An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film Essay

English Media Coursework: An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, including some comparisons with part one of John Steinbeck’s novel In section one of the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ written by John Steinbeck, begins with a description of the pool and its surroundings in order to familiarize us with the setting, using poetic imagery to describe the â€Å"golden foothill slopes† of the Salinas river valley and the pool on the bank of which â€Å"the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them†. Some rabbits sit in the sand. â€Å"There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores† leading to the sandy rivers edge. The description conveys an idyllic peace to the scene which is disturbed as the novels two main characters emerge from the woods. The rabbits scurry into the scrubs and a heron flies from the pool before George and Lennie enter the clearing. George and Lennie are described as physical opposites, George being â€Å"small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features† while Lennie is described as a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily† but despite the difference in physical appearance John Steinbeck stresses the similarities of dress â€Å"Both were dressed in denim. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls†, this suggests that Lennie maybe trying to copy George as he looks up to him and wants to be like him, as also imitates George actions at the river bank. In the following pages George and Lennie’s conversation and behaviour helps the reader learn that the two are migrant ranch workers, on their way to one job to another. They are going to work on a ranch in Soledad and George makes it clear he is to do all the talking when they arrive; George angrily discovers that Lennie has been concealing a dead mouse (â€Å"I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along†) This informs the reader that Lennie likes to pet soft things, which is to be carefully noted in light of future (and past) events, George has beans for dinner and when Lennie childishly sates he likes ketchup with his beans, George gets angry and muses on the life he could live if he wasn’t with Lennie: â€Å"I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time†¦ You do bad things and I got to get you out†. Through George’s anger we learn about one of the â€Å"bad things† which occurred at their last job, in Weed, when Lennie wanted to pet the girls dress because it was pretty and held on when she tried to jerk away. The two had to flee the town in the night as the town people were looking for them, Lennie responds to George’s anger with self-pity and uses a guilt trip, sorrowfully saying that if George doesn’t want him around, he could go off and live in the hills by himself. This softens George into saying that he wants Lennie to stay, so we know these threats are not serious and that George does genuinely like Lennie as a friend. Lennie urges George to tell â€Å"about the rabbits†, this is when we are first introduced to the dream that George and Lennie share, that they will get their own piece of land and the money and means by which to live off of it. George describes how he and Lennie are different from other ranchers who drift from town to town, who â€Å"don’t belong no place†. Lennie and George are different according to George, because they have future and each other. One day they will have enough money and â€Å"live off the fatta the land†. This shows the reader that George needs Lennie as a Friend so not to be lonely â€Å"I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you† this shows the loyalty and friendship which exists between George and Lennie, and the dream of a better life. All though George does become angry with Lennie resulting in some tension during this section of the novel, the atmosphere at the end is very peaceful and pleasant leavening the reader to feel positive and happy; this is the same in both the film and the novel. The 1992 film version â€Å"Of Mice and Men† opens with white on black credits which are simple and stand out clearly. Gradually sound effects of a wagon/train are added and lighting effects are faded in slowly to show the inside of an old fashioned goods wagon. There is also background music which is very atmospheric, building tension. This is followed by a slow fade and a close up shot of a man’s face, which we later come to realize is George, played by Gary Sinise who is also the director. George pensively, sadly sits alone in a railway car, the shadows of the car’s slats partially covering his face. At the end of the film the same shot is repeated, therefore the audience realise the film is in fact a flash back from George’s memory, The gentle and eerie background music and use of dark, gloomy colours convey a sense of mystery adding interest which makes the audience want to watch on to see what’s going to happen; they also illustrate a mood of sadness along with the miserable expression stressed in the close up shot of Gary Sinises face. At the start of the narrative in the film, the camera jumps to a sequence of a woman in a vivid red dress, running though fields apparently in desperate escape of some undefined terror, She runs towards the camera, As she gets closer to the camera the audience can picks out details in which give clues about the woman such as the tear in her dress and her panicky face which is stressed in a close up shot but the mystery is continued when she runs past the camera and out of the audiences sight. The sound effects of the woman’s gasped breath are very frantic, adding drama and tension to grab the audience’s intention and the red of her dress stands out clearly in contrast to the green fields. The director immediately makes the camera jump to a sequence showing two men, being chased by a group of men on horses armed with rifles and led by hunting dogs. The camera follows this chase, panning along to show the men running though long grass. The camera angle then changes to show the chase from the point of view of the men who are being chased, showing the dogs and men running towards the camera which makes the audience feel as if they are being chased and allowing them to see things from the men’s point of view. Water from the horses splashes on the camera, showing the audience how close they are, adding tension and making the audience feel more involved, helping them to feel how the men are feeling by showing things from the men’s point of view. The two men jump into an irrigation ditch. The man from the start of the film jumps in first, front view and then the other man jumps in after but from a side view. The camera is used as one of the men’s view, to the audience; it helps them to feel how the men are feeling. It creates confusion because at first the audience may not know whose view it is and what they are looking at, since the men are in hiding and the viewer can see the weeds overhanging in front of them; this also creates suspense as the audience can see the two men’s point of view of the situation. The opening film sequence has a very dramatic and tense start in order to grab the audience’s intention, making them want to watch on. In comparison to the novel â€Å"Of Mice and Men† which is very different as it opens with a peaceful, happy and serene scene, making the reader build up hope and creating a joyful atmosphere. The camera jumps from the irrigation ditch to the two men (George and Lennie) hitching a freight train at night in order to escape. Another jump follows to a studio location of a 1930’s Californian town (Salinas); this scene is added to show the audience the time in which the film is set in and giving them an idea of George and Lennies surrounds and their way of life. While they are in the town Lennie asks George were they are going George said â€Å"were going to a ranch to work† this dialog has been added to inform the audience of were they are going and of there current situation. George and Lennie take a bus to the ranch but they are dropped off in the countryside a few miles from the ranch. The serene and tranquil scene was probably set on location. The dialog they use is almost the same as the book, the camera pans along while they walk and talk setting them both in frame emphasizing that they have a close relationship. As the bus goes by George and Lennie, George realises that they have been dropped off in the wrong place and yells out â€Å"son of a bitch† to the bus driver, Lennie copies George and also yells â€Å"son of a bitch† this is improvisation as it is not in the book, it has been added to show how Lennie copies George and what he does suggesting that he looks up to him and wants to be like him, showing the audience a bit about his character. Lennie’s (played by John Malkovitch )voice is very child like, portraying Lennie like a child trapped in a mans body, which makes sense but at times also seem over the top as in the book I felt that Lennie was just very simple minded, but in the film Lennie seems to be seriously retarded. While George and Lennie are sitting by the pool Lennie decides to drink from the pool then spit the water out of his mouth in a child like fashion, again this is improvisation to show how child like Lennie is, George reacts to this by laughing at him showing he is used to Lennie and his childish behaviour almost to like how a parent would laugh at a child. The camera uses close up shots of Lennie’s face in order to emphases his odd facial expressions and medium close-ups to show George and Lennie’s body language especially Lennie who tends to use various funny hand jesters in order to help express himself which he cant do very well. During George and Lennie’s argument about ketchup the camera is shot in separate frames to show they are now separate, because they are angry. The camera also uses medium close ups of George and Lennie while George is kneeling and Lennie is standing up to show how much bigger Lennie is compared to George and their differences in physical appearance, it also shows that Lennie could be seen as a treat to George. The camera tilts up when showing Lennie to make him seem taller and he probably has used padding in his clothes to make him appear bigger, while when the camera is on George it tends to tilt down to make him appear smaller. During the argument George doesn’t mention the girl in the red dress which he does in the novel, he just said â€Å"you do bad things†, he doesn’t mention it because he doesn’t need to explain this to the audience as the girl in the film as this has already been shown at the start unlike the novel. The argument shows the audience that George and Lennie do fall out sometimes. When the augment is over Lennie uses a guilt trip on George, the guilt is empathised in close up of George’s face. The camera jumps to George and Lennie sitting by a camp fire, this is the last sequence of this section of the film. It is set outside in the dark but the lighting effects make it light enough to see what’s happening, the light from the fire reflects on there faces in order to emphasis them there are many off screen natural sound effects such as cricket noises and other types of bugs and birds. Lennie asks George to tell him about the dream and as George begins to tell the dream background music gradually comes in which is very soft and genital to create an dream like atmosphere. The camera puts both George and Lennie in the frame while telling the dream maybe to show that they both share this dream and to show the friendship between them. When George stops telling the dream he saids â€Å"oh the hell with it† at this point the background music suddenly stops showing that they have come out of the dream and are now back to reality. At the end they are both in frame, lying by the camp fire, the atmosphere is quite and peaceful with the natural sound effects of bugs est. off screen in the background leaving the audiences feeling happy and positive. Overall, I thought the first section of the â€Å"Of Mice and Men† film was good and very well done by Gary Sinise. In the movie you can actually see and hear things that you probably would not catch on to in the book. For example there are the facial expressions of George and Lennie. The music soundtrack to the film â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is very well composed; I especially liked how the music is classical, which is very appealing to all age groups and genders. The music was important as it set the mood for the scene the audience was seeing. The landscaping and camera work was also very good. The setting of the pool was just as it was described in the book. Also, the clothing worn by Lennie and George fitted the time frame allowing the audience to feel that they are back in that time period by watching, and also showed that they were not well off. In many ways the first section of the film is similar to the novel such as the dialog they use is almost identical to the novel and the appearance of the characters in the film are almost exactly like how they are described in the novel, Lennie is very big and bulky, while George is small with a tanned face. The director changed the order of the story at the beginning by starting with the girl in the red dress, this was probably changed in order to grab the audience intension at the beginning of the film so then they would want to watch on to see what’s happening. Right from the start of the movie you can see that Lennie has a mental illness, and George is taking care of him like a father the same as it is with the novel. Also, you can tell that George gets impatient with Lennie numerous times and that he gets frustrated very easily. I thought the role of George was played very well by Gary Sinise who seems to bring out the role of George perfectly as he coveys Georges caring side as well. As for Lennie this role is probably more of a challenge as he is difficult to convey without sounding cartoonish, John Malkovich didn’t work wonders for the role as he used such a silly voice, though if he had used a normal way of speaking the audience would probably find it difficult to see him as mentally handy capped.