Literary Fiction Vs. Genre Fiction

I don’t think that genre fiction is worth less time to us than literary fiction. There are many reasons why you should read a variety of books, not just stick to one genre or the other. Without reading literary fiction you may never understand the many references that come from these stories in everyday situations. On the other hand, it can be just plain boring reading only deep literature. It’s a good idea to intersperse genre fiction along with other genres of books just so reading can keep your interest. Also, just because a book is popular doesn’t mean it can’t be a “great” book at the same time. There are definitely some popular books that would get laughed at from someone who only enjoys literary fiction, but there are some extremely popular books that have been considered great. Besides all that, many people won’t see the need to read boring literary fiction books. The whole thing that makes them “works of art” is their ability to get a message across without explicitly stating the message. A lot of people won’t care for that, and will enjoy and get much more out of an interesting plot where the message isn’t quite so hidden.

I don’t feel that we should continue to teach so much literary fiction. One of the main factors that turn kids away from reading these days is the blandness of the stories we’re forced to read. Mixing in popular novels might get a kid hooked on reading, which although may not help them enjoy Shakespeare, could lead them on the path to more reading in general in their futures. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d rather read something as old and bland like Of Mice and Men over Twilight, but that’s just because Twilight isn’t considered to be a very well written piece. I think it would be more productive to let kids pick from a variety of books than just giving them one option. It only takes one book to get a kid hooked, and giving them the option to choose a book they like would increase that chance by 1000%.

Adapting The Shining

The Shining by Stephen King was actually already made into a movie in 1980, three years after the book was written. It was directed by Stanley Kubrick and the three main characters were played by Jack Nicholson, as Jack, Shelley Duvall, as Wendy, and Danny Lloyd, as Danny. I’m only halfway through the book but I have definitely already noticed some scenes that need to make it in to the movie and some that don’t.

Scenes that need to make it in to the movie

·         One of the seemingly most important scenes so far is when we see Danny hallucinate for the first time. He’s sitting outside on the sidewalk and he drifts into a deep state of “shining”, where he is moving in his head but in reality he appears to have fainted or gone in to shock. This is important because it’s the first hint we get that anything is special about Danny.

·         Another scene that needs to be included is when Danny meets Mr. Hallorann. Hallorann confides in Danny that he knows what happens when Danny goes in to these trances, and that he does it too. He explains to him that if he ever see’s something scary or dangerous in the Hotel, that it can’t hurt him, and that all he has to do to make it go away is shut his eyes. This is important because it helps Danny better understand what his special gift is.

·         The latest scene I’ve read that needs to be included is Danny going in to room 217 along with Jack waking up thinking he might have hurt Danny in his sleep. When Wendy wakes up to Jack having broken a clock in his sleep and then discovers what happened to Danny, she assumes Jack’s done it, no matter how much he claims he didn’t. This is important because it drastically changes Wendy’s feelings towards Jack, going back to how she felt when he was drinking all the time.

Scenes that can be cut from the movie

·         One scene that’s unnecessary is the background given on Jack’s dad being an alcoholic and beating him when he was young. It’s a nice piece of information to see where he’s coming from but for the sake of time it can but cut and not missed. An audience shouldn’t question why he was an alcoholic as it’s a fairly common thing.

·         Another scene that can be cut is a majority of the Jack going crazy scene. All you would really need to show from that is the moving hedges to get the idea across that he’s going crazy. All of his dialogue to himself isn’t necessary and would likely only confuse the audience.

·         One fairly lengthy flashback/scene that could be cut is when Jack and Al hit a bike in the middle of the road. I think the point of this information in the book was to show just how irresponsible or crazy Jack and Al would get together, giving Wendy a good reason to dislike him. Again, while a nice addition in the book to really get Jack’s irresponsibility across to the reader, it would be portrayed adequately by Jack’s on screen emotion.