Life Experiences

Our discussion of the various purposes of story telling during class this week got me thinking on the kind of stories that are shared in my family. Many times, when my parents get together with their siblings, they reminisce on their childhood – talking about their old neighborhood and college days. At the same time, academics are a major part of my family’s life as my dad has come from a family of prestigious lawyers. Since the age of 9, my dad would repeatedly tell me the story of how he came to America and the struggle he endured to get to where he is today. Usually, I would just nod my head while zoning out to what he was saying or groan whenever he would start telling his story.  

There’s the saying ‘actions speak louder than words’ and this statement definitely applies to this situation. To fully understand or empathize with the struggles another person has been through, one must have experienced it on their own. Our parents give us advice based on their past experiences, but one can not fully grasp the importance of their message unless you personally go through it on your own.  As I am in college right now and trying to pursue a career in my passion, I know understand my dad’s struggle. Who knows – one day I might be telling me story to my kids and they will be rolling their eyes at me too.

Do your parents try to give you advice through their stories as well?

Should we make movies based off of books?

I have been a book nerd from the earliest time I can remember. Whenever I would go to a bookstore I would search for the fattest book I could find and read it. Reading is relaxing for me – I can escape into the book and forget about my problems for a little while. I can get lost in the character’s world and the problems they face; in other words, I use my imagination while reading. These days, I feel like movies have taken over the role of books. On top of that, books are being remade into movies.

While reading from General/Kress/Hayles, it got me thinking on how media affects our imagination when movie makers base movies off of books. I believe taking a book and turning it into a movie has a couple of disadvantages. Many times, the director’s make the movie from their perspective and what they imagine it to be. This can skew the author’s original message that he/she was intending to make. People who have read the book and watched the remake of the movie are commonly disappointed with the movie. This is because no movie can make up for an individual’s imagination and how they pictured the book in their head. An example would be the Harry Potter series. By movies being created off of books, it allows the younger generation to watch the movie rather than sitting down and reading the book. It starts to remove the ability of a child to imagining things for their own but rather starts to have their imagination based off of what the director and movie makers produce.

Do you think having books made into movies has more gains than losses or vice versa? Comment below!