Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267) (Draft): Fitzgerald, ''Bernice Bobs Her Hair''
Well, the movie had a lot of differences to the original version. In the story, Bernice was described as having dark hair and being pretty, while Marjorie had blonde hair. In the movie, this was changed and they made Bernice out to be ugly.
The story jumped a lot in relation to time. In the movie, a lot of the jumps were played out, scense were extended, and things that were just told by the narrator were said by Marjorie (like the "just me, you us," line). Warren seemed disinterested after Bernice's hair got cut instead of more fascinated, and although she was getting attention, that attention was emphasized more in the movie. Fitzgerald made short comments on how muc attention, but he leaves the reader to assume that Marjorie still has the upper hand all the way through, instead of it being gradually changing in the film.
Personally, the story was much better, as most would say. If the film followed the book, it would be much shorter, and not as impactful. Bernice's graceful leave felt more of a high-brow revenge, especially since she referred to the Indian comment made about her at the end.
Posted by at January 31, 2005 03:22 PM | TrackBackI have to disagree. I didn't get as much out of the movie as I did with the story. If the film would have followed the story, I think it could have been a longer film and would have been easier to understand and relate to the characters. In the movie, we don't get the in-depth look at characters such as Bernice as we did in the story. In fact, the ending of the story and the book were different as well. The indian comment wasn't made, and Bernice tossed Marjorie's hair into the car not the porch. I think that made more of an impact on me as a reader than did the movie's ending.
Posted by: Lesley at January 31, 2005 09:27 PM