I'm going to start this by saying that I LOVE Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's one of my favorite books--among so many others there are too many to count. Anyway, I love the concept of the picture taking in EVERYTHING from Dorian's life, especially his sins/evil--he doesn't do any good, so there's no reason to mention it. That's a genius idea of dealing with the whole immortal plot concept. Who hasn't looked at a favorite picture and thought about the good times and wished they could have lasted....forever?!
So I was excited, yet a tad trepidatious, about watching the 2008 movie version called Dorian Gray. We're supposed to watch it in my British Lit class later this week and I felt the need to preview the movie first. If you've read the book, you understand my trepidation.
I did NOT like the movie one tiny iota. First of all, it's awful. I don't think the acting is good at all. They deliver Wilde's epigrams as epigrams rather than smooth lines of comfortable dialogue. Secondly, Colin Firth has straight black hair and dark brown eyes, almost black, even. Dorian is clearly described by Wilde as having curly blonde hair and blue eyes!!!! Why change that?! Even Matthew McConnehy (sp?) would have been a better choice just because of his looks! UGH! Third, the BEST scene in the whole book isn't even in the movie!!!! When Dorian breaks it off with Sibyl in the book, she has fallen on her face before him (yes, she's bowing before him), and she reaches her tiny, pitiful hand out to touch Dorian's boot as he tells her she has killed his love for her because of her bad acting [in front of his friends]. It's such an incredibly tragically, romantic moment in the book. I can see Sibyl's pitiful, tiny hand reaching out, yet pulling back because she isn't even worthy to touch his boots, as Dorian pulls his boot roughly away from her and storming out of the room--leaving Sibyl to her pain and despair......and eventually, to take the poison to kill herself.
The movie has Sibyl kill herself by jumping in the river. That IS more tragically romantic than taking poison, but it simply seems to me to be an unnecessary change to the story as a whole. Overall, it's the least significant change in the story, but I simply don't see the need to change something like that. Drugs are such an important part of the overall story, so having Sibyl die of some poison fits that part of the story more than her jumping off a bridge into the River.
I also can't believe that the movie has Dorian dispose of Basil's body himself. Dorian would not have done that. He's above such things. Besides, it's an incredibly powerful scene when he calls in his "friend" to dispose of the body. That scene where Dorian has to convince said friend to do this terrible deed is a superb representation of how powerful Dorian has become. While he hasn't grown "up" as far as appearances are concerned, Dorian has grown up and grown into his manhood. He has taken charge of his own life. He has realized the power of money, as well as his own youth and beauty. He understands the power he wields...now. He no longer needs Henry/Harry. He can make his own decisions. He has become even more of what Henry/Harry expects him to be---Evil incarnate.
And worst of all, it's really the director's excuse to create a porno movie. I personally think the director should have called the movie Dorian Makes a Porno. The graphic sex and drugs scenes are TOOOOOOOO..........I know that Wilde very clearly talks about the fact that Dorian, after Sibyl's death, proceeds to live a life of utter pleasure, doing anything and everything that pleases Dorian himself, including, but not exclusive to, sex with both men and women and drugs, opium in particular. But Wilde was able to create an amazing story with vivid images of Dorian's life of pleasure without specifically describing the events in detail. Which means that the extreme pleasure scenes this director takes with this movie version are completely over the top and unnecessary. I don't need to SEE "it" to know "it" is going on......Do you know what I mean? Besides, it's sexier to leave something to imagination.
I'm very disappointed in the movie version.....And I haven't even talked about the picture itself! I'm not even going to get started on THAT......good grief.....did they have to have the picture growl evilly?????? Seriously?! UGH!!!! And then to have Dorian fall in love with Harry's daughter and betray Harry by sleeping with her?! No words.......
For those in my British Lit class, if you want to see Dorian Gray, you'll have to watch it on your own time--with your parents' permission. I'm not going to show this one. I'm corrupting you enough just by agreeing to the class choice to read the book.......!!!!!
Great Books
To read or not to read?....that is a silly question!
Showing posts with label The Picture of Dorian Gray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Picture of Dorian Gray. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Dorian Gray and Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler
Ok. I realize that I probably never would have thought of this if I hadn't been reading both The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gone with the Wind at the same time, but the truth is, I am reading both books at the same time, so I DO see that Scarlett and Dorian have a lot in common!
1. Both choose to "think about [it] tomorrow"--which, in essence boils down to not thinking about "it" at all because usually when "tomorrow" comes, we have other things pressing that need to be thought about--or put off until....tomorrow!
2. Both are beautiful. And they're obsessive about their own youth and beauty--as well as of those around them, but mostly for themselves. Dorian has always been petted and treated like a little prince because he's handsome--I mean, come one, he has blond, curly hair, and striking blue eyes!!!! Matthew McConaughey would make a WONDERFUL Dorian!!! Yummy! And Scarlett is very concerned with the fact that she has the smallest waist in the County--16 inches!!!! And after having Wade, she forces herself into her stays, even though she can't breathe, so she can be back at her original waist-line! She's very upset that she's had a baby and ruined her tiny figure! (She's even upset after each child is born about her tiny waist, not just Wade.) Dorian, of course, sells his soul for his Youth and Beauty.
3. Which brings me to the fact that both Scarlett and Dorian sell their souls. Dorian does it in the second chapter while Scarlett does it after she's gone back home to Tara when the Yankees take Atlanta. Dorian sees the portrait Basil has painted of him (Dorian) and he's attracted by the youth and beauty of himself in the painting. To himself, he says that he'd sell his soul if the painting could take the pressures of life while he stays exactly as the painting (he is) at that time.
Scarlett sells her soul when she goes to the abandoned plantations to look for food for the starving mouths looking to her to lead them and feed them. She's disillusioned because she'd gone home to Tara believing that her mother would take the burdens from her and Scarlett could go back to being the belle of the county with nothing more to worry about than which beaux will flirt with her next. Rather than peace and tranquility, when she gets home to Tara (after being gone for more than 3 years), she finds that her mother died the day before she got there and her father quickly loses his mind as a result of Ellen's death. Thus, everyone at Tara is looking to Scarlett to take care of them. She becomes the master of the plantation--and she's only 19!
(Another point of comparison between Dorian and Scarlett is that they're both young--I'm not sure what age is considered "coming of age" in Victorian England, but Dorian hasn't "come of age" yet, so he's got to be in his late teens or early twenties.)
So Scarlett goes to the plantations around Tara to look for food. She finds a vegetable garden by the "darkies'" cabins and soon gobbles down a raddish. Her empty stomach can't handle the food and she begins to vomit profusely over and over. As Scarlett is walking home, she declares, "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!" You all know the famous line from the movie. It's pretty powerful.
Many might argue that Scarlett sells her soul much sooner in the story. Maybe back when Ashley won't marry her and she marries Charles Hamilton to spite Ashley. Or when she actually convinces Ashley to kiss her, admitting that he DOES care for her. Or at some other earlier point in the story. But before Scarlett has the moment previously described, she tries very hard to be a good girl. She isn't really a praying woman, but she at least TRIES to pray. She tries so hard to be the young, virtuous woman her mother trained her to be. She feels the same way Rhett does about so many different issues, but she's afraid to say them aloud because of her upbringing--her training--and of what others will say/think of her.
But once she yells, "As God as my witness...," she completely changes. She soon kills a man (or had that JUST happened? I don't have my book in front of me to remember which came first). She quits praying or even pretending to pray. She becomes hard (there's a quote--again, I don't have my book to quote it...). When the war is over, she goes to ANY length to fulfill her declaration and to ensure that she and hers never go hungry again--but especially for herself. She even steals her sister's affianced, Frank Kennedy (whom Scarlett never could stand), because she knows that Frank has the ability to make money and to make it fast. (And that her sister would never share with the whole family and/or take care of Tara, while Scarlett will--and does.)
She's ruthless. Just as Dorian is ruthless. We don't get as much detail about what Dorian does, but we can understand that he's loved....a LOT....and left....a LOT. We can also assume that many of his relationships have not been with just women. He's become a drug addict, smoking opium in opium dens on a consistent basis. (Remember, Scarlett has her first real taste of strong liquor her first night home to Tara after the burning of Atlanta; she continues to enjoy a good, stiff drink every so often thereafter. She even uses perfume to try to mask the smell of alcohol on her breath!)
And, yes, eventually, Dorian kills a man--violently, just as Scarlett has. Dorian uses his cane (if I'm remembering the scene correctly) while Scarlett shoots the Yankee soldier's face off. Both cover up their murders swiftly, having the help of someone to clean up quickly so no evidence is left of the act or the body. And neither really feels any guilt or remorse over what he/she has done. Again, they both decide to "think about it tomorrow," but tomorrow, they have other cares to concern themselves with, so their murders are swept under the rug as if they never happened.
These are just a few ideas I have at the moment that I can think of.....more is there, but I really need to bring this a close right now.....
1. Both choose to "think about [it] tomorrow"--which, in essence boils down to not thinking about "it" at all because usually when "tomorrow" comes, we have other things pressing that need to be thought about--or put off until....tomorrow!
2. Both are beautiful. And they're obsessive about their own youth and beauty--as well as of those around them, but mostly for themselves. Dorian has always been petted and treated like a little prince because he's handsome--I mean, come one, he has blond, curly hair, and striking blue eyes!!!! Matthew McConaughey would make a WONDERFUL Dorian!!! Yummy! And Scarlett is very concerned with the fact that she has the smallest waist in the County--16 inches!!!! And after having Wade, she forces herself into her stays, even though she can't breathe, so she can be back at her original waist-line! She's very upset that she's had a baby and ruined her tiny figure! (She's even upset after each child is born about her tiny waist, not just Wade.) Dorian, of course, sells his soul for his Youth and Beauty.
3. Which brings me to the fact that both Scarlett and Dorian sell their souls. Dorian does it in the second chapter while Scarlett does it after she's gone back home to Tara when the Yankees take Atlanta. Dorian sees the portrait Basil has painted of him (Dorian) and he's attracted by the youth and beauty of himself in the painting. To himself, he says that he'd sell his soul if the painting could take the pressures of life while he stays exactly as the painting (he is) at that time.
Scarlett sells her soul when she goes to the abandoned plantations to look for food for the starving mouths looking to her to lead them and feed them. She's disillusioned because she'd gone home to Tara believing that her mother would take the burdens from her and Scarlett could go back to being the belle of the county with nothing more to worry about than which beaux will flirt with her next. Rather than peace and tranquility, when she gets home to Tara (after being gone for more than 3 years), she finds that her mother died the day before she got there and her father quickly loses his mind as a result of Ellen's death. Thus, everyone at Tara is looking to Scarlett to take care of them. She becomes the master of the plantation--and she's only 19!
(Another point of comparison between Dorian and Scarlett is that they're both young--I'm not sure what age is considered "coming of age" in Victorian England, but Dorian hasn't "come of age" yet, so he's got to be in his late teens or early twenties.)
So Scarlett goes to the plantations around Tara to look for food. She finds a vegetable garden by the "darkies'" cabins and soon gobbles down a raddish. Her empty stomach can't handle the food and she begins to vomit profusely over and over. As Scarlett is walking home, she declares, "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!" You all know the famous line from the movie. It's pretty powerful.
Many might argue that Scarlett sells her soul much sooner in the story. Maybe back when Ashley won't marry her and she marries Charles Hamilton to spite Ashley. Or when she actually convinces Ashley to kiss her, admitting that he DOES care for her. Or at some other earlier point in the story. But before Scarlett has the moment previously described, she tries very hard to be a good girl. She isn't really a praying woman, but she at least TRIES to pray. She tries so hard to be the young, virtuous woman her mother trained her to be. She feels the same way Rhett does about so many different issues, but she's afraid to say them aloud because of her upbringing--her training--and of what others will say/think of her.
But once she yells, "As God as my witness...," she completely changes. She soon kills a man (or had that JUST happened? I don't have my book in front of me to remember which came first). She quits praying or even pretending to pray. She becomes hard (there's a quote--again, I don't have my book to quote it...). When the war is over, she goes to ANY length to fulfill her declaration and to ensure that she and hers never go hungry again--but especially for herself. She even steals her sister's affianced, Frank Kennedy (whom Scarlett never could stand), because she knows that Frank has the ability to make money and to make it fast. (And that her sister would never share with the whole family and/or take care of Tara, while Scarlett will--and does.)
She's ruthless. Just as Dorian is ruthless. We don't get as much detail about what Dorian does, but we can understand that he's loved....a LOT....and left....a LOT. We can also assume that many of his relationships have not been with just women. He's become a drug addict, smoking opium in opium dens on a consistent basis. (Remember, Scarlett has her first real taste of strong liquor her first night home to Tara after the burning of Atlanta; she continues to enjoy a good, stiff drink every so often thereafter. She even uses perfume to try to mask the smell of alcohol on her breath!)
And, yes, eventually, Dorian kills a man--violently, just as Scarlett has. Dorian uses his cane (if I'm remembering the scene correctly) while Scarlett shoots the Yankee soldier's face off. Both cover up their murders swiftly, having the help of someone to clean up quickly so no evidence is left of the act or the body. And neither really feels any guilt or remorse over what he/she has done. Again, they both decide to "think about it tomorrow," but tomorrow, they have other cares to concern themselves with, so their murders are swept under the rug as if they never happened.
These are just a few ideas I have at the moment that I can think of.....more is there, but I really need to bring this a close right now.....
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