The question is: Which medium (book or movie) more effectively explores the dominant themes of the search for the meaning of life, duty vs. individuality, reflections on mortality, constructive social roles, and life as art in The Hours, and how this was achieved?
I like the book for themes such as the meaning of life as known as “the internal conflict”. The book with a more internal approach to what the characters think and feel should indeed spell out (no pun) intended the natural meaning of the book but the funny thing with literature. Nothing is literal and it is often that the reader has to search for a deeper meaning to fully understand the context of what they are reading. The Hours by Michael Cunningham did a wonderful job painting a picture I could feel the pages dampen with water as Virginia took her own life.
However I must say that I felt the most connection with the film only because the acting was so prestigious. And in a modern sense I could relate more with the time sequences because the transitions between the years and characters were visible. I like how visually the day was passed in sequence and with full understanding and it also kept you on your toes.
I can totally relate to the character of Virginia. She was my favorite how twisted she was and she looked at life like a mystery that she was dying to uncover whatever hidden meaning that came along with. She got lost with her duty versus her individuality and I think this engulfed her. As a woman we have duties of what we should wear and look like but Virginia’s individuality to the world by surprise.
Life is not always what it seems I go through out my day pissed off for no apparent reason. Why do I feel this way all the time? I feel like I have no one to talk to and no one who fully understands me. I pretend that I have it all together but I really don’t. In high school I was pretty invisible but I made it by with no bruises, but scar from the battle of verbal abuse that I got from my mother on a daily basis. I understand life as being this thing you do it’s a test from God to see how much you can take before you self-destruct Virginia told her husband in the film that “ you don’t live life by running from it Richard” it kind of pissed me off because that is what exactly what she did . But she also said it was her right to choose to live it or not.
Both book and film gave me different perspectives on what it feels like to put up with shit that you don’t want to put up with. We all have a place in the world I think the hardest part is finding it and being content with it. Not necessarily happy because that is so overrated.
Indeed you are right when you said, “Nothing is literal and it is often that the reader has to search for a deeper meaning to fully understand the context of what they are reading.”I had to do just that; I am grateful that there was other sources to help me understand the novel because I truly have a better appreciation for it, then I did before I did my research. Even though I now appreciate the novel, I must also say I too felt most connected to the movie then the novel; the visuals affect such as in the scene when the bed appeared to be engulfed by water, and Mrs. Woolf laying on the ground looking (at the bird) death in the eye brought helped me to understand reflection of immortality in the movie. Furthermore, seeing the characters and their family in the movie helped me to personalize the characters in the novel. Mrs. Brown was my favorite character; I was able to relate to her, visual character, playing the role of the perfect little housewife who tries to keep it together for appearances sake, but deep down her role did not equate to her happiness, and the same can be said for many women who play that role in life. I got married at 19 and started my family five years later; I am now 48, still married, homeowner, have 5 kids and a grandchild, and an employee, but something is missing—I am unhappy in what I call my ordinary life—that is why I have returned to college. When I graduate next year, I will kiss AV goodbye as well as my ordinary life, and embark on whatever ventures my new life’s has to offer. Because of “The Hours,” I now see my Life as Art.
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