What should schools do?

I feel like a 21^st century English class should be similar to what we currently have in place with a few exceptions. I believe that we should continue to focus on literary fiction because they tell important stories that make you think but I don’t think we should completely focus on just literary stories. We also need to focus on some genre stories. High school students get bored and lazy and will resort to just using spark notes because it’s accessible and easy to use. If students got the choice of picking one of their books or a couple of their books to read that were non-literary. I believe we need to have 30% non-literary reading and 70% literary reading.

I would agree with Laura Miller about the growing gap between the literary community and the reading public because some people don’t agree with the books being on the National Best Sellers list. Maybe they don’t understand what is going on in the story or they just don’t enjoy reading that type of genre.

I would not be ok with swapping out Twilight for Of Mice and Men because Of Mice and Men is a treasured classic with an interesting story about two migrant workers while Twilight is just about a bunch of vampires and wolves and some random depressed girl. Twilight doesn’t tell a great story and it’s quite boring. Of Mice and Men has been adapted into many cartoons and animations such as American Dad, King of the Hill, South Park and the Looney Toons. It has also been referenced in Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This book has been referenced in many popular video games and TV shows that it has to have some influence on the people who created the TV shows and video games. The only influence Twilight has had is the growing the demand and hatred of vampires.

Eat, Pray, Love: Blog #4

Some challenges that a film maker would have in adapting the book into the movie would be, following the exact storyline, and following her thought process. In order to make the book work they would have to focus primarily on the “action” scenes which are very limited in this book due to her thoughts on certain events that occurred. She also sounds somewhat “whiney” throughout the entire book where you get this view that she complains a lot making the book somewhat unbearable to read. The director would need to find a good actress that would make Liz appear less “whiney” in order for people to stick it out through the rest of the movie.

Three specific scenes that need to be kept in the book are, when her husband divorces her, when she sent the letter to David to break up with him for good and then breaks down to Giovanni, and the scene where she is eating dinner with Maria and Luca Spaghetti.  I believe that these three scenes should be in the movie because; the part in the book when the husband divorces her explains why she goes on this adventure to three different places for a year. The part where she is breaking down to Giovanni after she breaks up with David is a good scene because it helps show more of her character and how she feels without going too much into her inner thoughts.  This scene is hilarious and adds a funny element to the story on how they still keep the curse words up on their wall.

Three specific scenes that are unessential to be used in the movie are when whole chapter when he sister came to see her and the backstory of her sister, when she goes the sports game with Luca Spaghetti, and when she talks about how she went to Russia when she was 16 . These scenes would need to be cut out of the story because they take the focus away from the main point of the book or they are boring and unnecessary. The backstory of her sister and when her sister comes is a good part to cut out for the movie because it’s something just random and it’s a quick scene. The only thing it shows is that she is completely different from her sister.  This scene doesn’t have to do with anything related to her in the book it just shows some culture of a very small group in Italy.  You don’t need that scene because it doesn’t follow the storyline and completely strays from what she is talking about in the story.

-TheKillerGrapes-