Kathleen’s blog entitled Drama, Romance, Fantasy — Oh My addresses some of the differences that arose in turning Portrait of Jennie into a film. I agree with her in that Spinney has a much larger role in the film than she did in the book, but I don’t really feel that Spinney’s interaction with Mathews changes very drastically from book to movie as Kathleen suggests. In each medium I saw a distinct, reversed role of gender between the two characters. In her blog, she then talks about some of the special effects and usage of color in the film, which I didn’t cover extensively in my paper, so check it out. Kathleen also included a link to a website that covers the movie’s failure when it was released, which is very interesting. I really agree with what she closes her blog with, “Interesting how a movie may seem better over time. “ Old movies do have that quality of nostalgia which gives them a pass even if they don’t hold up to the standards of today (I use standards loosely)…let’s just go with special effects that are laughable to us now.Â
I love Annie’s blog Eben: When Jackasses Fall in Love, she addresses many of the things that I do in my paper. The differences in the scene when Eben is painting Jennie, Spinney’s larger role and attraction for Eben, and she drives it home that the movie is about love whereas the book is about art. I see that Annie wrote her final paper on the book/movie also, and now that mine is posted I can’t wait to read it and see if we agreed on any more points. The blog is great, and Nathan’s Eben is most definitely an asshole for the most part, but I still prefer the book to the movie, the only thing I disagree with Annie’s post. Then again, it’s all about personal taste, Annie is more inclined to enjoy the romance and I enjoy the Jackass…wonder what Freud would say about that one.
Dan also discussed the problematic shift from book to movie in his blog Portrait of Jennie. He was “underwhelmed” with the movie version and he doesn’t like that Jennie’s existence was undermined and made more questionable. I’d have to agree with these claims, and like Dan I did prefer the book. In its own merit, the movie wasn’t awful. I did find myself grinniny stupidly a few times at Eben and Jennie being lovey-dovey, but I also feel while the book and movie share many of the main similarities, that they are also quite different and need to be appreciated on different levels.