Critic in Progress . . .

Book and Movie Review:  World War Z

Over vacation I read a few books and when I got back I went to see the movie adaption of one.  I thought for my Monday (which is being published on Tuesday courtesy of my dear friend Mr. Migraine) blog I would share my thoughts on both. 

As is so often the case the book was way better than the movie.  There are two times I can think of where this has not true.  Case #1 The Count of Monte Cristo.  I found the book so depressing. Intriguing, yes.  Interesting, no doubt.  And obviously it is  incredibly well written, classic literature blah blah blah, but utterly without any hope for humanity.  The movie twisted the plot a little and made the characters that much more redeemable and so I liked that.  My second exception (and I know there are those in my life who will vehemently disagree with me here but I don’t think they read my blog so I probably won’t get chastised)Anne of Green Gables.  I actually love the Anne character from the movies (stopping before the horrible 2000 movie) better than the Anne of the books.  Hate me if you will.  I think those are the only instances, for me, where the movie actually surpasses the book. 

Usually, the movie is at a severe disadvantage.  It can’t give you the same feel as a book, communicate the way a book can a character’s thoughts, ideas and justifications.  So allowances must be made.  Also, inevitably good books are kind of long and apparently I am one of the only people who think a four hour movie is okay and so movies have to cut things out and book fans will always criticize what got cut, how much got cut etc .  That being said . . .

World War Z by Max Brooks                                                                                                   

The book is told from the perspective of a UN worker after World War Z.  He is interviewing people who played different roles in the war.  This includes everyday citizens, military personnel, government officials, medical workers and others from all over the world.  Each interview is only a couple of pages although they do go back to some of the same people so you get a little more from them.  The format is jarring.  It is also told in reverse chronological order.  We obviously know the war is over at the beginning of the book and that’s what we start with, the end and where humanity is and work backwards from there.  As a writer I appreciated the unique storytelling method.  Apocalyptic dystopian tales are a dime a dozen at this point but the way in which this one was presented was certainly fresh.  It also wasn’t really a character driven book.  We do meet a lot of people but we don’t really follow them through.  Who we are really concerned about is humanity at large not any one person in particular and that too is a unique aspect of this book among those in the genre.

At times I found it difficult to follow the events as we were going backwards and there were so many people coming and going, dying and surviving.  However this didn’t really curtail my enjoyment of the book.  I didn’t really feel like I had to remember the details about each character so much to follow the war itself and I suppose the war was the main character in the end.   All in all I recommend the book.

The movie was something of a disappointment.  Given the set up of the book I didn’t know quite how they would do the movie.  They sort of needed to create a protagonist.  I think I went in to it with an open, if somewhat nervous mind.  Those ads with the Zombie hordes climbing all over each other were crazy freaky.  In the end it was just a sort of blah big budget movie with more money spent on effects than plot kind of film.  They start out with Brad Pitt making pancakes which fine he’s Brad Pitt and watching him watch paint dry can be fun for a bit so we’re okay for a while.  After not too long the city they are in (come to find out its Philadelphia which is nice because you know Philly doesn’t get much play in the blockbusters) gets overrun by zombies and they get airlifted out by the UN as the international body is in need of Brad’s services (we never actually learn why he is so desirable).  The family is taken aboard an aircraft carrier before Brad has to go off and help figure out how to fight the zombies again because of his aforementioned but never fully explained skills.  Before he leaves he and his wife have an inane conversation where she complains about his going because she remembers “what this job has done to him.”  Seriously lady?  The world is overrun by zombies and this is your issue?  Anyway minor point but kind of illustrates how they tried to sell us too much on the relationship between Brad and what’s her name when really we were there for an end of the world zombie movie not an angsty marriage flick.  Anyway, they made up a plot whereby they come up with a way to begin to combat the zombies. Maybe they did this intending to use more of the actual war substance from the book in the inevitable sequel. 

Parts dragged in the middle and I was tempted to check Facebook and/or Twitter as the people in front of me kept doing.  However as the bright lights of their phones made it hard for me to focus on the movie I didn’t want to pass along that annoyance to the people behind me so I refrained.  I think at one point the moviemakers felt they had not gotten us up close and personal enough with the zombies and so we watched one click his teeth at Brad Pitt’s character for a full minute.  Honestly before this the zombies seemed menacing, deadly or at least creepy at various points.  After the clickety clacking I just wanted to call a dentist and be done.  As I indicated the end was more a beginning, setting up the next movie which may be good if it actually contains you know a War.  In the interest of honesty this one should have been called The Vaguely Unexciting Period Immediately Prior to World War Z.  Although its possible this might not have sold too many tickets.

Well there’s my 2-5 cents . . . do with it what you will.

American in progress . . .

I love celebrating “America’s birthday”.  We have amassed a lot of great traditions around this holiday! I love red, white and blue cakes and dresses and streamers and those crazy headbands people wear. I love barbeques and fireworks and history channel marathons about the revolution or the founders.  I love American history, but my favorite period is the revolutionary war.  I mean not that any war is good and even one so long ago should not be romanticized, but I am fascinated by that time period and the men and women who lived it.

On this Independence Day I thought I would blog a little history cause I do love to talk history every now and then.  And by now and then I mean as often as possible.

So here are some facts about the Declaration of Independence so you can be the Know it all next time it comes up!

 John Adams, who happens to be may favorite founding father (what? You don’t have a favorite founding father?), might argue that we should be celebrating our nation’s birthday on May 15^th.  That is when the Continental Congress passed a resolution he had drafted and that he humbly described as “the most important resolution that ever was taken in America” instructing the colonies to draft new constitutions to replace the existent British charters of governance.  This was a de facto declaration of independence.

Wanting to make things perfectly clear on June 7 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved and Adams seconded a resolution of independence:

                Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

They decided to postpone a vote because  some of the delegates had to confer with their colony legislatures before voting for independence. In the meantime they decided someone had better draft something to spell out what they meant to say.  A five man committee was appointed which included both John  Adams and Ben Franklin.  Neither felt it was a terribly important assignment and so it was given to the committee’s junior most member – Thomas Jefferson.  He is said to have taken about two days to draft it before bringing it back to the committee.

The Resolution for Independence passed on July 2, 1776.  John Adams actually wrote his wife after the session predicting that this day would be celebrated for generation to come as the great anniversary of our country.

A draft of the Declaration was presented to the Congress on that same day.  They debated its wording for two more days.  In this debate they passed right over the words we have come to value most perhaps because the ALL men and UNALIENABLE rights would have seemed glaringly unfulfilled if examined too closely.  Anyway, apparently each deletion, addition and modification was like a knife to Jefferson’s heart.  He kept original drafts and always resented the interference with his genius.  But agreement was reached on the Fourth and Voila!  We had a Declaration that outlined our divine right and obligation to dissolve the political bands which had connected us, form our own government and eloquently listed our many grievances against our former King.  John Hancock (president of the Congress) signed it (taking up half the space left) but most everyone else did not do so until August 2^nd.

Now don’t misunderstand I realize that the Declaration of Independence while beautiful and meaningful and revolutionary was an imperfect document crafted by imperfect men

It was written by a man who held slaves and yet declared all men to be endowed by their creator with unalienable rights

It did not envision a world where political rights were available to women, blacks or Indians or even men without property for the most part

It did not do everything but it was a beginning – it cast a vision that many have followed and expanded on and I think we can be thankful for and honor that. 

The story of our nation’s founding is an improbable one.  And in studying the Declaration and so many of the events before and after it I find much to inspire me.  In many ways it is a David and Goliath tale.  A group of men come together from all over the colonies agreeing on nothing at first except not wanting to be taxed without their consent, an army with almost no leadership or ammunition, fighting an elite Army and their hired guns, a form of government that’s never been tried on such a scale before.   It shouldn’t have worked.  But it did.  It does.  Sometimes.  Sort of.  I am proud to be an American and ashamed that I too often take it for granted.  It is a privilege and a gift and I am thankful.

My Sister in Progress . . .

Today’s post comes to us from my baby sister Maggie about a topic that unfortunately is one of those issues that crops up in the news in the most tragic circumstances and something with which she has some personal experience.

 

Teased, made fun of, bullied, tortured. However light or serious you want to put it, this was my high school experience. And although I had plenty of good times in my adolescence, it is the painful memories that seem to take hold in my mind.

 

At 14 you have not yet come into your full potential. You are uncomfortable in your own skin, and easily broken. no matter how much your friends or family tell you what bullies say or do is wrong, you still feel that awful hurt in your heart. At 27, I remember that hurt and wish I could go back and give myself the confidence and complete unconcern for cruel and unkind peoples opinion of me.  But I can't and I have learned over the years that my situation was not uncommon.

 

My bullying was not provoked. I was an eighth grader just starting highschool. My three closest friends had all left the Holliston school system after middle school and I felt like an outsider.  I did have the luxury of growing up in a home and church where I was accepted whole heartedly despite my eccentricities, so i was happy with who I was. Unfortunately, at 14, no matter how happy you are with yourself, you still believe people when they put you down. I don't remember exactly when it starred but about halfway through eighth grade, I started to dread going to school. Two girls had decided on me as a target, for whatever reason, and began to torment me in the halls. And when they couldn't find a reason, they would make one up, like yelling at me for wearing the same color t shirt as one of them.  No matter how absurd or hurtful

Their words were, my reply was always silence. This seemed to bore them and although it never all together stopped, it certainly lessened over the years

 

 I realize that not all the people in that unfortunate position are as blessed as I was. And even though I had three older sisters and a wonderful mother and father, all telling me how the bullies at school "were just jealous", it did not lessen the blow of their actions.  As an adult, after having come into myself and after talking to others who were bullied, I can look back and understand a little more about my experience and why it occurred. 

 

I was talking with my future sister in law one night and discovered that she was also bullied. She remembers her high school experience as an awful one and when she revealed her bully’s name.  I was shocked. This girl, that had been so mean to my sister in law, was a girl I had class with years earlier.   She had been a victim of bullying.  She was tortured by the upper classmen and sought counseling almost daily from our schools guidance team.  Bullying is obviously a learned behavior, and although I can't fathom why someone who has suffered through it would then bestow that pain on someone else, I understand that it happens. Those who are abused sometimes turn around and become abusers themselves.  This is not a new concept. However, it hadn't occurred to me that my bully was probably the victim of similar taunts. 

Even if I had this knowledge 13 years ago, I know it wouldn't have helped.  When you are 14 you cannot see past your own immediate world and when someone bullies you, it hurts. Justifying their behavior, does not take away any of the pain. In fact, not many things do much to console your broken heart, but know this; you move on, you grow; you become who you are and love yourself. Bullies do not stay at the high school doorway, they are everywhere, in every walk of life. Because of the scar they leave on your heart you are understanding, you are caring and empathetic, and you think before you use hurtful words, and because of you, the world is a better place. High school is only a small stop on the way. Please don't stop there, continue on, I promise it gets better. 

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