Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Ragtime Film vs. Book

Tonight we watched a good chunk of the film of Ragtime.   I actually really enjoyed it because it helped give me a visualization of the words I read!  However, I did have some things that really stuck out negatively to me about the film:
It seemed that Mother was depicted as downtrodden, inferior, almost stupid.  I didn't like that.
Father was depicted as more ignorant that I think he is...he was being rude and mean to Coalhouse Walker more-so than he was in the book.
I was really pleased with how they portrayed Coalhouse Walker, Tateh, Tateh's little girl, and Mother's Younger Brother.  I think Mother's Younger Brother did very well and he was actually exactly how I had pictured him.
One topic that the film helped clear up for me was the how political the upper-class world of Evelyn and Thaw and Standford White was.   The culture really left Evelyn with not very many choices, and I can imagine how trapped she felt.  It was also interesting how they cut out the part about Evelyn spending days and days and days with Tateh and his daughter.  I thought this was a crucial part in the book about how Evelyn wanted to make herself a part of the lower-class group.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the movie and found it very helpful to watch.  I would eventually like to see the end of it...but for now I am moving forward with my Ragtime paper!

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