Two different colors about Shawshank family: Movie vs. Novella

           There are several ways to describe an event: objectively or subjectively. These two ways of description affect the writing piece differently. Objective view helps people to be independent in having their opinions, while subjective view helps people to sympathize with particular incident. Though the movie and the novella of Shawshank Redemption are very similar in the message or the characters, two are quite different in their styles. The movie tried to emphasize the message, more dramatically than the novella.

           First, the movie changed the characters to make story more dramatically. In the movie, Red was set as a Black, old man instead of the red-haired, relatively young man. By making Red older and wiser, the movie tried to form Red as a friend who gives an advice which is opposing to the Andy’s view about hope. Brooks who was just a minor character (just a librarian before Andy) in the book became more important in the movie, showing people the tragic result of institutionalized prisoner. In order to enhance the tragedy happened to Brooks, his characteristics in the prison were added up; he was colored as a librarian who was the messenger of the goods and who had a crow named Jake. Not only that, other characters’ personalities were polarized. The good side, Andy, Tommy, and Red’s friends became kinder and more good-natured. The bad side, Hadley and Norton became more evil, rotten minded. By depicting two sides more evident, the movie tried to make the audience sympathize with the characters, more touched by the ending.

           Second, the movie changed the events occurred in the book, in order to make the movie more touching. The events occurred to Tommy can be an example. Originally, in the book, Norton was not that cruel; he just compromised with Tommy about revealing the truth, and Tommy accepted that proposal. However, on the movie, Norton coerced Tommy to hide the truth, Tommy insisted to reveal the truth as a witness, and after all, Tommy was killed. It was very cruel. Also, there are several minor things included. The scene which Andy turned on the opera ‘the marriage of Figaro’ was included, showing the resistance of Andy. In the end, Andy revealed the corruption of the Shawshank prison in the newspaper, took all the money Norton gained from the money laundry, and also put the bible which had a groove for rock hammer in exodus section. In the movie, there was also the picture of Einstein lolling out his tongue in front of Norton who failed to catch Andy. Those little, but bit witty elements included in the movie give the audience pleasure.

           To sum up, the movie recreated the book more vivid, more touching. Like an artist carving the original stone into a beautiful sculpture, the movie was very successful at carving up the original novella. Both the movie and the novella were joyful, having similarities and also expressing distinct colors. I should definitely have an attention to the Steven King’s novel.

Meta-fiction: Being an idol member

Dear Diary.....

Weather: Sunny

Date: October 30th, Sat

Title: Two roads

           There are four types of people: people whose interest and talent match, those who aren't good at their interest, those who don't have any interest, and lastly, those who have neither interest and talent. Third and fourth type of people are rare. Rather, most people are second type of people, which is very tragic. They have a passion, but still, they are not good at it. They put a lot of efforts on that, but it is such a pain. At that moment, people should choose the road they'd take in the future: the road according to their talent or to their interest?

           In my case, I chose to walk along the road of my interest: an entertainer.

           Yes, an entertainer is what people call 'showbiz'. People would imagine a bunch of girls in a mini skirt, dancing, singing just one or two verses for each. A lot of people think those 'dolls' are just for catching people's attention, and after all, money.

           I cannot deny that idol groups are pristine from money or dirty gossips. However, still, idol members can freely dance and sing. That is fascinating enough for me.
          So I am the idol trainee in SHS Entertainment. I have been trained for more than 3 years. Although my nickname in the company is 'Beta', for being second-best in everything, I’m working hard for the dream that is vague and beautiful as a mist: standing on the stage as a 'Alpha'. 

           Yesterday, on the dance-practicing room, I found a diary which is old and rusty. Seemed like the diary was abandoned for more than 3-4 years. It didn't have any name.

           For some moment, I felt guilty about looking at the diary. But my curiosity pressed that hesitation, pushing me to open it up.

           Being a member of the idol is such a hard task. Some might argue that idol members only have to dance, sing, and practice a big smile to the crowds. Well? That’s true. I practice wave dancing, natural vibrations and high notes while singing, all that kind of stuff. And I definitely prefer doing that, rather than just dozing off in history class.

           But imagine standing on the stage where numerous eyes coldly evaluate EVERYTHING. They are not only interested in my dance, my song, and my big smile. Rather, they are interested in finding out what I did wrong in the past. One day, my boss grabbed my wrist so hardly and brought me into his room. He suddenly yelled at me and asked what I did in the first year in high school. I couldn’t answer. He abruptly threw the newspaper of that day. On the gossip section, there was an enormous picture of a young girl with a thick makeup taking a motorcycle with several boys. The girl with the cigarette fixed in the mouth had a name tag, ‘Soho’.

           Oh my god….Busted. What should I do?

           I was dumbfounded. Yes, it is true that my high school years weren’t something that anyone would call smooth and clean. I lived my high school life as a ‘free soul’, to define it. But why should anyone care?

           My boss thought differently of this issue. He told me to stop keeping contact with my high school friends and tell them to not to tell anyone they were ever friends with me. How could he demand such a thing! I said I couldn’t do that but he yelled at me “If you don’t do as I say, don’t even dream of going on stage.” It was my only dream and the words that came out of his mouth rang in my ears for a long time. Friends or dream?

           For that moment, I decided dream and in front of my boss I called my best friend. Her name is EunJi Lee who has a long, red, curly hair and who was the boss of motorcycle gang.

           “What’s up? Aren’t you busy dancing?”

           Her voice stopped me from saying anything else. My boss was frustrated and he grabbed the phone and replied to EunJi.

           “Hey, if I’m right, are you the ‘obstacle’ to the success of Soho?”

           “Huh..excuse me?”

           “Probably you have to study English to understand what ‘obstacle’ means”

          The conversation became very acrimonious. Full of bitter words and sentences, it seemed to last forever. After all, my boss asked me to join other members practicing dance routine.

           After an hour, my boss came to me, saying “The fuss with that lousy girl finally ended!” I don’t know exactly what happened, but I could guess from the nuance of the word ‘lousy’ or ‘fuss’.

           After that disturbance, all I did was the preparation for our come-back. Just reviewing the dance routine, singing, and preparing for the participation in entertainment show. That was all. The dispute, fuss in the expression of my boss no longer exists in my mind. After 3 weeks, our girl group successfully came-back to the stage and to the fans.

           This is a story that I can only write in here, my diary. I never told this story to my parents or my close friends. I couldn’t be honest while hiding this story in my mind, but after all, now I became trouble-freed. Thanks, my diary, for listening my shameful story.

           After I read the diary, I couldn't sleep well. When trying to sleep, the word 'dream' and 'friend' constantly popped into my mind. My friends are quite similar(well, not that troubled...but)..

           What will I choose in a future? Friend? Or my dream?
            Well... I think I'm going to far. I shouldn't think about it for now. Practicing the dance routine is more important than worrying about the vague dilemma.
            Okay, have a good sleep, my diary!

Imagine...

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
-John Lennon 'Imagine'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I hope...

To be pig or to be cow, that is a question

           When I first turned the page of 'Different seasons' and saw the word 'shawshank', the first impression that I got in my head was 'hideous'. That word made me imagine the rat shrieking in agony while its body being clutched by the cat. It sounded very weird, and horrible.

           Not much different from my expectation, the Shawshank prison was 'weird and horrible'. Under the name of 'Happy Shawshank Family', prisoners live their life without much meaning. They are 'institutionalized'. Prisoners just get raped by 'Sisters' when they were 'fresh fish', just wait for their meal, and wander around the yard in the weekends. They reminded me the
meek cow who gets slaughtered. Without any squeaking or defying, they just obeyed to the reality.
           However, Andy was different. In the book, it is described that Andy didn't seem to belong to the Shawshank. He was not guilty in the first place, falsely accused of murdering his wife and his wife’s lover. Although it is not sure whether he was different from others because of his innocence, he was apparently unique from others. He was comparatively neat and quiet unlike others. He was somewhat 'outsider' in the prison.
           Not only his appearance but also his attitude towards the Shawshank society made him distinctive to other cons. Instead of obeying to the order, he always tried to fight back. He was the 'main character' in the prison. He was the prisoner who fought against Sisters, although he failed a lot. He was the only prisoner who became the financial counselor of the guards and wardens who are the men of power. He was the star of the prisoners, literally. (There wasn’t a single prisoner who gave beer to his fellow prisoners.) He was the librarian who put a lot of effort on expanding the library.
           Among a bunch of expressions to describe Andy that I mentioned above, the best expression to describe Andy can be ‘the pig that is going to be slaughtered’. Although he was not in the risk of ‘being slaughtered’ like a pig, his desire to do redemption was as strong as a pig. After he found a testifier, Tommy Williams, of his innocence to the crime, he constantly requested re-trial. No matter how many times he was rejected, he just continued to do it, again and again. And after that, without any depression, he simply dug the hole for an exit to the prison, simply with a rock-hammer and a poster to hide the hole. His desire to escape was ardent like a pig who constantly squeaks until it dies. The only difference between two is that the ‘squeak’ of Andy was mute.
           What I found from Andy was the power of hope. While digging the concrete wall, Andy would have thought a lot of things. He would have smiled when thinking about the success of redemption. But he would have been depressed when thinking about the failure of the redemption, ending up as a ‘slaughtered pig’. However, still, he chose to be a squealing pig instead of being a meek, obeying cow. He succeeded to escape, and left the letter that says ‘Remember that hope is a good thing. No good thing ever dies.’
           Yes. Hope is a good thing. Like the title of this novella suggests, hope springs eternal, not only to Andy but also to those who want to be a squealing pig in their life.

Which 'smart' are you?-Assignment #2

                'Number one: People say that I am very talented at sports.' Yes? Then, you might be a 'body-smart'. 'Number two: I enjoy using axioms, proverbs, and metaphors when talking.' Yes? Then, you might be a 'word-smart'. These are the example questions in 'multiple intelligence test'. Multiple Intelligence,MI is the theory which Howard Gardner established. It is the theory which people try to utilize for 'new education system', the education system that doesn't kill children's creativity. This theory can be the good news for people like Ken Robinson who are not comfortable about the current education system.
                Let's talk about the theories like IQ test. Before MI theory, when it comes to human intelligence, IQ theory was the dominant theory in the education field. A lot of schools and teachers tried to evaluate students' intelligence by IQ numbers. However, the real purpose of IQ test was to distinguish students' academic ability in school; whether students can follow the school study or not. Apparently, this purpose is far from 'human intelligence'; it only measures the 'logic' area of the children. But still, people tried to find the relevance between IQ numbers and the intelligence, and even, the success in adulthood.
                As it can be seen, current education system well fits to the 'IQ theory'. Similar to the IQ test which only measures the logical ability a child has, current system focus on only narrow range of numerous studies. According to Ken Robinson, education systems in all over the world have a same hierachy on subjects. Ken Robinson's lecture quoted:

At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are arts. Everywhere on Earth. And in pretty much every system too, there's an hierachy within the arts. Art and Music are normally given a higher status in schools than drama and dance. There isn't an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why?

  Why? From some moment, students were required to put priority on math and language. From some moment, students had to believe that grade appeared in their report card equals to their intelligence. Is this a normal phenomenon?
               As the alternative method, MI was introduced. According to Howard Gardner, there are 8 intelligences; linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. And he says that all these 8 intelligences have equal claim to priority. It is quite attractive, and quite revolutionary to the current flow of education.
               Still, many people claim a lot of limitations that may appear when applying MI theory to education. First is related to the matter of 'time-efficiency'. As this MI theory has a weak evidence(just relies on hunch), it may lead to the waste of time. This is the problem that Gardner himself already admitted. And the second is that the application of MI theory is not realistic to this situation. As current society and the way of success are usually based on academic areas, pursuing MI theory may not be helpful for children.
               Yes, there are still a lot of limitations and problem that might occur when applying MI theory. However, this theory can be the key of solving current education system's problem. It is obvious that alternatives that have some limitations but can also solve the problem should be applied anyway.

Education system and my twin brother-narrative version

-this is the TED video titled 'Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity'

           While I was watching this video, I thought of my twin brother. This video explaining about the education system killing creativity is my twin brother Seyeul's story.

           'Twins' equals 'the same'? Of course not! Especially in the case of binovulartwin. Although my brother and I are twins, we are so different in many ways. I liked barbie dolls, pink, and love stories. My brother liked dinosaur toy, marine blue, and wars. I like watching dramas while my brother likes starcraft games.

          The biggest difference between us can be the presence of artistic talent. 'Soho as an artist' is not that realistic; it would be an exaggeration. But in the case of my brother, it is not. My brother does have a talent in drawing. He can remember (or imagine), draw and express the smallest detail like an eye of dragonfly. He was creative enough to draw up the whales which he never saw. (He got the first prize in the contest by drawing this) Not only that, he also enjoyed drawing. While he was drawing or making up soldiers, weapons, dinosaurs, his face was always full of smile.

          However, the 'education system' started to influence my brother. Academic subjects which are in the top priority (and in other words, which my brother had no interest) drove him crazy. He had to study, in reality memorize, a bunch of equations, English words, historical facts. He got a lot of stress from report cards with 'effort must be needed'.

          Not only my brother had to STUDY but also he had to change the attitude towards drawing. Instead of thinking drawing as a pleasure, he was forced to think drawing as a tool of entering better school. When my brother was a 6th grader in elementary school, he applied to 'Sunhwa Art Middle School'. That school was thought to be more appropriate for my brother's situation. There were several requirement for him however. Everyday, 9 hours of drawing boring things like sculpture. Staying in art academy starting from 2pm to 11pm. 2 hours of break time plus dinner time. Eating instant food or lunch box instead of eating 'table dinner' in home. It was such a torture for him. He always said he'll give up. But anyway, he worked hard to enter 'Sunhwa Art Middle School', as he wanted to enjoy drawing. Instead of entering that school, all he got was a notice that reported his failure indifferently. The reason was his comparatively low academic grade. It was not high enough to get into the school. And for the first time, I saw him crying, being depressed. For a long time, he tried to avoid art itself.

         To tell the 'epilogue', my brother went abroad, studying in Vancouver, Canada. It was his own decision. He really wanted to defy from oppressive educational system and find out more liberal school environment. Now he is regaining the hope. He got a new interest in designing, and got a definite dream of 'cell phone designer'. But still, he didn't forget that situation, (it is more accurate if said 'couldn't') the tragedy greatly affected by 'education system'.

Lord of the Flies-analysis in tone and perspective

When it comes to the novel, tone and perspective are very important as they can make story more effective. (According to the ‘Jamestown Literature, tone is the writer’s attitude toward a subject.) By tone and perspective, funny stories become funnier, scary stories become scarier, and touching stories become more touching. And in the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, by using the 3^rd person omniscient perspective and objective, scary tone, the writer William Golding emphasized the theme.

           The perspective of ‘Lord of the Flies’ is the 3^rd person omniscient perspective. According to the ‘Elements of Language’, when the perspective is 3^rd person omniscient perspective, the narrator can present readers the thoughts and emotions of the characters directly, and tell readers thing that none of the characters could know. The narrator does not participate on the events in the story like the characters, but he just observes the situation. For example, in chapter six, when the boys were sleeping, the huge explosion or the small war happened. None of the characters know this fact, but only the narrator knows it and he tells this fact to the readers. He said, “There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky; then darkness again and stars. There was a speck above the island, a figure that hung with dangling limbs.” He describes the situation specifically which none of the characters know.

           And the tone is very objective. The narrator neither tries to get into the story nor to express his opinion about the characters. He is just a mere observer. He describes literally everything by just showing readers the dialogues of the characters or the action of the characters. For example, the narrator shows Jack’s savagery itself in order to depict the character, rather than directly stating the narrator’s opinion about Jack. The sentences like “You cut a pig’s throat to let the blood out, otherwise you cannot eat the meat”(Jack’s line), ‘Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth’ shows the savagery of Jack. Another example can be the scene when Jack hit Piggy and Piggy’s spec was broken. The narrator just simply said ‘Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror.’ He didn’t express his opinion about Jack, just letting the readers to judge Jack by themselves. But it is certain that the readers would reach to the similar conclusion that Jack is mean.

           Another tone of this story can be horror. As the story goes on, there appear numerous conflicts and they express the “lord of the flies” in children’s mind. The tone becomes darker and darker as the plot gets more elaborated. For example, the sentences “a flurry of wind made the palms talk and the noise seemed very loud now that darkness and silence made it so noticeable. Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil speaking that no one had noticed by day” show the darkness of the story. That ‘evil speaking’ or ‘darkness and silence’ makes readers have a slight feeling of horror. And another example can be the scene where Simon woke up after the meeting with ‘Lord of the Flies’. The sentences like ‘Nothing prospered but the flies who blackened their lord and made the spilt guts look like a heap of glistening coal’ or ‘The Lord of the Flies hung on his stick like a black ball’ also create the dark, scary atmosphere of the novel.

           In ‘Lord of the Flies’, the writer William Golding depicted the theme very well by using the third person omniscient perspective and objective, scary tone. It was very effective and these are some factors that contributed to make ‘Lord of the Flies’ masterpiece.










-This is the essay that I wrote related to Lord of the Flies