Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog

Maybe SHE'S Just Not That Into You Response

While reading the "Maybe SHE'S Just Not That Into You" post on FBomb, I caught myself shaking my head and agreeing with Fiona L. and her input that men and women can both be jerks when it comes to relationships. There are plenty of men and women out there who misconstrue the feelings of a significant other. People always assume that the man is always the one being a jerk in the relationship, which is not always true. This stereotype is unjust and should be put to rest. Women may come off as the victim in certain situations, but in some instances they are the attacker. Different people have different feelings. It is wrong to say that all men are only after one thing in a relationship. Men have feelings too and can be hurt just as easily as women are. Recently, I saw the movie "The Vow" which is about a woman who looses her memory in a car accident and can not remember that she's married. Her husband tries to make her fall in love with him again, but he is continuously shut down. Her feelings changed uncontrollably and this makes the wife seem like the jerk in the situation because the husband tries to do everything in his power to reconnect their love, but she does not feel the same love. Some people don't mean to hurt their significant other, but end up hurting them anyways.  You don't really see a movie like this often, because the stereotype is all about the men being jerks. The way people handle their situations is what shows their true colors.

Hookup>Relationship

I went on the F-bomb website and found the Maybe SHE'S Just Not That Into You article. The girl writing it made a lot of interesting points, which I completely agree with. In the article, she stereotyped and catagorized boy and girls into appropriate catagories.

Although making the assumption that if a guy is rude, he's not into you, is a good one, I do not think that that is the way girls should think of it. Why should a girl wait around to see if a guy will be kind enough to grant her with his presence?  Girls can act just like guys, and be jerks.Girls tend to be more open about their emotions, therefore a guy gets the satisfaction of knowing what affect he had on a certain girl.

I also think that she made a very interesting point about random hook ups. She is right that both sexes go through similar thoughts and experiences, sometimes even the exact same. The point that she makes about us, teenagers in general, not expressing our emotions and telling our feelings makes life harder for us,- but as she said, that's not going to change anytime soon.

Overall, I think this was a great a well written article, with a lot of valid points. She supported her text with examples from her life, specifically her friends, which made them more valid.

Women and Weightloss

The two W's women and weight are always a touchy subject. When I recently viewed the Article,What Happens After You Lose Weight on the fbomb.org page, I was interested with the comments the author made about her peers not acknowledging her presence and ignoring her physical unattractiveness until she lost 15 pounds over the summer. Society is truly fixated on social image and its displayed when her classmates constantly asked, “what did she do to lose weight?” Truthfully, she killed herself exercising almost everyday and she was very conscientious about what she ate during the summer. But she did not tell the truth to her peers, she said, “I told some that I hardly even noticed my weight loss and that I had no idea how it happened. I told others I swam a lot and biked everywhere”. Why? Why did she have to lie about her hard work she had done to impress others?

One claim the author stated was absolutely brilliant and it stuck to me she said, “I think it’s because as girls we’re always supposed to be effortlessly beautiful. We can’t admit to trying to become more beautiful because that shatters the mystery around something that’s supposed to be unobtainable.” I believe that society made her think that women need to feel effortlessly beautiful in order to gain the acknowledgment of her peers.

Young Adults are Succeptable To Becoming Baribe Dolls, Not Themselves

http://rookiemag.com/2012/02/other-girls/ (Mr. Heidkamp, for some reason it won't let me link it to a word in my post)

In an article from Rookie, a girl from New York talks about her expiriences in school and in society being an Asian girl. She talks about how people would say racist comments such as, "Are you Chinese or Korean? I’m not trying to be offensive, I just can’t tell you apart".

She goes on to talk about how because everyone in her world thought of her as different, she knew she was different. She mentions that when she got cable she watched MTV and the music videos on it. She dreamed of being beautiful like the women in the music videos because those women weren't different and seemed to be like by everyone else.

Later in her life she moves into the suburbs, where there are a lot of white kids and she is among the few Asians in her school. While she was there she kept feeling more and more left out and she began to study the white girls in class so she could act like them. She even listened in on there conversations to see what stores they shopped at so she could get the same clothes as them so she could look like them.

Racism and stereotypes in America today can be a cause to why feminists are upset. When young girls who aren't white feel left out, they do all they can to become white or become something that they believe society would like better than their real selves. They believe they have to change themseleves to be liked.

I agree with what this article is saying because its true. I went to a small-ish catholic school and when other people in my class would start to wear and do something, i would follow the trend, because it was what was socially acceptable at the time. If everyone wanted Hollister or Abercrombie clothes, i did too because that was accepted. Young adults in America are becoming less themselves because they want to follow the social norm by being the pretty Barbie doll or be one of the beautiful girls in a movie video.

Becoming an Object to Males

The article I just found on http://thefbomb.org/2012/02/jean-kilbournes-killing-us-softly/ has turned my skeptical view on being labeled as a feminist toward the direction of definite support for the issue! The topic the author was covering was a particular sect of feminism, which was the roles women play in society physically, in the most broad sense. She was particularly emphasising the fact that women have so easily become an "object" because the media forces an unconscious feeling that we must fulfill a certain criteria displayed in ads. The fact that most shocked me throughout the reading, and made me realize that feminism is not JUST aimed at men, is the fact that many women who decide to get breast implants have proven to feel LESS stimulation after the surgery; quite literally making themselves an object for men. This little bit of knowledge should be spread to women of the masses because it truly shows how the media has taken something that is so precious to each individual, which is physical appearance, and has shaped it to seem that all women should, in some respect, look the same... as in possessing things that appeal to the eye. It is extremely unfortunate that women have stooped to such low levels that they would give up a natural sense in their body to feel wanted by men. If all women were to understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this problem would not present a problem. And I believe that it is to women and through women that we will be capable of surpassing the external pressures that males have brainwashed us to have about ourselves.

Gender roles and body image

after looking at some of the articles at Rookie, I noticed this article called "The Year of My Eating Disorder". The article talks about how this girl, who was a sixth grader at the time, was anorexic and how she overcame it. My initial reaction was that no sixth grader should ever be that self-conscious of their weight or how they look. However, this got me thinking about the discussion that we had about body image in class the other day. I never realized that the media was starting to affect kids at such a young age. I mean I've seen the Tyra episodes and the Dove commercials that talk about how little girls get depressed about how they look, but I never really believed them. Looking at the article made me think about how much this particular stereotype has shaped the way women think. There are so many advertisement that show women with thin bodies and sex appeal and other images where they are well toned and have defined muscles. I realized that there are so many of these ads that feature women, who are models, that fit that description. It's strange to think that a picture or a video can make someone think that you aren't pretty or that you aren't unique in your own way. i think that this article really opens your eyes as to how thinking about women as sex objects and pressuring body images can change the female psyche.

Rookie Feminist

These days, everyone is talking about equal rights for everyone. Whether is predjudice against race, sexual orientation, or gender, the world is always at war with what is considered to be the "right path" to take down these roads. The beauty of this age, however, is that there are online blog sites that can help troubled people through these times of inequality and injustice. Blog sites like Rookie. Rookie was created by Tavi Gevinson when she was only 13 years old, and even then, she had a different view on the world. She saw feminism as something fun. Something that was to be celebrated and shared with everyone who cared to stop and read. And if you didn't care to read, so what? The point of Rookie is to be whatever it is you want to be with yourself.

Rookie is based around the "be who you are and say what you feel" motto, encouraging Tavi's friends and fellow bloggers to partner with her and write the amazing stories of embarassment, hilarity, seriousness, and all around truthfulness. The blog gives women a place to read about other women who don't strive to be what society sets them up to be. It showcases the importance of being yourself, no matter what the rest of the world wants you to be. 

Rookie, and the online blogs like it, are a beacon to all women who call themselves feminist. You don't have to be the stereotypical feminist that are often poorly portrayed as being crazy. The idea is to break that stereotype and showcase a new kind of feminist. A feminist people will be proud to call themselves. A feminist that can say what they truely feel without being judged or harrassed by anyone else who has the idea that women are inferior to men.

Feminist blogging sites give feminism a whole new meaning by translating it into something that almost anybody can relate it to. The world of feminism is changing all around us with a little help from the Rookies.

Language and Feminism

When I was looking at the website fbomb, this article jumped out at me.  I never realized how we naturally considered some jobs as men's jobs and some as women's jobs.  When this article said that all of the members of the class responded that "boss" corresponds with "he" it made me think.  I think that if we start using more gender neutral terms for certain jobs and positions, we will start seeing men and women as more equal, even if we say we already do.  

Women in our society are supposedly equal.  But then why do we still associate some jobs with certain genders? If they're equal they should be the same.  That is what I got out of this article. If we were more gender neutral with our language, then women and men would be more equal in our society. I thought this article was very well written and that it got its point across very well.

For some reason I can't link to it so I found the article "Doctors, Nurses, and One Terrific Professor" on the website fbomb.

loving things is only human

i know this is not technically a feminist article but it does represent a great deal of people who are often out down by society. and that group of people who love things. the rookie post is more about people liking strange or "weird" things but i think it applies to everyone weather you whole heart-ly love doctor who or if you know every stat there is too know about baseball. i think this article was about embracing the wondrous magic of human consciousness and loving something because you can. i think it is so important to embrace the things you love because those things stand for who you are, so why would you want to represent something you don't believe in. especially in this day and age when there are so many things to love, when the media is so open and vast holding on to the things you love when they are so fleeting. this article really opened my eyes to how i view myself. being obsessed with something does not make you strange, it make you human, and its amazing! DOCTOR WHO IS THE BEST..... 

Feminism and Gender-Neutral Speech

The article I read was on Gender-Neutral speech and you can find it here. Gender-Neutral Speech's Effects.

This Article discusses the affects of using neutral speech in America. It talks about a study done back in 1984 that was done with children. The Children in this study were told to write a story and most of them were about a man when the first sentence had the word "he" in it. It was interesting to see how the simple use of one word makes people write about a man or woman. Also this article goes on to describe the affect of using the word "chairman" and "chairperson" when describing someone of high authority. The participants commonly felt that the "chairperson" was a nicer human being.

The ideology of using words that refer to a man has been poured into people's brains. However if one is able to recognize this and make their speech gender-neutral less people would have this ideology. Ideally America would be able to move on from this type of thinking and become more gender-neutral. Simply put, though we can try to move on from this I believe it is not possible. The use of specific words affects how a person thinks and how they look at society. If we continue using non gender-neutral speech America will keep grinding the image of a man being superior in someones mind and we will not move any closer to gender neutrality.

Working Towards Gender Equality

While i was on the website WAM! I found an article titled "Still Far from Gender Equity".  This article got me to start thinking about when and how women's portrayal in the media will change.   The article references statistics on how many woman are major participants in the creating of the media we see.  It was eye opening to see that only half or less percent of jobs in the media were women.  

I think that the statistics found in this article gives evidence to why women are often objectified through media.  Since there are more men in the media industry they have the say in what the audience sees.  So when a scene in a movie or an advertisement is objectifying a woman few woman have the power to eliminate the objectification.  

If more women enter jobs involving media women will slowly stopped being objectified and will start to be shown equal to their male counterparts on camera.  Since many people of today's society get there ideas from media this change to equality among genders on camera will be replicated in life as well.  Instead of rationalizing their ideas and action toward woman by what they see in the media they will be pushed to change their actions toward equality.  Although a lot of time is needed in order for gender equity to be accomplished, I believe the people who produce movies, t.v. shows, books etc. and the way they portray the women have a major role in how society outside of media acts towards women.  

Should I Let Him Pay?

After browsing fbomb, I came across an article that discussed the common practice of men paying for women's meals, drinks, tickets, etc. The author of "Let Me Buy You Dinner" claims that by refusing to be paid for, she is keeping her self-respect and working towards her life's goal: "I won't be lulled into just settling down with someone exceptional- I am going to be exceptional."

While most of us don't think much of the men-paying-for-dinner ritual, she describes it as a "twisted tradition". While I agree that the origins of this tradition came from a sexist environment where women were assumed to depend on men for everything, including money, I don't think the tradition still carries those sexist implications. Most modern men probably don't think that women are incapable of paying, any more than they think that women are incabable of opening a door for themselves or pulling out their own chairs. 

The author claims that she is standing up for her "right to equality and self-determination". My question is, will we ever be able to move on from America's sexist past? Yes, chivalrous traditions stem from a place of discrimination. So do political conventions, which were created because the "people" weren't trusted to make good decisions when it came to choosing presidential candidates. Nowadays, however, we have gotten over the original motivations for conventions and hold them to officially determine our presidential candidates. Why can't the same be done for chivalry? We should treat it simply as an act of kindness, just as we would if a woman held a door for a man or bought her friend lunch. By hanging on to and pointing out sexism of the past, we are spoiling unassuming and generous behavior.  

What is a Feminist?

Recently I read a post on the F-Bomb which made me really think about what a feminist is. In this post the writer was at one point an "open feminist", but now she is a little more covered up about it. The issue was that she had been receiving nasty looks and comments about a bumper sticker which called her self a feminist.

The issue the author faces does not surprise me. people often act very hostile toward feminists. This is often due to the false picture some people pain of feminists. The stereotypical feminist is loud, obnoxious, in your face, arrogant, and impolite, however this is not the true case.

A feminist is simply someone who supports equality for women. This is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact a person supports equal rights does not mean that they are any of the above traits, but it does make the person a feminist. With that I say in complete confidence i am a feminist and i am not ashamed o the fact.

Support Women Artists Sunday: Whitney Houston (Response)

I have to begin by saying that Houston was an innovative artist, however she is not worthy of the amount of sadness and morning going on around the world. The fact is, she has been a train wreck for twenty years. she has struggled with addiction and has given nothing back to society.

What is truley sad is that good people who give back to society die  every day. These people are not celebrated by the world and wealthy people and world leaders almost never reach out when a not so well known activist dies.

The bottom line is that Houston was a talented singer but she has done little for the world we live in. Community activist and other good people die every day with no outreach. This is the only reason why I feel grief today.

F-Bomb Girls

I went to the F-Bomb Website. I found it kind of interesting. The website, of course, is a feminist one. It not nessisarily talks only about feminism but also about feminine things or important woman, like for instance, the Whitney H. death. The website also posts things such as, if a politician is doing the right thing.

Example: Saturday Vids: Representative Maureen Walsh Does The Right Thing

Call me a bit bias, but I really don't like this website and think it's kind of all "rubish". I think Feminism is a bit outdated but the article I came across that intrested me was the He's not that into post.

Maybe SHE’S Just Not That Into You

First it talks about how there is a double standard... the stud/slut standard that we all know about. Second it talks about how if your treated badly in a relationship that means he or she doesn't like you.

I agree with the first part partially. A lot of girls are pissed about the double standard but some don't think that way. Also you would be suprised about how many girls in high school support this standard or "don't help it's cause" by doing slutty things.

Second I agree with the next one. If one is treated bad in a relationship that person should leave. Period. You shouldn't stay with someone who treats you like crap.

This website isn't all bad but I just think it's not particually nessisary to exist. However the article I read was interesting.

No Gray Area

After reading a few other posts, I get the sense that some people see women in media as a very positive thing because it means that we are coming to potential "equality". I don't exactly think the same way. I see where that point of view is coming from because, the more equality the better! I agree completely. But the thing I dont not support is the way women are percieved in the media. Though they are in the commercials, they are commonly being put in the position of being a sex object or just used for sex appeal. But then again, that is just often times. I think we are past the point of wanting to get women on the tv for equality purposes, I think that there are about equal men and women on it now, but the time when women and men are wearing the same amount of clothes in all tv shows will be the time things will be looked at as equal.

Responding to Feminism

This article from the F-bomb has some very bold and interesting views on how to address the feminist label. The author's overall focus is that despite the negative stereotypes that go along with being a feminist, letting the public know about your opinions is worth it. She explains that publicly labelling herself has definite risks, especially in a college setting, but can be helpful to those who may share the same feelings.

I agree with what she is trying to explain in this article and compliment how outgoing she is toward a topic like this. I think the bold way she talks about this is necessary for someone who has strong feelings about feminism and other difficult topics like it. She expresses what she thinks is important and does not contradict herself in any way. I don't think that all people who have such strong opinions on feminism could be as outgoing because as she explains, being able to hold your ground on what you believe is key and it takes a pretty tough skin to do so.

Women in Media

I agree with this post I read on WAM which talks about how women are under-represented in media forms such as radio, tv, and more. In order for women to be more equal with men they have to be equally represented in media because media is what children see all the time and when children see someone that looks like them, they think thats what they can become. If a child sees someone that doesn't look like them all the time they will grow to think that isn't their place in society. 

While women in media are currently outnumbered by men, the numbers are steadily growing and eventually they might even come to be equal with men. Things like this happen naturally and forcing the issue probably won't do much good. 

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours

http://thefbomb.org/2012/02/ill-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours/

The arguement developed in this post is very refreshing to me. This author is pointing out the real issues that our society must confront. The Feminist's of today aren't fighting really for fair wages, but a fair lifestyle. If the world realized that it is unfair for women to take all these precautions growing up, such as learning not to do certain things that may or may not make them socially acceptable, then we could fix the overall issue. If we stopped looking at women in sexual ways, then women wont have to "jealously guard their virginity" or be called "'hos', 'sluts', 'whores', or any other multitude of demeaning and dehumanizing names". These women are trying to fit into difficult social acceptable lifestyles. That is not right. Women, the author is saying, should not be expected to be a certain way or not to be normal. No matter which way they act, they should be considered normal. The author is saying that feminism wont be needed if society can stop creating a shell for women to act inside, and if they break that shell, they are unacceptable. When women are viewed for their insides, instead of their outsides, feminism will no longer be need.

The Effects of Media

“If we as a culture and society continue to promote shows like America’s Next Top Model, Desperate Housewives, Toddlers and Tiaras, etc., then the entire feminist movement will have been in vain. Women will never be appreciated until they start earning respect for themselves.” The F-bomb

I read an editorial on the F-bomb, which talked about the film “killing us softly”, which is about the representation of women in the media. The author of the editorial essentially came to the same conclusions that we did (or will) in class which is that the media presented to and of women can be thoroughly damaging.

Media presented to women is telling them that they need to be highly concerned with their image and to some extent need to follow the guidelines in the cult of domesticity. If they listen to what they are told in many forms of media women will not rise to positions of respectability.

However I would say that you can’t entirely blame the media, as you would deny woman agency in their decisions. Also there is the possibility that certain media appeals to different genders. For instance I went through a phase where I would watch war movies my sister did not find them appealing. My sister who is by no means a typical woman used to watch America’s Next Top Model and other shows that are geared toward a female audience I watched some of these shows with her and for the most part was just bored.

My sister and me took in different forms of media and it did not affect us to the level that the editorial I read would imply. She is not obsessed with her image and I am not a brutish and violent creature. Maybe my sister and me are not as impressionable to the media as others around us or we just learned all our values early on from Pokémon. 

People who create media are for the most part not trying to press opinions into people’s minds they are trying to sell a product and certain things appeal to certain people. In appealing to people they employ different techniques for different demographics. For instance I recently saw a commercial for “The Gray” a movie in which Liam Neeson fights wolves and immediately felt the need to see the movie, my sister after seeing the same commercial said that the film looked dumb.

Having said all this though I would say that certain people are more impressionabe to media than others and the images of what woman are meant to act like in the media can be thoroughly damaging.

Here is the editorial.

http://thefbomb.org/2012/02/jean-kilbournes-killing-us-softly/

The Third Wave

The blog post that caught my eye was on the blow site of FBomb.com. The article is called "I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours". http://thefbomb.org/2012/02/ill-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours/

This post was talking about feminism in the past, present and future. This woman described how today, feminism is in its "third wave". The first was in the late 19th century and early 20th and the second wave was in the 1960s and '70s, which brings us to the present and the third wave. I agree with most of what she said, but one aspect that I disagreed with was how she said that the goal or motive of todays feminism isn't about being equal to men, but "more about fostering a world in which women, men, and transgendered people all have the opportunity to live healthy, happy lives as whole and fully valued human beings." Now to me, that sounds like the goal is to make everyone equal and have an equal shot in life. Besides her trying to show a difference in the goals of the 3 waves of feminism I can completely agree with what she was saying.

The reason she posted this is to give feminists hope that they won't always have to feminists. She described what the future will have to be to end feminism which included women not having to live in fear: no rape, no assault, no harassment, and no vulnerability. Also, if they were valued for their intelligence, humanity, and personality and no for their sexual attributes, would there be no need for feminism. Again, to me this sounds like if men and women were complete equals and there wasn't a patriarchal or matriarchal society, then feminism would cease to exist. So in the future, if these things were to happen, then feminism would be no more, which would be a good thing in the end.

I think this is relavent

 

Who Is the Real Jerk?

So I was reading a post on the F-Bomb that was talking about how men and women react to relationships. There's a movie out that's called "He's Just Not That Into You" which shows how men can act like complete jerks when they're not interested in particular women. However, this post on the F-Bomb explains how women are just as guilty as men which I agree with. There are women out here that act like jerks towards nice men but people never really pay attention to it. It's only seen when a man does it which is an unfair stereotype to men. According to this article, there was a line in the post which states "maybe we can just make a couple of movies about her not being into him, and cast Ryan Gosling as the weepy, confused reject instead of Jennifer Connolly." and I find that to be a great idea since it will show the audience how emotional men deal with women through their perspective of things. I can understand why the post is titled "Maybe SHE'S Just Not That Into You" because women can act the same way as men and do the same thing that men do when they're not really interested in someone. As a result, their actions is what labels them as being a jerk.

Becoming a Feminist Critic

For this week's blog post, you should visit one of the following sites:

The F-Bomb ("The FBomb.org is a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. All young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here." -- learn more about them).            

Rookie ("Rookie is a place to make the best of the beautiful pain and cringe-worthy awkwardness of being an adolescent girl. When it becomes harder to appreciate these things, we also have good plain fun and visual pleasure. When you’re sick of having to be happy all the time, we have lots of eye-rolling rants, too." -- learn more about them)

Feministing ("Young women are rarely given the opportunity to speak on their own behalf on issues that affect their lives and futures. Feministing provides a platform for us to comment, analyze, influence and connect." -- learn more about them).

or

Women, Action and the Media ("WAM! connects and supports media makers, activists, academics and funders working to advance women’s media participation, ownership and representation. Our work is part of an advocacy movement for gender justice in media." -- learn more about them)

On our own blog, write a post that defends, challenges or qualifies the argument made in one of the posts you've read (make sure you *link* back to that post -- and feel free to quote from it as well). Don't forget to give your post a category.

As far as commenting is concerned, you'll get credit if you comment on the websites above or on one of your classmates' own posts.

Cirque Du Freak

Books are, by default, superior to their movie counterparts. A written story has natural advantages over a film because it leaves room for imagination, and lets you picture what it is, instead of picturing it for you. 

Take Cirque Du Freak, one of my favorite series from years ago. While reading all twelve books I continually pictured what I would imagine the characters, and the surrounding areas to look like. I dreamed of an ideal movie that would showcase my thoughts. All of a sudden, I hear from a friend that the trailer for the Cirque Du Freak Movie is out. I was excited, my dreams had come true. But, like all other books to movies, it ended up letting me down. As soon as I saw the actor who got picked for the main character's role, I immediately lost all hope of the movie being good. When I actually saw it, my initial thoughts were confirmed.

This is one of many examples of failed attempts at turning books into movies. The successes are few and far between. I can only think of one off the top of my head and that would be Lord of the Rings. But for the most part, books have all the advantages.

This is late, I forgot to do it repeatedly.

Music Poetry Mix!

For your listening pleasure, here is our class mix of songs you would defend as poetry:

Music Poetry - American Literature

I'm planning on making it the soundtrack for the class for the rest of the year. You have no one to blame but yourself :)

If you have Spotify, you should be able to listen to most of the mix. Songs by the Beatles and the Eagles are not available through Spotify, but I do have them on the mix I'll play in class.

Enjoy!

 

Which Do You Prefer?

If you’re not that creative and you go to see movies that are based on books, for solely the purpose of amusement you would have no care in the matter of books versus movies. But if you are an individual in which whom loves literature and has a certain affinity for all the "little details" a book brings, you would be quite upset when the movie fails to bring some of the events to life on the big screen. Yes, films are a visual masterpiece and they should be recognized in their attempts to personify a book but ultimately they fail to deliver. Books just seem to offer a more enjoyable portrayal in the realm of imagination, if the reader has artistic sensibilities. In my opinion movies just can’t sum up all the little details that entire novel can bring. Just the simple look of an actor in a movie can contort your opinions of what you imagined to be true.  For example in the Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling describes Harry having glasses. If you imagined him rockin' a pair of Ray Ban's throughout his years at Hogwarts you'd be quite disappointed when on screen he was wearing a pair of science goggles. Overall, books overwhelm movies in superiority because they provide more imaginative realms to discover and explore, while the film is just a cut and paste, dry interpretation of the directors POV.

Movie Novel Differences

There are numerous differences betwen the movie and novel of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." When I read the book months ago, I envisioned the characters so much differently than how they were in the movie. I always thought that Oskar's parents would be a younger couple. In the movie, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks seem a little aged to have an eight year old son. I believed that the biggest difference was the lack of a Ron. To me, Ron seemed like a pretty important character in the story and I felt like it was impossible to develop the story without him due to the fact that Ron is responsible for Oskar's hate. I could not fully understand Oskar's emotion. All in all, it was a well developed movie, but I only say it is bad because of the extreme differences.

The Battle

The novel is always better than the film. First of all, books have way more detail. It provides a much better description of characters, settings, and events. Also, sometimes when people see a movie, they come out wondering why certain people were cast or why certain scenes are the way they are. One example is when people found out that Taylor Swift was going to be in the movie version of Les Mis.

Movies take away your ability to use your imagination. When you read a book you create everything in your head. With movies, it creates the images for you. Sometimes things may not turn out the way you thought they looked. This shows that books are always superior to the movies.

Movies Vs. Books- The Showdown

Often after seeing a movie that was based on a book I go, "that was a great movie", because ussually I haven't read the book. Then one of my friends will be like,"read the book, it was ten times better". The best example by far is the Harry Potter Movies vs. the Books. I don't think I will ever hear anybody say that the movies are better than the books because "the books were simply better" I guess.

I'm not talking specifiacally about the Harry Potter series but for me I prefer movies. There are many reasons why I think that sometimes the movies capture everything better. One reason, probally the biggest reason, is that a lot of the time, I watch the movie before reading the books. This might make me a bit bias when it comes to this argument.

But as far as "fair" reasons I have for favoring the movies, I must start with the subject of extra information. Not to pound on the Harry Potter series again, but many say the movies don't justify the books becasue they leave out information. This argument logic is reasonable. However, they never think about the books that had too much information or unwanted information. My favorite example is Lord of the Rings. The LOTR books not only had too much information to put in all the movies but a lot of it was very, in my opinion, insignificant. To think if they put all of those insignificant parts in the movies - the movies would be SO boring.

Another reason, probally one of the most contriversial, is that movies, for me, capture the emotion better. I can't really tear up during a book but if watching forest gump for the first time or we are marshall for the first time (I know their not book movies), the movies simply bring more emotion to the viewer. An opposing argument would be that one must use their imagination and that movies don't allow you to use your imagination but trust me, when you see real emotion on the bloody faces of the guys from saving privite ryan, you don't need to imagine much more.

Like I mentioned before, I might be a bit biased because I am the guy who watches the movie, and then might read the book, but I think movies are better. I think they capture what the book would really be like if one could see it, and often when people don't like the movies, it could possibly mean that the book's story wasn't good enough when put on screen, to please a viewer.