumers and participants. I want my students to know that analysis and being able
to deeply critique someones work is not just limited to a book. Before taking this college class, I did
teach a two week, but somewhat basic, unit on film analysis in my English IV classwhich is the last
required English course for our high school students. I introduced students to the idea of how and
why a film is made, with a set of 20+ film vocabulary ranging from lighting terms (low key, high key,
side lighting) to camera angles and editing (dissolve, low angle, medium shot, etc.). For two weeks
we studied 2-3 different films and looked at what the director was doing and why. We always started
with the Hitchcock classic, Psycho, and move into a more contemporary film as our second film
study, with a 3
rd
film if we had time.
The sad thing is though, that this unit used to be four weeks long and a mandatory part of
the curriculum at my first district. However, when I moved to my current district, I have only been
able to do this unit second semester and after my seniors leave and I have two weeks left of school
with my underclassmen. I would love to make this a stronger and required unit for all students
because I know there is so much value in students being able to read film. This unit could help
students see the different methods and motivations a director uses and could even be expanded
into what we see on TV commercials, or TV shows. And as I am finishing up this class, I also feel that I
could make this unit even stronger by taking the discussions from this course and adding it on to
what I already do.
This next year when I do this film analysis unit, I want to have my students study a film in
relationship to a piece of text, right after watching the movie Psycho. For example, I would love to
have students read, The Little Mermaid, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Jumanji (which are all
shorter texts and work within my two week timeframe) and then have students watch the film to
continue to explore a directors film craft and our film vocabulary, but also to expose students to the
concerns of reading a film and debating the issue of fidelity to the original. As of right now, the
movie I am leaning towards the most would be The Little Mermaid because we see the story change
SO MUCH from Andersens original to the big screen. I would also like to use parts of the essay by
Trites concerning the way Disney depicts love and the villain Ursula; I wouldnt do the whole Trites
article (especially because I work with high school students), but there are definitely some chunks
of the article, Disneys sub/Version of Andersens The Little Mermaid, that could serve up some
interesting discussions or journal quick writes.
I also love Jumanji, and think I could do similar things by borrowing hot spots from
Wilsons article entitled, A Note on Jumanji, and we could get into how directors add and build
onto an authors original story, like Van Allsburgs original picture book. I think my ultimate decision
will be made after sharing my ideas with the other English IV teacher, and doing a vote to see how
many students have read/seen the two different literature choices and I might pick the one they
know less about. I am also an avid fan of complex, intense scholarly articles that would push my
students into some more critical reading like they might experience in college, so it is great to see
what these two film versions have in relationship with the articles that go with them. But ultimately,
I am excited about the discussions and analysis that could take place, and think it would open up
students to the bigger ideas concerning film adaptations and the film industry. I already know some
students are just like the me from eight weeks agoavid book puristsso I would love for them to
see the merit in films that veer away from a piece of literature and why.
Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

I could also see myself applying some of these discussions earlier in the semester with our
first unit in my English IV class which is on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. There are now
three movie versions of that book, including the newest film version with Leonardo DiCaprio, that
would be great for class discussion and also drawing in some of my reluctant Gatsby readers. It
could be a way for me to introduce the idea of cinematic elements earlier in the semester so all of my
students, seniors included, could be exposed to the complex, but very interesting issues surrounding
film adaptations.
I also plan on applying some new film ideas to my other classcreative writing. I would love
to have my students look more at movie script writing as a possible genre, especially because we are
seeing more and more film in our changing culture. I would love to have these students explore
some of their favorite written texts and how they could re-imagine them for the big screen. How
would they do their own version of their favorite reading books, especially young adult lit? That
question could produce some really creative student responses.
The use of film and discussing the way you read a film could also be used to help these
creative writing students write storiesfiction and nonfictionin my classroom. In fact, we have
already done this a little bit by watching the film, Pride and Prejudice, by Joe Wright, and discussing
characterization, but after working my way through the first module, I realized I could expand this to
discuss more literary elements like the setting, style, plot, and so on. I know that our current
students are incredibly visual, and I think utilizing films to help teach the literary techniques and
methods for writing could be really powerful in my current classroom.
Probably my favorite idea that I have taken from this class comes from our last unit on Harry
Potter. I am an avid Harry Potter fan, and so are quite a few of my students. So when I read the
essays in Elizabeth E. Heilmans book, I was instantly sold on the idea of using Harry Potter in my AP
Literature classroom.
Like I have said before, one thing I noticed that my students struggle with the most is
analysis. In many ways, the word analysis seems to freak my students out and they cant really
wrap their head around what analysis really is, or what it really means. This is also a huge issue when
my AP Literature students first come into my classroom. So in order to help my students more
thoroughly understand the way to do scholarly analysis, I want to use the essay by Maria Nikolajeva
entitled Harry Potter and the Secrets of Childrens Literature. I am still not sure how I plan to use
this exactly, but I have two distinct ideas.
My first idea is to make students read the 1
st
Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone, over the summer as a summer reading project, and have students do their own
attempt at analyzing the book as a piece of childrens literature. I would ask students to write an
essay where they explore what they think Rowling is doing and if this book could truly be called
childrens literature. Then, when students return to school in the fall, during the first week of
class, I would have students share and discuss what they came up with on their own. A day later,
students would be asked to read Maria Nikolajevas article and look at what she specifically analyzed
and argued. How great would it be to have students explore the concept of analysis with a piece of
literature most of them know and enjoy already!? Students would come back and do a seminar to
discuss the analysis in Nikolajevas work, then compare it to their own work, and we could look at
Amber Rutan
Final Reflection
August 8, 2013

some of her best arguments that involve analysis and important literary structures. Nikolajevas
article was one of my favorite reads in our class, and it is a wonderful piece of complex scholarly
reading that my AP students need to be exposed to, and it involves a piece of literature they all know
pretty well (even if they havent read it before).
My second idea, which may be used this year because the school year is almost here, and I
cant assign any new summer reading, may be to have students watch the Harry Potter film instead
(which we discovered is one of the closest text-to-film adaptations we have seen) of reading the
book, and doing the article after, just to make sure all of my students have had some type of direct
Harry Potter exposure under their belt. However, I still prefer my first idea because I learned
through this class that doing a critical read of a text, even though I had read it before, was important
and helpful for my later analysis. Still, I plan to look at this article this year because it was such an
enriching read and analysis experience for me, and I know it will also be for my AP Literature
students as well.
There is also some literature in my current AP curriculum that I watch movies with. We read
The Kite Runner, The Merchant of Venice, and Othelloall of which I have done some film studies
with, so I know now that I need to discuss with students the ways to read these films as well as
how to consider them without getting so wrapped up in the directors being absolutely faithful to the
text.
Conclusions:
I have come to realize that as a teacher, I was doing the whole lets look at the film version
completely wrong, and I have been teaching like this for the past five years. I have come realize that
my teaching of the film was also contributing to the lackluster viewing experiences of my students. I
did, on several occasions, tell my students that I hated the film version of Frankenstein, 1984, The
Great Gatsby, or Othellojust to name a few. I would go off on a rant about how they failed to do
this, or took out that. In many ways, I was already influencing my students to hate the movie before
they would ever see it, and my book purist belief system was hurting my own, and my students,
possible film analysis experiences. I was more than willing to discuss the ways a director created a
film, and the art behind a movie production, but I was never truly open to the idea of looking more
closely at text-to-film adaptations. Now I know better, and now I know that I have the ability as a
teacher to help my students expand their movie watching horizons. In fact, I have an obligation too.
I dont want my students to just watch at a film and not think about itthey need to really
think about it, and contemplate what they see and hear. This is the 21
st
century; I am a 21
st
century
teacher, and I want to help empower, and foster the 21
st
century reader who is going to be reading
more than books. And luckily, this class has not only helped to me come to that realization, but has
given me some tools and resources to use in my own curriculum.