Monday, October 17, 2011
ENG 125 Film Blog
Use this blog to discuss Adaptation. Per my instructions, you've written down a quote from the film. Post the quote and then your analysis of the quote. In your analysis, you'll want to discuss how the quote relates to some major characteristic of the film -- theme, characterization, imagery, etc.
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"You are what you love and not what loves you".
ReplyDeleteDonald's words to Charlie towards the end of the movie when they were hiding for their lives in the swamp(the same swamp that Lorouche found the orchid-"The Ghost".From the beginning of the movie,Charlie did not accept who he was and was more concerned about being another whom people will love.He had no self-confidence.Likewise Susan who realised that she wasn't after the orchid when she finally saw it in that swamp,Charlie realized that all his life he was trying to be someone else,reason why he was unhappy and hopeless not because he was having problems writing the screen play for "The Orchid".They both adapted to their true selves.Imagery,Donald dies thus "The Ghost".
Paulinus
''adaptation is a profound process''- Charlie Kaufman
ReplyDeleteIn the quote Charlie is trying to comprehend the main theme of the movie, change( adaptation). He describes it as being ''profound''. In other words an adaptation that someone may go through is intense and usually has a deep meaning to that person. Change is not meant to be a simple process but a process where as it effects one's very being. For some people change may not be a choice, like the orchid, it slowly adapts.
"many things were like the ghost orchid, a little fantastic, fleeting, and out of reach"
ReplyDeleteTo me this quote embodied the tone of the entire movie. Charlie struggles throughout most of the film to achieve success with his book. He seems to have a downward spiraling mindset that keeps him from breaking his habitual self doubt and letting him find his inspiration. though his search for inspiration mirrors the search for the ghost orchid, when the reporter finally finds the ghost orchid, she loses herself, when charlie reaches a moment when he finally understood what he needed to write.
"Change is not a choice. Not for a species of plant, and not for me." Susan Orlean
ReplyDeleteSusan is in the bed discovering the drug that was extracted from the orchid. The drug that made the world more fascinating. Once she tried the drug a simple dial tone was amazing to hear for her. When she talks about change she is talking about adapting to the changes and all you have left to do is get use to it and learn how to adapt. In this scene when she is in the hotel room she experiences her truth, the truth she did not tell to her husband and to the world. She discovered herself and she became happy even though it was the drug she was happy that she was alive, that she felt satisfaction. The movie changed at this point it was the opposite, it was like two different movies the first part was a lie and the rest was the reality about change.
Cindell Santos-Lopez
“Most people yearn for something exceptional, something so inspiring that they'd want to risk everything for that passion, but few would act on it. It was very powerful and intoxicating to be around someone so alive.” -- Susan Orlean
ReplyDeleteOrlean captures the essence of human nature in this quote. Most people do, in fact, gravitate toward their passions. Few however actually break from the mundane to follow this passion through life. This explains the intoxication she felt being around someone following that passion completely, which is the underlying theme of the movie. Four people, all trying to find their own way in life, attempting to follow the things they feel they were born to do, even when impossible.
-- Lottie
''I wanted to want something as people cared about these plants.''
ReplyDeleteSusan is in the process of discovering her inner-self. She seems lost and troubled and kind of annoyed because she can not seem to grasp an aspect of her intended existence, in other words, life. She uses the flower guy to learn about a mysterious orchid that people from all over seem to show a great interest in. But in the process, she ends up learning about herself and discovers true happiness in her life. She seemed confused when she was learning about the orchid at first, but then she realized that the flower guy makes sense in what he says. And that in the end helped her explore her inner feelings.
Kassem Hamad.
"I can see your sadness, it's lovely" - Matthew Osceola (Indian guy at the Greenhouse)
ReplyDeleteSusan is confused in her life after meeting and getting to know John Laroche. She really becomes attached to Laroche, you can say she starts to find true love. And I think what the man is saying in this quote is even though her feelings are leaving and betraying her husband. What she finds in Laroche is pure and true. It's sad it happened this way in her love life, but at the same time it's good because she finds someone she really wants to be with.
"Adapting is almost shameful, it's like running away..." ~Susan Orlean
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dictionary.com, adapting means 'to adjust oneself to new conditions, environment, etc.'. For Susan to see adapting as a shameful act of running away makes me think that she's not adapting. For me, it seems as though she herself is running away instead of adapting to her situation. She, as well as Laroche and Charlie are trying to rebirth themselves. They are trying to make themselves like new. When they achieve this, then they learn to adapt to it. It's kind of a stretch, but I wanted to look at the movie as making fun of the fact that they AREN'T really adapting, but they are sperating themselves from everythimg they know in order to have a fresh start.
~Amaris Lewis
Okay, only some of what I said made sense. Lol Susan, Laroche, and Charlie want a fresh start, they want to start over and be 'reborn'. At the end of the day, they achieve this, but was it worth it? Would it have been better for them to conform and be assimilated into the 'failing' lifestyles rather than risk it all to start over? For Orlean, it didn't seem worth it, she wanted everything to go back to normal. For Charlie he found is confidence, but he lost his other half. Laroche didn't have a chance, but I got the feeling that he loved Susan so much that he was willing to risk at all. I felt that he didnt really care about much throughout the whole movie, he didnt care about changing or staying the same, he was just living and being passionate about what he loved. "This isn't a pissing contest"' Laroche said. But it kind of was. Throughout the movie we were watching all these characters hpget far, and not get far. We were looking at their failures and successes, their gains and losses. This movie was sort of a pissing contest for who could survive adaptation. I think Charlie won.
ReplyDelete-Amaris Lewis
“I'll tell you a secret. The last act makes the film. Wow them in the end, and you've got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you've got a hit. Find an ending, but don't cheat, and don't you dare bring in a deus ex machina. Your characters must change, and the change must come from them. Do that, and you'll be fine.”
ReplyDeleteAdaptation uncovered its satirical nature after Robert McKee gave this advice. Kaufman (the screenwriter) was poking fun of Hollywood, its movies, and the audience's need for closure. McKee's quote resonates in the last act of the movie, when Charlie (the character) and his brother are fleeing for their lives, as they finally connect as brothers, when Charlie has his grand epiphany, then the deaths of Donald, by car accident and LaRoche, being eaten by an alligator. Kaufman took the advice of McKee and simultaneously used 'deus ex machina'. Illuminating to the audience how much we fear being disappointed or not having closure. The characters in the film or any film as well as people, need answers. Even if his writing had flaws or problems, people usually focus on the ending and not the process.
"I wonder how it feels to care about something so passionately"
ReplyDeleteAt this point during the film, Susan has an epiphany about her life. Throughout the movie she is a women with a sucessful career, a nice husband, and the perfect life. Unfortunately, Susan is not happy. There are people who are embedded with the idea of having a successful career and economic stability, but overlook the oppurtunities that truly make a person happy. Susan was one of those people who never had a true passion, unlike John Laroche, who was happy with discovering flowers. Overall, the quote conveys that one should discover a passion that leads to their own happiness.
Monica Solis
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"The script I'm starting, its about flowers nobodies ever done a movie about flowers before so...so there are no guidelines."
ReplyDeleteIn this quote Charlie Kaufman used in order to portray a backbone to the whole story line, because he wanted to write a script about flowers. Knowing that no one has ever made a movie about flowers he had nothing to look at on how to start his script. In the movie Charlie struggled in finding a start to his script. This probably triggered his mind and emotions which lead to a figment of imagination of his so called "brother." His brother, Donald Kaufman acted as a support type of person which Charlie looked at hoping to be happy and filled with imagination. His brothers cause in the story was may be due to Charlies struggle in finding a starting point for his script. Donald was about the complete opposite of Charlie, his work on a new script was finished, and more importantly being happy. His brother acted as a symbolism in the outline of the story to help the main character "Charlie" in finishing his script, or at least starting it. With no script or guidelines to look on about flowers, he took a book by Susan Orlean. A book about orchid flowers, with it's own meaning. It was like Charlie struggled within the story and only imagined sexual thoughts about him and Susan. In the movie it showed how much effort his character went in to get free of his frustration.
-Jerry Nguyen
"Plants have no memory, adapting is almost shameful, its like running away"- Susan Orlean
ReplyDeleteSusan now believe that to adapt means to forget the past and ajust to new situations in life. This propels her to fall in love with John Laroche. Although she thinks is shameful, She wants to know "how it will feel like when you love something passionately" The charater Susan is a representations of the theme of the movie "Adaptation"
"i have been on the planet for 40 years and i don't understand a single thing.....Why am i here"-Charles
ReplyDeleteAll the main charaters in the movie are trying to find why they exist. They are trying to feel a passion for something because they are lonely and depressed. Susie always had the question "Why am i here" at the back of her mind.She never really wanted to find the answer until she met John. The way he seem so free and relax made her want to have what he had. Unknown to her he was trying to cover his depression by hunting for orchid.Charles made up Donald hoping he can give him the answer to why he was on earth.At the end all the charaters learn that there is no answer to why they were on earth.it took the death of John and Donald for Susie and Charles to realises that .So they learn to adapt to live since they were living it.-Blessing Acquah
RE: Blessing
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the characters in the film realize that there is no answer to why they are on this earth. Perhaps, in the back of our minds we all want to know why we exist, and at the same time we are apprehensive to uncover the truth. It is in our DNA to rationalize, to make sense of the universe in order to manage our anxieties about the unknown. It could be possible that Kaufman wanted to expose and experience a sense of disorientation through his characters.
RE:Walter
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Walter's statement.Charlie has potential to write a great script; however,his lack of confidence and ''self-doubt'' leads him into a negative direction. The ghost orchid in way is the key to their epiphany and revelation. Both Charlie and Orleane ultimately understand that they are like the ghost orchid, beautiful yet misunderstood.
Paulinus N.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Charlie was always concerned on how people saw him. He wanted to become somebody that everybody loved and by thinking that way he became unhappy because he would not show his point of view of things but instead he would give the point of view that people wanted to hear.
Cinder Santos-Lopez
RE: Aeryn Kwon
ReplyDeleteI completely see what you're saying in the sense that Kaufman was poiking fun at Hollywood. I also think that that McKee's comment about 'wowing them in the end' was a mirrored image of Kaufman's life. At the end of the day, the most that I remember about Kaufman happened towards the 'end', and the same with all the other characters. I think that McKee was not only talking of film, but he was talking aqbout the entire process of Adaptation
RE: Kyle
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Kyle's statement about Susan's situation. Before she met John she was filled with confusion and sadness. As she begins to know John, Susan began to open herself and becomes lively. Unlike with her husband, Susan does not express her emotions but hides it. Susan enjoyed being with John because he added adventure to her life.
RE:Paulinus N
ReplyDeletei agree and disagree with you when you said"From the beginning of the movie,Charlie did not accept who he was and was more concerned about being another whom people will love." i think he accepted who he was because in the movie he always called himself a loser. So he knew where he stood in society and accepted that. In the movie he didn't want to change. Mental he thought of changing but in reality he did not want to change.He was fine with being by himself because after he wrote the script he gain a little self- confident but that was about it. he didn't do anything to change so people can be more accepted of him.
RE:Kassem
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about how Susie, before she met John Laroche, spent her life in a saddening and stressful time. It's like then she started thinking how someone could love something so passionately. And discovering her truth and inner feelings she learned more about herself, knowing that she has found someone who has opened her eyes, and gave her something she has been searching for. Because the scene of Charles and Donald in the hotel spying on Susie and her husband, to them it looked as if they argued as if something happened making her feel sad. Then to find out John someone she seems has fallen deep in love changed her life, making her feel happy.
Paulinus N
ReplyDeleteI really liked that quote in the film. At that point in the movie, charlie finds the one piece of inspiration he needed from his brother donald.
charlie had been so obsessed with what other people would think about him that he could not function as a writer, and those few words brought him out of his funk
RE: Walter , I agree with this, the last quote in her story. Her experience with laroche mirrors his life perfectly. She gets kinda lost when she finally discovers the flower and Charlie does the same when he was finally able to move on in his story. And I think he also loses himself after his brother dies, but that's understandable.
ReplyDeleteRE:Cindellita
ReplyDeleteVery interesting analysis Cindellita,I agree with you that the movie changed after this scene,and to add to what you said,I think Susan realized that change was inevitable which ties with the title of the movie "Adaptation".The drug helped her realize and accept the fact that she was lonely and didn't have a choice but to change to adapt to her loneliness by using the drug and hanging out with Lorouche.
Re: Blessing
ReplyDeleteNo body is a loser,there's something special about each person. A loser is one who does not realize that he is special just being himself,and see's himself through the eyes of others than himself,thus lacking self-confidence like Charlie.Charlie is a good script writer and he thinks thats all about him,no personality.He only comes to realize the beauty of being himself,adapting to himself after his his brother whom he thought so low of oponed his eyes with that quote.Confidence brings hope,which Charlie found at the end of the movie.