Photo by: N.L. Belardes
One Bakersfield Woman's Blog to Mankind
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Stranger than Fiction
I love movies about writers. Writers are a strange breed. The good ones are disheveled, creative, brilliant and a little bit crazy. I always find it interesting to see how Hollywood portrays the writer.
In movies about writers the writers overcome tragedy, crisis, relationship issues and writer’s block to finish their books and grow as characters while giving us profound gems about the writing process. If the characters are well written, the story works.
Here are some of my favorite movies about writers:
Throw Mama from the Train – “A writer writes always.”
Finding Forrester – “No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!”
Finding Neverland – “All great writers begin with a good leather binding and a respectable title.”
Stranger than Fiction joins my list of favorite writer movies – “Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method.”
These are all great movies, but what I like so much about Stranger than Fiction is the parallel stories about the writer, and the character the writer is writing.
Harold Crick hears a woman narrating his life and rather than accept that he’s crazy like the psychiatrist tells him, he seeks the help of a literary professor who instructs him to figure out what kind of story he’s in: a comedy or a tragedy. What a brilliant concept. Instead of accepting society’s norm and taking medication to fix your life… turn to literature and figure out what story you’re living. And change your life by changing the story you’re living. I just love that.
All great literature is either a comedy or a tragedy. And so is life.
Comedy or tragedy. There have been times when I’ve wanted to keep track in a notebook like Harold Crick did. Some days my life is comedy, some days its tragedy but I really like the idea of finding the answers to life in literature. That really appeals to me.
In movies about writers the writers overcome tragedy, crisis, relationship issues and writer’s block to finish their books and grow as characters while giving us profound gems about the writing process. If the characters are well written, the story works.
Here are some of my favorite movies about writers:
Throw Mama from the Train – “A writer writes always.”
Finding Forrester – “No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!”
Wonder Boys – “Writers make choices.”
Finding Neverland – “All great writers begin with a good leather binding and a respectable title.”
Stranger than Fiction joins my list of favorite writer movies – “Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method.”
These are all great movies, but what I like so much about Stranger than Fiction is the parallel stories about the writer, and the character the writer is writing.
Harold Crick hears a woman narrating his life and rather than accept that he’s crazy like the psychiatrist tells him, he seeks the help of a literary professor who instructs him to figure out what kind of story he’s in: a comedy or a tragedy. What a brilliant concept. Instead of accepting society’s norm and taking medication to fix your life… turn to literature and figure out what story you’re living. And change your life by changing the story you’re living. I just love that.
All great literature is either a comedy or a tragedy. And so is life.
Comedy or tragedy. There have been times when I’ve wanted to keep track in a notebook like Harold Crick did. Some days my life is comedy, some days its tragedy but I really like the idea of finding the answers to life in literature. That really appeals to me.
Labels: Bakersfield, character, comedy, Finding Forrester, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, Throw Mama from the Train, tragedy, Wonder Boys, writers block, Writing
i love a lot of the movies you mentioned too. of the ones you listed, finding neverland was the fave... not just because johnny is in it. lol.
How neat to see those movies through a writers perspective. I've seen and loved several of the movies you listed but for different reasons!
Chingpea, Finding Neverland is a wonderful movie... one of my absolute favorites.
Norma, I love those movies for many different reasons too. But I love the stories about the writers that they tell.
Good recommendations there MK.
One of my favs is Author! Author! with dear old Al Pacino.