Of Mice and Movie

      After watching the movie version of Of Mice and Men, I have some questions to answer. This blog is said answer. Anyway, the first question: In the film, the director shows us “the incident in Weed” differently from how we find out in the book. What’s different? Why do you think he chose to do it that way? How does it change the story? The only different thing is that we see it as a flashback to kind of show how we got onto this train at the beginning of the movie. Otherwise, the incident is exactly the way it was in the book. I think he chose to do it this way because it was harder to do scenery montages in a 1990s-era movie than it was in a book, and because it would give a bit more introduction to Lennie and George, which we need because it's a movie. This changes the incident's story from being a "Noodle Incident" sort of thing until later in the plot to being an exposition piece.
      The next question is The book begins with the “stage” set by the pond. In the film, we see George on a train first. Why would the director do this? What is the director telling us about George’s life? The director did this as a traveling metaphor. As we know, George and Lennie (before the events of the novella/movie) traveled around frequently to escape Lennie's mishaps.  The director is trying to tell us that George's life is fluid, never routine, because of this.
      The third question is What do you think of the director’s choice of Sharilynn Fenn to play Curley’s wife? Does she look the way you imagined her in the book? Whom would you have chosen? I think it was a pretty clever choice overall, though she looks way different from how I imagined her. If I were the director, part of her costume would be red hair, but the same actress would be Curley's wife because she really fits that role.
      Now then, my opinions as asked for by this question: What are your general thoughts, feelings, reactions of Of Mice and Men? What had the most profound impact on you or your understanding of the novella? Who would you recommend this  book to and why? Generally, I thought it was pretty good until the depressive downer ending. Curley's wife had the biggest understanding once she developed. I'd recommend this to people who like twist endings, as this book is one.  

Fin