To Live written by Yu Hua is an ardent story of a troubled man’s life, country and his family. The film and novel ensue Xu Fugui, starting as adolescent and impulsive parent that transforms into an elderly and sensible grandparent. There are quite a few similar aspects in the film and novel, however, there are some climatic differences as well. One rather large difference between the film and novel is the emotion the viewer or reader intakes. The film evokes anger, whereas the novel elicits passion. The novel allows the reader to see Fugui, what type of person he is, his thoughts and emotions and in turn the resolution of it all. The reader is able to see his loss after gambling everything away, his families’ loss and all the hardships of constant damage. The film is dismal as well in a different aspect. The film is set up to make the viewer angry and yet sympathetic. The film and novel have differences but share one major common factor, Fugui.
Fugui, in both stories is portrayed as a young naïve man that is consumed with gambling and whoring around. Due to his lack of concern for his family and future, his wife Jiazhen returns home to her father after failing to stop his catastrophic path. The novel exhibits a vibrant image of Fugui’s misconducts. That involves his demeaning outlook towards his “fat prostitute” of a wife. Fugui would have her carry him on her back like a horse, each time stopping by her fathers shop to mock him (Hua 14). After losing everything to his gambling obsession, the father-in-law took his daughter and unborn son away from Fugui, while she “wailed with grief” (Hua 42). Exposed to poverty, Fugui has no chose but to move to the country with his parents and daughter. The decision to settle in the countrysi...
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...hich allows room for change and growth. The novel shows Fugui as an older and wiser man, with no relatives left but hope gleaming from his heart. I do not approve nor disapprove of the changes that the director made. I feel that both stories are meaningful in their own ways, I would say the film was easier to deal with then the constant loss and torture that Fugui endured in the novel. However, both had great meaning and delivered the same message in different ways.
To Live is a meaningful and influential novel and film. It is known to the public eye with almost any story the film strays in a different path then the novel. There are things unspoken and eliminated. With that being said, both remain inspirational and powerful. Though the differences in stories were so great and could stand alone, there remains one large commonality, the leading character, Xu Fugui.
To Live is both controversial and impactful in a cultural sense and the character development respectively. The author thoughtfully addresses the motif death throughout the novel and demonstrates how the motif affects the protagonist, Fugui’s character development. The moment when Long Er is executed in his presence changes his character and allows him to realize how fortunate he is to be alive, changes his outlook in life, and impacts the way he sees life at the end of the novel in contrast to the beginning of the novel.
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
Overall, the movie and book have many differences and similarities, some more important than others. The story still is clear without many scenes from the book, but the movie would have more thought in it.
This is my view on the movie and book. I likes the movie better the book because the
... loss of loved ones like Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Andi in Revolution or faced your own inevitable passing like Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars, you are not alone. In confronting and facing death, these characters learn that death is merely a small part of living. It is an element of the human experience. To return to the wise words of the late Steve Jobs, “Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important…There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Living is the adventure. In facing their fears and sadness, these characters learn how to be courageous, how to hope, how to love, and how to live. Join them on their journeys by checking out one of the spotlighted books at your local library.
Each version also has the main characters boarding up the windows. Anyone who thought the birds won’t attack are usually found dead, but in the movie they are found with their eyes pecked out. Also, both the story and the movie have REALLY bad endings! They aren’t very similar, but they both leave you hanging. When you see a movie or read a book you want to know what happens to the main characters. In these two, you didn’t get an ending. They left you hanging and for some people that ruins it all.
...d coloring of certain images. The novel, however, puts much greater emphasis on the imagination and creativity, and on the main character Tita. The novel really makes the reader feel Titas pain and grow with her as she discovers her freedom, whereas the movie failed to achieve this. Moreover, the movie tends to ignore the significant of 3 integral motifs, cooking, tears and sensuality.
had shown the similarity and difference of the endings in these two masterpieces, and how they
An important aspect of Dana Sach’s “if you lived here” is the trauma and recovery that characters like Xuan Mai go through. Trauma results from an event that is overwhelming to the person and causes symptoms that are a response to the trauma. Recovery is when the life narrative is pieced back together so that the trauma is, “part of the learning curve of the life narrative.” (Herman) The trauma and recovery of characters like Xuan Mai is important because the stage that the character is undergoing impacts their actions and attitudes toward key events in the novel. This is evident in how Xuan Mai’s attitude toward Shelley’s adoption of Hai Au changes based on what stage of trauma and recovery that she is in.
Zhu Ying was a member of the military’s theatre troupe, and about to be a member of the party, until she refused to sleep with party members. After that, they transferred and then imprisoned her. While her role in the military could have made Zhu Ying an androgynous figure, an emblem of communist gender equality, the party’s expectation that she have sex with party members makes her a sexual object, which is its own form of feminization. Zhu Ying is allowed to retain her femininity only if she consents to being a sexual object; when she does not, she is sent to be a laborer, and later imprisoned. Moreover, by being separated from her boyfriend, her chance at domestic happiness is taken away. After imprisonment, she has no opportunity to fill the traditional female role of marriage and children (which she may or may not have desired). Thus, the party halts the “natural” order of marriage and
Although there are similarities and differences in the novel and the movie, I liked that Gene was crazy because he caused Finny. Both works of art demonstrated a good representation of the true message from John
In the midst of all troubles, it is effortless to complace the value of our life with the hardship that is faced. In both “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare and “Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” by Chris Jones, we read that both main characters go through life changing events. Through both journeys we promptly learn that the value of life is not controlled by setbacks we face but the motives we withhold while going through the process.
Qui Nguyen’s play Living Dead in Denmark was performed at American High School. The director Troy River presented a smooth performance that kept the audience engaged and laughing. In my opinion, the fight scenes, set, and cast did a wonderful job in bringing the scripts to life. I enjoyed the play and hope others come support the cast and watch this play.
“The Bridegroom” by Ha Jin, is a short story about a man struggling with homosexuality in modern day China. The narrator, Old Chang, is the non-biological father of a young woman named Beina. Old Change promised to take care of Beina after her father, a close family friend, passed away. Beina then gets married to a very handsome man named Huang Baowen. Baowen quickly becomes the focus of this story. The climax of this short story is Baowen being revealed as a homosexual. This short story highlights Jin’s theme of homosexuality and shows the internal and external struggles of both Baowen and Old Cheng, through first person narrative, setting, and emotional appeal.
In the end the movie was fun to watch, and the tale was fun to read. Both were kind of weird, especially the movie, but were interesting. The movie itself, while not being a direct reimagining of the classic tale, does very well as an action sequel. A sort of what are they doing now with their lives, after their experience. If I had a choice though, I would still read the tale over viewing the movie.