The Grapes of Wrath is a Pulitzer prize winning novel written by the incredible American Author John Steinbeck and published in 1939. I don't remember when I read it but I have a feeling it was back in High School - for fun, not for any class. (Though I may be thinking of the novel East of Eden, another Steinbeck, as I saw that film during High School. It was being show as a double-feature with West Side Story. They were both amazing, and though we got into trouble for being out late, it was worth it.) In reading the novel, I fell in love with the style of writing, and the type of story being told. It was something I hadn't experienced before - a family sticking together through thick and thin, traveling the country...very different from the Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie. I remember it being quite a read - 455 pages in the edition I have.
The story is epic, telling the tale of the Joad family. The Joads are sharecroppers in Oklahoma who get pushed off their land by the bank. They make their way across the country, everything loaded onto their truck and end up in California. Steinbeck has a voice and a way of telling a story that got me involved, and it kept me reading. It was and is a fantastic tale - with the human story front and center, and politic around it. This is set post WW1, during the Great Depression and the rise of Communism (the "Reds"), and the rise of the Unions. The journey starts with 13 people traveling together. By the time California is reached, there are nine.
In 1940, the film was released. It was directed by John Ford, and had Henry Fonda as Tom Joad - the main protagonist. It is in black and white and it is a really great movie. The performances of all the actors are spot on. The scenery and cinematography is really something. There is a lot that was filmed on site, and a lot that was filmed in a studio - and there are moments that you can't really tell the difference. It felt seamless while I was watching. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and walked away with two - Jane Darnell as best Supporting for her role as Grandma, and John Ford for Direction.
Are there difference between the book and the film? Sure there are. In fact I kept going back in my mind to seeing the opera, written by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie, at Minnesota Opera and what happened on that stage vs what was on the film. There wasn't much that I missed, except the ending, and what happened with one character. In the book, one of the characters leaves the family and nothing is really explained. The same happens in the film, but the opera shows him helping out the family the only way he could think of - drowning himself. It is an amazing way to end Act Two in the opera - a beautifully moving moment. The end of the film is also different, but the end of the book would have been very difficult to show on screen at that time. I think it would have offended so many people that the film would not be what we consider it today.
If you haven't read the book, I think you might enjoy it. It is very white, cis-gendered, and straight, but it is so well written. If you have a chance to see the film, definitely take it. It isn't one I see myself revisiting, but I am so glad I watched it. Finally, if you have a chance to see the opera - go!! The production that the MN Opera and Utah Symphony & Opera put together was stunning. Certain visual moments from that work won't be forgotten - and I saw it back in 2007! And in case you have never read Steinbeck - here is a list someone made of what they feel are his best 15.
Sidebar: looking at some older blog entries, I found one from the Writers Almanac regarding Steinbeck. It is dated April 7 and reads as such:
It's the birthday of the novelist John Steinbeck born in Salinas, California in 1902. He's best known for his novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), about the "Dust Bowl" farmers who had to migrate to California after a drought had destroyed their land. To research the book, he bought an old bakery truck, filled it with blankets, food, and cooking utensils, and joined the migration himself, so that he could meet and talk to people without being conspicuous. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1940, and Steinbeck went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962. He did not win it for any specific work but for his writing in general - "...for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception..."
krl
No comments:
Post a Comment