Category: First Draft-Midterm Essay (Page 1 of 2)

Queenie Chau
Film Lit Midterm
Course 2400, Section 0552 (Prof. Scanlan)
October 2020

Rear Window & It Had to Be Murder (FIRST DRAFT)

The film masterpiece “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock is adored and presented by teachers across the nation. Hitchcock based it on Cornell Woolrich’s “It Had to Be Murder,” the short story obviously being impressive enough to influence a Hitchcock film and also be relevant for seventy years. Although “Rear Window” is supposed to be a parallel of the short story, Hitchcock created his rendition with his own touches to cater to his audience, thus there are similarities but also stark contrasts. Due to the personalized style but unchanged settings and overall plot, “Rear Window” is a traditional translation of “It Had to Be Murder.” I will be analyzing Woolrich’s characters, settings, and plotline to Hitchcock’s execution in his film.
The start of both pieces involved the same setting of Jeffries looking out the window in a peeping tom fashion. The story explained his critique of his neighbors and fast stream of thoughts that changed from neighbor to neighbor. In the film, the viewer is given a perspective similar to his, the camera quickly focusing at each neighbor for him to analyze. “Rear Window’s” L.B. Jeffries had much to reveal such as his occupation, reasoning of his injury and isolation, and more of his outward personality. “It Had to Be Murder” Hal Jeffries’ name was barely revealed with his injury unknown until the end and occupation kept a mystery. He, the protagonist, is seen going through character development in the film. His distant attitude with his girlfriend gradually dissipated as she revealed her capabilities of her reliability. Lisa had a great impact on Jeffries’ growth and strategic thinking, whereas in the story, she was not even a character. The closest reflection of Lisa’s role in the film would be Sam, Jeffries’ caretaker. Though both played part in aiding Jeffries’ missions, Sam did not give the fresh perspectives that Lisa provided Jeffries. Furthermore, L.B. Jeffries had a caretaker named Stella who along with Lisa, provided him a support system. Hal Jeffries worked on his own with Sam practically acting as his servant.
In the beginning, Cornell Woolrich wrote in great detail of Hal’s observations of the Thorwalds prior to any suspicion. This to me had shown foreshadowing of the message from the title. Because Hal did not spend as much time monitoring the other neighbors, it led me to believe that the Thorwalds held more significance than the other bordering people living in the building. On the other hand, Alfred Hitchcock directed the camera to pan around the subjects with ample amount of time for each. He took wide shots of each window to showcase the subject(s) inside their apartment. If the subjects walked across a larger area than the camera could capture, it would follow the subject’s movements and pan to wherever they went. It did not feel as though the camera, which was L.B. Jeffrires’ point of view, spent too much time was spent on the Thorwalds, thus no suspicion was placed on them until further on. The distinct difference of bringing in the suspicion of Thorwald is clear between Woolrich and Hitchcock. However, similarly, when the build up of solid suspicion arose, both Jeffries jumped to the conclusion quickly, but doubtfully.
The build up to the capture of the murderer Thorwald were both portrayed well for the reader and viewer to feel the suspense. In the film, Hitchcock provided purely diegetic sound. The sound of the telephone ringing, the frantic movements of Jeffries’, the footsteps of Thorwald approaching the doorway; they all contribute to the tension. Furthermore, the lighting in the scene was tremendously dark, this adds to the feeling of anxiety and danger. In the story it was described as, “Suddenly, death was somewhere inside the house here with me. And I couldn’t move, I couldn’t get up out of this chair.” The way Woolrich explained how Jeffries came to that realization gave me a clear grasp of the fearful situation, in which I believed Hitchcock portrayed very well in that scene. This further shows me how the rendition of “It Had to Be Murder” was traditioinally translated.
“Rear Window” and “It Had to Be Murder” are neither one better than the other, the masterminds behind both had represented the plot well. Jeffries was more quiet and conserved in the narrative, however it fits well with the text as the reader can see his thought process with his every action. Hitchcock took this version of Jeffries and applied character development so that he had opened up in the film. This provides an equally good plot since movies need more verbal attention and without his warming up, Jeffries would’ve left the viewer to wonder. Although it contrasts the running theme of film Jeffries becoming more communicative, the scene with Jeffries waiting for Thorwald only contained background audio. On the other hand, the text was filled with his racing fearful thoughts. I believe Hitchcock translated this scene into film perfectly because even through the silence, Jeffries’ panic was captured loud and clear. Alfred Hitchcock encased Cornell Woolrich’s “It Had to Be Murder” perfectly through traditional translation.

Kenny Paredes 

Prof. Scanlan    

English 2400     

10/28/2020

 Analyzing “Rear window” and “It Had To Be Murder”

    The “Rear Window” (1954) by Alfred Hitchcock is an adaptation from “ It Had To Be Murder” (1942) by Cornell Woolrich. Both tell a story about a man, Jefferies who had an accident and has to sit in his apartment in a wheelchair. Although he can’t move as much he turns to his window to observe his surroundings while carefully spectating each neighbor he realizes one of his neighbors by the name of Thorwald might be a suspect of murdering his own wife. Both also have some differences but are similar because they keep the same plot or storyline by using one of Linda’s chair’s three types of translations. 

    There are various similarities with minor differences between both text and film that show how Alfred Hitchcock was able to make Cornell Woolrich’s story “it had to be murder” come to life in his own way. Both explain the story of a woman being murdered by her husband, with very important symbols. In “It Had To Be Murder”, Woolrich explains when Jefferies observed how Thorwald would smoke his cigar by his window stating “It did surprise me, though, when a match-flare winked sometime later, to have it still come from the darkened living room”(8). In “Rear Window” a scene it showed how the dog was found dead and everyone came out feeling bad for the dog. The only person who didn’t come out was Thorwald. The camera movement in the scene zoomed in showing Thorwald’s window and his darkroom, with the only thing visible being a small red light from the end of a cigar. Although there are some differences between the two the cigar in both the film and text remains the same. Furthermore, another similarity between the two is the use of a tool. In “Rear Window” it shows how Jefferies used a camera to help him see better inside Thorwald’s apartment. The scene shows Jefferies taking out the camera and pointing it towards Thorwald’s window to help him see in better detail what’s going on inside the apartment. The camera gives us an inside look of Jefferies’s view through the lens zooming in and out using close-up shots. In the text, it shows how Jefferies asks Sam about a spyglass stating, “He went, and I got the spyglass ready. I got him in the right focus after a minute or two. A face leaped up, and I was really seeing him for the first time. Dark-haired, but unmistakable Scandinavian ancestry. Looked like a sinewy customer,”(18). This shows how both have different things happening but use similar objects to help them with their investigations.

  In both, the story and film show how the roles of each character are given to different people but have similar jobs. In the text, it states, “I sealed it in an envelope and left the envelope blank. I said to Sam “Now here’s what I want you to do, and I want you to be slick about it…..Then when you get safely down again, give the outside doorbell a little poke, to attract attention.” His mouth started to open. “And don’t ask me any questions, you understand? I’m not fooling.” In the text, it states, Sam, a long time friend of Jefferies, is Jefferies’ caretaker and serves on whatever Jefferies commands him to do. In the film it shows that there is no Sam, Jefferies gives Lisa the letter to sneakily slide it under Thorwald’s door while Stella and Jefferies observe from the window. The role is given to Lisa his girlfriend and Stella his caretaker showing how the characters and roles make the film similar to the text just in its own style or way. In the film, it showed how Stella who is Jefferies nurse/caretaker helps Jefferies but does not obey every command such as sam in the text. They both play similar roles taking care of Jefferies but are two completely different characters.

   Overall, “The Rear Window” (1954) by Alfred Hitchcock was a modified film from “It Had To Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich the same but modified versions of each other and some adjustments to make it their own. Although there were some similarities and differences between text and film the plot remained unchanged making it a traditional translation. The storyline is the same as Jefferies cooped up in his home glued to a wheel chair by the window observing his surroundings and, about Jefferies’s suspicions towards Thorwald. Both similarities and differences can or are noticeable through different parts or aspects of the film and text both taking place in a neighborhood street. The only similar characters besides Jefferies were Thorwald and his wife. There were more differences from the text to the film to make it more entertaining for viewers than the text. 

JUDES Charles

Prof. Scanlan

English 2400

10-28-20

Like water for chocolate: Midterm final draft

Like water for chocolate is a novel by Laura Esquivel set in Mexico where two young lovers Tita and Pedro were ceased from getting married by Mama Elena, who is the mother of tita because of a family tradition, The novel became successful and was later adapted into a movie by Alphonso.

When books are adapted into movies there are three possible choices of translations, traditional, radical, and literal and they all have their own way of showcasing a story, in this particular case some changes were made of the changes one of them was Rosaura death, Rosaura was one of the most important characters in the story she was mama Elena’s favorite daughter and she was a mother and the wife of Pedro before she died, her death in the novel was honored with a funeral even though “many people did not attend because of the unusual odor”, in the movie her death was ignored and for a character that was important, it feels too vague.

love is an intense feeling of affection, in this novel love played an important part in many of those characters life I can say that it basically shapes the story of those characters. in the case of john and Tita they fell in love and they knew what they desired which was to get married but they were not able to get married because of mama Elena family tradition, Pedro took an alternative way in order to get close to the love of his life tita, which was to get married to Tita sister Rosaura, but told tita that “he only did it just to get closer to her” it’s strange to marry the sister of the love your life because someone would end up getting hurt either way but because of how much Pedro loved tita he did not seem to care very much.

Love was complicated when it comes to mama Elena, she loves loved  Rosaura more than tita, because of that Rosaura could get away with things that tita couldn’t such as being a picky eater, but tita couldn’t get away not eating her least favorite food. I say she was complicated at loving because she didn’t get to live with the love of her life since he was killed trying to get away with Elena, later on, her parents forced her to marry Juan de la Garza. But she, later on, forced her favorite daughter Rosaura to marry someone who did not love her because of the family tradition, it seems complicated for her to love also because you would think that she would’ve shown more affection toward Gertrudis because she was the daughter of the love of her life it didn’t seem that way at all towards her, she was giving off the aura of angry women throughout the whole story, even after she died she couldn’t be happy for tita she was trying to get her away from the family.

Gertrudis which is tita sister had a baby which was a mulatto because of his “grandfather who was mama Elena first boyfriend which was killed” it was approached differently in the movie they did not show the kid, it was important because Gertrudis real father was the reason why mama Elena husband Juan de la Garza passed away and was about to cost Gertrudis her husband until tita stepped in and show the letter mama Elena was hiding for her entire life which proved that Gertrudis wasn’t cheating.

another important difference was mama Elena death is also an important death which was drastically changed in the movie, in the novel she died of “horrible pain, spasms and violent convulsions which were caused by a syrup of ipecac which she was secretly taking” it was not good for her health, but in the movie she died because she was pushed off a cliff when the group of bandit that came to the ranch, it was a different case in the reading because this specific scene was put together with another part that happened in the movie, my thoughts on this was to save time because the movie was already fast-paced.

When it comes to the translation type it couldn’t be radical because the story was not reshaped extremely, at first I thought it was strictly a literal translation because the majority of the story stayed the same with some minor changes, when I take my times an analyze the part that was changed it seems more of a tradition because when you looked at the scene that was changed, such as mama Elena’s death, Rosaura death, Gertrudis baby, they were changed in order to fit the narrator goal, I said the story feel fast-paced maybe he did not have the budget to recreate those scenes, that why I feel that the movie is a traditional translation.

The story itself is interesting it has many factors that keep you engaged in the story I was getting Romeo and Juliet aura because of the family drama and the love complications they had a lot in common.

I think this is something that will always with movie interpretations of books to a movie there will always be some changes, that why there are 3 different types of translations which are traditional, radical, and literal translation and the movie I feel like it’s a traditional translation because it’s very similar to the novel which it was inspired by with changes I wouldn’t particularly say they are changes because they still happened in the movie just different from the book. I learned that that film would try to tell the stories in their own way even when it is not a documentary either the movie compliments the text, or it made it more confusing

Latefah Walker 

Professor Scanlan 

October 22nd, 2020

English 2400- Film and Literature 

Midterm First-Draft 

“Rear Window” and “It had to be Murder”

The film “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock created in 1954 is an adaption of the written work “It had to be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich created in 1942, the depiction of the film is a traditional translation, based on Linda Cahir’s 3 definition of translation. The film and the written work both share the same basic plot line. A man by the name of Hal Jefferies who is suffering from some ailment is in his apartment and at night he peeps out his window and watches his neighbors. He is  very observant which is how he later discovers that one of his neighbors Lars Thorwald has murdered his wife Mrs. Thorwald. It is his mission now to expose the Thorwald for the murderer he is and bring justice to Mrs. Thorwald. The plotline is the same but the details of the two adaptations, some small and others not so small has changed and that truly is what sets the film and the written work apart.

The two adaptations have many similarities and differences, the similarities are not to be overlooked but the differences are what really sets the two works apart and makes it a traditional translation. Starting off the two are very similar in that their is a murder committed by the same character Lars Thorwald and the victim is the same aswell his wife Mrs. Thorwald. Another similarity is that Jefferies is suffering from an ailment that keeps him in his home and all he is left with is peeping on his neighbors. The differences are very noticeable, the first big difference is Stella and Lisa, they’re new to the show, in the reading Stella was a man by the name of Sam and Lisa didn’t exist. Another difference is the way that Jefferies investigated the murder, such as the note scene and his whole career playing a major role in his investigation as well as his survival. Lastly the sounds in the film and the lack of sound in the written work was a big difference for me, yes i know in literary works there is never sound and you go off of the author’s tone/mood but the two felt different to me because if the added sound in the film as well as the tone/mood that the characters portrayed. 

In conclusion the film and written work are very similar but the differences added an intensity to the film that the written work didn’t have and truly made the adaption of the two works a traditional translation. 

Literary term

Digetic sound and non- digetic sounds

Lightening 

Shots- close ups

The short story, “It Had to Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich was published in the year of 1942 that is about a man named Hal Jeffries or Jeff who is in a wheelchair with an undisclosed leg injury. In order to pass the time, occasionally he looks at his neighbor’s windows and he believes that his neighbor murdered his wife. Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of the short story “Rear Window” was released in 1954. By utilizing Linda Cahir’s three types of film translations: Radical, Literal, and Traditional, we can use it to see how accurate the film version is to the short story. Even though there are moments in the film version that are similar to the text version, the introduction of some characters, character swap and non-diegetic music makes the film a traditional translation.

The plot of the film, “Rear Window” stayed true to the short story, “ It Had to Be Murder”. In both, Jeff had the assumption that his neighbor murdered his wife. In the story Jeff hears a cricket chirping and his housekeeper Sam told him that it means that there is a death nearby. In the movie, the viewer is introduced to a character that was not in the text, Lisa. Both Lisa and Jeffries seem to be in a relationship of some sort and Jeff’s personal life comes more into light than in the story. Lisa visits Jeff in his apartment and Jeff told her that he believed that the neighbor murdered his wife. One could see that even though the main plot has stayed relatively the same, there is still some differences.

The switching of characters is involved in the movies. In the short story, Jeffries’ housekeeper is a male named Sam while in the movie, the person that is taking care of Jeffries is an older woman named Stella. Stella’s role is more of a nursing role rather than a housekeeper.

(Non diagetic) (Camera angles high angle shot of Jeffries that shows how inferior and fearful he is of Thorwald)

Like water for chocolate is a novel by Laura Esquivel set in Mexico where two young people who were in love Tita and Pedro were stopped from getting married by Mama Elena who is the mother of tita because of a family tradition,. The novel became successful and was later adapted into a movie by Alphonso Arau where the majority of the story stayed the same with a few differences.

As I said in the introduction the movie by Alphonso and The reading by Laura mostly are very similar the difference is the movie is fast-paced and changed some of the things, such as Rosaria death, Rosaria was one of the most important characters in the story she was mama Elena’s favorite daughter and she was a mother and the wife of Pedro before she died and her death in the novel was honored with a funeral even though many people did not attend because of the unusual odor, in the movie her death was ignored and for a character that was important it feels too vague. Gertrudis which is tita sister had a baby which was a mulatto because of his grandfather who was mama Elena first boyfriend which was killed had a different approach in the movie the did not show the kid because it was important because Gertrudis real father was the reason why mama Elena husband Juan passed away and was about to cost Gertrudis her husband until tita stepped in and show the letter which proved that Gertrudis wasn’t cheating.

desire is one of the common there we encounter in this novel because everyone in this was striving for something, for Pedro, it was the love he decided to get married to Rosaura in order to get close to tita which e felt like it was the only way, tita was love and ending the family tradition, but mama Elena was striving to keep the family tradition going, and the family tradition ended but it comes with the cost of many lives from mama Elena to tita .

The story itself is interesting it has many factors that keep you engaged in the story, from the beginning a supernatural factor was introduced which was the birth of tita the daughter of Mama Elena and Juan de la Garza she was born in the kitchen and cried and which make pounds of salt causes salt, to the family tradition that the last daughter shouldn’t married and take care of their mother until she dies which itself is very interesting because you could get married and still take care of your mother and then the family drama/ love which is when mama Elena decided that Rosaura was going to marry Pedro instead of tita, it was interesting because it’s a stupid decision to propose one daughter instead of the one that was truly in love, the cooking, and the recipes was the from the beginning. Later on, the ghost of Mama Elena telling tita she needed to go away from the family because she was ruining everything.

I think this is something that will always with movie interpretations of books to a movie there will always be some changes, that why there are 3 different types of translations which are traditional, radical, and literal translation and the movie I feel like it’s a literal tradition because it’s a very similar to the novel which it was inspired by

Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and Alfonso Arau’s Like Water for Chocolate (1993)

Laura Esquirel’s novel, “Like Water for Chocolate,” is about a protagonist named Tita de la Garza, who faces various of hardships personally while maintaining the kitchen as Head cook for the family. With the abuse and intimation from her mother, the first antagonist, Mama Elena, and her desired lover, the second antagonist, Pedro, she finds difficulty finding the middle ground of it all. With every chapter, follows up with each month of the year and delicious recipes that correlates with the plot. In the film, Like Water for Chocolate by Alfonso Arau, it is very similar to the novel, however, it shows the main points of the story of Tita. According to Linda Cahir’s literature-to-film translations, traditional translation can be identified when comparing and contrasting the two versions. From watching the film after reading the novel, it maintained the overall plot, settings of the novel, but reconstructed certain details that filmmakers sees as necessary and fitting for the viewers.   

Every main character in the novel plays an important role in Tita’s life. She is the youngest daughter of the 4 sisters. She loves cooking and creating recipes with the cook of the house, Nacha for the family, due to her being born in the kitchen. She’s denied marriage because of Elena’s “family tradition:” the youngest child must not be married and take care of the mother until she dies. Although she follows this tradition, she’s introduced to a young man name Pedro who he seeks interest in marriage and unphatom love starts to create. Mama Elena is the mother who belittles and abuse Tita for the most simplest thing. Shes the head of the household and struggles to find peace with herself. Elena is the hardest roadblock for Tita to be with the man of her life. Pedro is seeks interest in Tita but marries Rosaura, Elena’s eldest daughter. He’s often becomes selfish, jealous, and possessive of Tita, in efforts to regain Tita’s love assurance. 

When comparing and contrasting, I will be using some terms when analyzing the film and novel: Tension, Backlighting, Transition, etc

• The filmmaker and author uses different tension to illtrsute the important drama that occurs in Tita’s life.
• In the film, filmmaker uses a lot of backlighting when showing romantic scenes between P and T. 
•  The film uses a lot of choppy transitions when going into another event.  

Oscar Alonzo

English 2400 

October 22, 2020

Mid-term first Draft

“Rear Window” vs “It has to be murdered” comparison

“It must be Murder” is a short story composed by Cornell Woolrich, and “Rear Window” is its mirror film by Alfred Hitchcock. Both the short story and the film are clarifying a similar story of a lady that got killed by her husband, yet everyone has their own characters and style. They are both giving the crowds brief criticism of what truly occurred in that area. A portion of the characters of the film are “James Stewart as L.B. Jefferies and Raymond Burr as Lars Thorwald”. There are significant images in both the short story and the film. L.B. Jefferies’ camera is one of the most significant images in the film. Jefferies utilizes the camera for various destinations in the film. For instance, he takes pictures that can assist him with utilizing them as proof since he can’t stand up and go to Thorwald’s apartment. He likewise utilizes it to see plainly what is happening to his neighbor. 

There are many similarities and differences between the text and the film, one similarity is that Mr.Thorwald murders his wife and Jeff witnesses it by spying on the neighborhood. The second similarities is that Jeff’s injury is the same and reason to spy on the neighbor. The difference is that in the film, Jeff had Stella and Lisa. But in “It has to be murder” Jeff had a man named Sam to help him. Second difference is in “Rear window” he sends Lisa to go investigate Mr.Thorwald’s place. In “it has to be murdered” Mr. Boyne investigated Mr. Thorwalds’ place.

In conclusion, both the film and short story are like a mirror with minor changes in them. It shows how parts of the story can affect the mood/tone of the whole film from the text.

The story titled. “Like Water for Chocolate” published in 1989 by Laura Esquivel and the film version directed by Alfonso Arau in 1993 are both similar, as it relates to the plot. Linda Cahir’s states that film translations are either literal, radical, or traditional.  “Like Water for Chocolate” is based around Tita and Pedro, they are in love, but not able to marry one another because of a lifelong family tradition that she must obey. 

As stated before, both the film and the text versions of this story are very similar, but there are some features that are different. I will explain that the translation is traditional because it maintains the overall traits of the written work but revamps particular details in those particular ways that the filmmakers see as necessary or fitting, according to Linda Cahir’s ideas. In order to prove this I will explain the recipes feature in both the film and the book. Second, I will go into how the beginning of the film and the beginning of the text versions are different, as far as the events taking place. Third, I will discuss how the absence of some of the details left out impacted the storytelling. 

• Discussion/Analyze of the three points will take place here: 

Conclusion: In Summary, both the text version and film bring these characters to life in different ways. The overall theme in this story to me is to not let family hinder you from your destiny. Tita spoke out and against her mother and followed her heart, even though her mother believed that it was morally wrong. (Will continue to add more to this)

Rumana Shakur

English 2400

October 21st, 2020

Midterm Essay (First Draft)

Warning: Do NOT EAT Tita’s cooking

“Like water for chocolate” is an excellent sentimental story of an impossible passionate love during the Revolution in Mexico. The romance is trailed by the sweet smell of the kitchen secrets and cooking, with a creative mind and innovativeness. The story is that of Tita De La Garza, the most youthful of all little girls in Mother Elena’s home. As per the family tradition she is to watch after her mom till the day she dies, and subsequently can’t wed any men. Tita discovers comfort in cooking, and soon the kitchen turns into her reality, influencing each feeling she encounters to the individuals who taste her food. Almost as if she were casting spells on her food that only affects certain people. 

While the plot of the film version of “Like water for chocolate”(1992) is a Traditional transition to Laura Esquivel’s text version of “Like water for chocolate”(1989), there are a lot of similarities and differences. These differences and similarities give the readers and viewers different perspectives. For example, in the film it starts off with showing us Tita’s father’s death and why he had a heart attack which they showed a bit later on in the film. However in the text it starts with Tita’s very dramatic birth. In the film Tita’s birth was humorized compared to the text that states, where she came into the world in a “great tide of tears” which also symbolized Tita’s lifelong sadness that was awaiting her. The opening to the film and text were different, the tone and mood in the film and text were also very different. 

(There will be more detailed paragraphs with evidence)

In conclusion, people have different views and imagination. Every scene can not be imagined exactly the same by everyone. There are bound to be some differences. The mood and tone in a text or film can also drastically change the feel of a piece, which in “Like water for chocolate” did. The film had me getting mad and triggered at Pedro, Mama Elena and Rosaura. Sometimes accusing Tita of murder since her food seemed to have caused the deaths. But in the book it’s more personal, I’m more understanding of Tita and her feelings and the way she even cooks however in the movies the aspect of cooking was not even close to the sensation.