Photo Doc (25 pts)

http://photopeach.com/album/j1485t

Inspired fiction/comic (50 pts)

We were coming back from a nice trip to the beach. It was a beautiful day; a beautiful couples date. Nothing could go wrong; or at least that’s what we thought. Then it happened; the metallic screech that would haunt my life for the next several months. I was eighteen years old, and new in a relationship with a lead-footed, car racing guy who promised to show me how to live. He’d introduced me to several things growing up in a strict Christian home had. He even got me thinking that maybe speeding wasn’t so bad after all. We had a friend couple whom were also crazy obsessed with the need for speed. Everywhere we went was achieved in about half the time because of how fast we traveled. You would think that was what caused the accident that day. You’d be wrong, though. The guy in the friend couple decided he wanted to drive, and in the process of leaving his girl’s parent’s neighborhood backed in a jeep behind him going about thirty-plus miles per hour. The following hour was a bizarre mixture of vivid and a total blur.

It began with us frantically vacating the premises as fast as we could and taking the back way entirely back to the couple’s house. I insisted that they come clean to the family and the cops, but was put down left and right for wanting to do the right thing. I understand that we were all very scared, but it was rather unnecessary. Next, after hiding the crunchy-ended mustang drove back. Why? Because they thought it would be good to pick up any detached car pieces. And guess who got the “honor” of doing this deed? Yours truly! After spending five minutes picking up car parts, and getting a nice gash in the process, I had retrieved all of the mustang parts, and accidentally picked up a small part of the jeep. After diving into the car, I spent several moments trying to regain all sorts of composure.

Upon returning, the boyfriend spent the next several hours pacing and plotting a story to tell his father, who was still in the process of paying off the mustang. I would periodically remind him of the fact that he would have to tell the truth, because another car was involved.

“We should just steal the jeep then!” he said. I knew he was panicking, but it was still the stupidest thing he had said. Well, at least up to that point.

“Yes, because it’s not bad enough we hit and ran from it, but let’s add theft to that pile, dumbass,” I responded, rather perturbed.

This resulted in one of the biggest fights of my life. A fight of truth versus dishonesty, one that would stay in my life for several months. I was young; I wanted to be loved, and therefore played along with his deceit. A year later, when everything surfaced about the “true” story, it become apparent that the dishonesty lived on. I was blamed for the dishonesty portion of the issue. When I found out, all I could think was, “I should have just let him steal the jeep… through me under the bus!”.

Script vs Film (50pts)

The original script stays true to what we have seen in the movie. One difference, and this may seem insignificant to some but I find it really important, is that as Westley is preparing to leave, and Buttercup is expressing her worry about if he’ll return, the final product added a word. The script says “Hear this now: I will come for you”(6). This just reads a bit of annoyance towards her worry. However, the movie gives a little more caring and passion to the line, “Hear this now: I will always come for you”. One of my favorite descriptions in the script is “The Man in Black (Westley) copies Inigo. Not copies exactly, improves”(33). This resulted in the scene in which Inigo swung on the overhanging vine to the lower ground to retreat his sword. Then Westley threw his sword into the ground and jumped for the same vine. However, where Inigo just swung on it, Westley pulls out some gymnast moves during his swing. There is much more “carrying”(36) of Buttercup by Fezzik than actually appears in the movie, too. He more or less just pulls her around in the movie version. The showdown between Westley and Fezzik is a bit more on Wesley’s side in the script than the movie. He read things like “tremendous blows” and “twists his arms severely”(38). However, the movie makes it apparent that Westley knows he’s rather screwed. He tries so hard, but we just see no fruit of his work and Fezzik just stands there smiling. It is only when Fezzik starts charging him that we get the similarity back. Another difference in this scene is that when Fezzik is explaining why fighting one person is harder than a group, he faints as he finishes his sentence. This differs in the script because he finishes his line, slams Westley into the boulder again, and THEN proceeds to finally collapse from lack of air. He is even still trying. I think this was a good change on the movies part, because this just sounds tedious (40). In the battle of wits between Vizzini and Westley, the script states at one point Westley is nervous (45). However, Cary Elwes never shows any signs of nervousness in this scene. I think this was very important because showing nervousness in this scene would have made him seem like he was in trouble. Elwes poker face was perfect; it almost gave a taunting effect to Vizzini (Wallace Shawn)’s monologue. The scene where Buttercup dreams of becoming queen plays out different in one way. The old woman booing her not only is insulting, but the script reads she also holds out her hands to Buttercup’s throat which is what is originally supposed to wake her up (72). Not just the booing and insults. I’m not sure why they changed that, other than making it not as scary for young children. However, I don’t agree with that change, I think that would have been quite important to the story. Humperdink grabs Buttercup by the arm and leads her away in anger in the movie after she has insulted him, but in the script he grabbed her by the hair (84) and was more forceful about it. Again, maybe making it more watchable for kids. This was a hard script to critique, because overall it was close to perfectly in sync with the movie. But I found a few things that seemed significant. I have always thought that movies end up cutting or changing quite a bit, but this movie stayed very true to the original script. It was a very fun read.

Mini Sagas (25pts)

 Write two fifty-word mini-sagas. The origins of the saga comes from Icelandic prose dating back to the 12th century when locals would recount their warrior battles. Today, a saga is referred to as a modern heroic narrative. Your mini-saga should have 50 words. No more, no less. The stories must have a beginning, middle and end. They must be interesting, and they may not be autobiographical. Engage the reader. Here are two examples:

1)Twenty years ago, Kate came into a world full of danger. She had an abusive father who had left some scars. She had a mother who was so drunk all of the time, this didn’t matter much to her. She had a dream to run away from all of that.

2)A happy boy ran down the lane. He was running to the upcoming tryouts. He was running for his life, it felt. He wanted this so bad, he could taste the sweet victory ahead of him. That final spot on the team was in the palm of his young hands.