The Rachel Papers : The Movie

Post by: Jada Graff

The Rachel Papers: The Movie

 

               If I were creating a movie adaptation of The Rachel Papers, it would be very similar to the American Pie movies. The whole time I was reading the novel, all I could think about was how the escapades and situations in this novel were almost the same as those from the first American Pie. I would bring the novel into current times and have it set in modern day. I would also probably shift its setting to the Northeastern part of the country, maybe Boston area, with Oxford actually being Harvard.

               I would leave Charlie as the protagonist as well as leaving the rest of the characters the same. Their wardrobe would be similar to that seen on Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill. I would cast Anton Yelchin as Charlie, and Shannon Woodward as Rachel.

               I don’t know if my list of songs is as much a soundtrack as it is a guided mix-tape, if you will. The songs coincide with what I thought and felt while reading the novel, but may not necessarily be the best movie score. All of the song titles in the list below are hyperlinked to the YouTube video if anyone cares to listen.

Song Name – Artist (Year)

1. Crush – Mandy Moore (2001)
2. A Day in the Life – The Beatles (1967)
3. Like A Boy – Ciara (2006)
4. I Wanna F*** You – Akon (2006)
5. Strokin’- Clarence Carter (1985)
6. Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy (2007)
7. Let Go – Frou Frou (2002)
8. Take it Off – The Donnas (2002)
9. What It’s Like – Everlast (1998)
10. Chicago – Kate Voegele (2007)

Crush – Mandy Moore

I chose this song because I feel like it accurately describes Charlie’s feelings about Rachel when he first sees her at the party. I could even hear this playing at an adolescent party to “set the mood” for romantic encounters.

A Day in the Life – The Beatles

I chose this song for the scene on pg. 96, which I realize it’s a cop out to use the Beatles in a scene that has already referenced The Beatles, but this is immediately the song that popped into my head when reading about Charlie’s efforts to seduce Rachel. The part of the song that kept repeating in my head was “I love to turn you on…”

Like A Boy – Ciara

I chose this song for the scene on pg. 127 when Charlie and Rachel are talking about the benefits of being a man and how they have it so much easier than women in regards to daily activities and biological responsibilities. The part that really made me think of this song is when Rachel says, “If a girl sleeps around she’s a slag, if a boy sleeps around he’s quite a guy,” (The Rachel Papers, Martin Amis, 127). The song talks about how men have it easiest and how she wishes she could act like a man sometimes.

I Wanna F*** You – Akon

I chose this song because it kept coming into my head page after page while reading this novel. I don’t know that it fits any one specific scene perfectly, but this was the general overtone of the entire book. It was all about sex, and was very graphically written and incredibly raunchy, which is the same with this song.

Strokin’ – Clarence Carter

This song cracks me up, and his graphic descriptions of sex and his different experiences were reminiscent of Charlie’s memory recalls in the novel. As is true when I listen to this song, I was laughing out loud while reading the book and I thought that Amis did an amazing job of capturing a young boy’s thoughts and feelings.

Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy

I chose this song for the last chapter of the novel. Charlie begins to have some strange feelings in regard to Rachel and I feel like this song would describe how Rachel feels towards Charlie when he doesn’t come home. It talks about how she is trying not to think of the boy and how it is going to be hard for her to cope for a while, and how she doesn’t understand why he left and why he won’t leave her alone. I feel like this song would be a good description of how things would progress after the end of the novel.

Let Go – Frou Frou

I chose this song for the part of the novel where Rachel is falling in love with Charlie, and after she has left DeForest for him. The song talks about jumping in whole-heartedly and not to be afraid of what might come, because even if it ends, there is beauty in the ending as well. This song is the hopeful anthem for young love in the novel.

Take it Off –The Donnas

This is another one of those songs that is applicable at just about any point in the novel, and could even be more closely tied to Charlie’s other sexual encounters besides Rachel. I actually feel like Gloria could be singing this song to Charlie in a way because of her using him for sex when her and her boyfriend break up.

What It’s Like – Everlast

This song would be for the scene when Jenny and Norman are fighting over whether or not she is going to keep the baby. Part of this song talks about how harsh people’s words are for the pregnant woman, and I felt like these words could be projected from Norman’s mouth as well. It talks about the difficulty of having to choose between what you want and what others want and what you think is right.

Chicago – Kate Voegele

This song is from Charlie’s point of view in his decision to not return to Jenny’s house with Rachel. The song talks about being on the next plane out of town, which is what I think Charlie was feeling at the end of the novel. He was willing to run away to anywhere that would receive him in order to get away from the life he had created.

A Film Adaptation of Martin Amis’ The Rachel Papers

Submitted by: Donna Bowers

Setting:

This adaptation of The Rachel Papers features Charlene Freeway, a 19 year old conservative lesbian living in San Francisco, California. In the film, Charlene recounts the last few months of her life experiences in the five hours preceding her 20th birthday. The year is 2000. Coming from a conservative background, Charlene (and those around her) dress in the popular yuppie style of the late 90’s. Her love interest, Rachel is also 19-20 but comes from a very liberal family with modest economic means. Rachel’s typical style is denim jeans and a black leather jacket. Charlene plans to attend Stanford University, but has to ace her SATs in order to make the cut.

Soundtrack:

Sheryl Crow – “The Book” (1996)

This song acts as the refrain throughout the film, highlighting exactly what The Rachel Papers are: a collection of thoughts, stories, ideas, conversations which Charlene has written about Rachel without her knowledge. In Amis’ novel, Charles Highway describes the composition of these writings, “On my desk, a sea of pads, folders, envelopes, napkins, notes, the complete Rachel Papers stand displayed. Four-eyed I indent subject-headings, co-ordinate footnotes, mark cross-references in red and blue biros. We have to begin with a tolerably even development, characterized though it is by chance meetings, botched preparations, half-successes” (Amis 57). Therefore, the underlying thread of the film should be that everything that occurs between Charlene and Rachel, and even fantasized interactions, will ultimately be written down and compiled into a set of work all about Rachel. The slow instrumental nature of the song will lend itself to a comfortable refrain and constant reminder that Charlene is in fact always “carrying a pen and paper” and is a “voyeur, the worst kind of thief” (Crow 1:50).

Jewel – “Foolish Games” (1995)

This song introduces the attraction Charlene feels to Rachel, when she first meets her at the party. She stands apart, and is different from every other young woman there. As in Amis’ novel, Rachel “looked confident and self-possessed all right, as young ladies in these circumstances generally do, but, like myself, excluded rather than merely detached from the festivities. She must have soul, I thought” (Amis 29). Charlene is desperate to get close to her, consumed by the conquest which is almost “tearing” her “apart” (Jewel). Charlene struggles with her inability to relate Rachel to other girls she has met, “Don’t tell me she’s the very girl to show me what egotistical folly it is to compartmentalize people in this sad way; don’t tell me she’s going to sort me out, take me on” (Amis 42). Jewel’s “Foolish Games” also highlights the game Charlene plays in adapting her persona to fit certain situations and people.

Alanis Morissette – “Perfect” (1995)

Alanis Morissette’s song “Perfect” would serve to highlight Charlene’s move to her sister’s home and as a reflection on the immense pressure she feels from her parents to do well on her exams. Amis’ novel reveals that the protagonist is, “a member of that sad, ever-dwindling minority…the child of an unbroken home” (Amis 7). Even though Charlene’s father tells her that her entrance into Stanford is “only icing on the cake” (Amis 6), she is still compelled to do well on her SAT exams. Perhaps this reveals the need of children to make their parents proud, so as to earn their love, “We’ll love you just the way you are / If you’re perfect” (Morissette). So even though Charlene releases herself from her parents bondage by staying with her sister, the pressure of living up to her parents standards is inescapable.

Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life” (1997)

“Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind coincides with the scenes of sexual promiscuity and drugs in the film. Such promiscuity and drug abuse is looked upon as a requirement of the teenage life. This is simply what one does. Non-participation would only single Charlene out more that she already is. This song would do well with the buildup of her friend coming by with a couple girls and drugs “He rang back five minutes later to say that he had a couple girls with him. I thought for a moment. ‘Fine. Bring them round and I’ll try and screw the one that’s no yours. Have you got any incredible drugs with you?’” (Amis 45). While this scene comically does not turn out as expected, the song sets the tone for an upbeat, good time with drugs and sex.

Melissa Ferrick – “Drive” (2000)

Before Charlene and Rachel become sexually intimate, Charlene finds out that Rachel has never had a climax and promises to deliver. The ensuing scene is graphic and detailed, much like this song. While later in the film, all Charlene and Rachel really do when they’re together is go to bed, the first time they are intimate is a showstopper which eventually leads Charlene to boredom and a realization of self. Much like in the song, Charlene is the pleasure giver at work, “I know also what I felt and thought; I know what that evening was: an aggregate of pleasureless detail, nothing more; an insane, grueling, blow-by-blow obstacle course” (Amis 152). This lack of pleasure taken from the experience foreshadows the ultimate demise of their relationship.

Matchbox Twenty – “Mad Season” (2000)

Matchbox Twenty’s “Mad Season” is a transitional musical piece in the film, not specific to any one scene. It is reflective of the nature of Charlene’s experiences as a woman on the verge of 20, “So I am nineteen years old and don’t usually know what I’m doing, snap my thoughts out of the printed page, get my looks from others eyes….dislike myself and sneer at a world less nice and less intelligent than me. I take it this is fairly routine?” (Amis 209). We see this period of her life as a “Mad Season”, which at times it seems she may in fact be coming “undone” (Matchbox Twenty). Through the song and Charlene’s actions, we see that these events are truly just a season in her life leading up to her reaching the age of 20. For better or worse, she will move beyond this and change.

Melissa Etheridge – “Your Little Secret” (1995)

In mid-relationship with Rachel, Charlene does the unthinkable. She cheats on her with a previous fling just moments before she expects Rachel to come over and spend the night. The interchange is non-emotional, purely physical but shockingly comes naturally to Charlene. After the encounter Charlene realizes, “My face was a raspberry puree…. If Rachel said anything I’d just have to stutter that I had been terribly worried about everything” (Amis 203). Etheridge’s song reads, “You move when she’s not lookin’ baby / One sugar ain’t enough for you” (Etheridge). This is reflective of the cold-heartedness Charlene displays throughout and after the interchange with Gloria.

Tegan & Sara – “Not With You” (2000)

Tegan and Sara’s “Not With You” is a reflection of Charlene’s realization that she no longer wants to be with Rachel. Charlene writes a letter, in which she tries to explain what has happened between them, “I got a feeling some weeks ago that what I felt for you was changing. I wasn’t sure what the feeling was, but it wouldn’t go away and it wouldn’t change into anything else” (Amis 217). “Not With You” relates a similar sentiment, “I can’t believe I’ve let you in / And now here I am / Telling you that I’m suffocating in here” (Tegan and Sara). Even though Charlene realizes that she created this whole mess by pursuing Rachel, the fact remains that she doesn’t feel the same way.

Ani DiFranco – “Angry Anymore” (1999)

Ani DiFranco’s “Angry Anymore” would be paired with the final scene between Charlene and her father. Here, the two come to a sort of truce on their relationship. Perhaps Charlene realizes the futility of continuing to fight her father for being himself. Charlene begins to realize that some people (especially parents) are simply who they are, and may never change. She takes a “grin and bear it” attitude, even if she has to fake it while feeling “the uneasiness of a good actor with bad lines” (Amis 221). Like in DiFranco’s song, Charlene realizes, “now I’ve seen both my parents / Play out the hands that they were dealt” (DiFranco). While she may not agree with their actions, there’s no use fighting against them for it.

Melissa Ferrick – Freedom (2000)

Charlene breaks up with Rachel in a “it’s not you, it’s me” letter. This song highlights some of her real reasons for the breakup. In the final scene with Rachel, Charlene thinks “I wished she would go. I couldn’t feel anything with her there. I wished she would go and let me mourn in peace” (Amis 223). This is, of course, the essence of the Ferrick’s “Freedom”: “I’m afraid of feeling / of feeling nothing at all / And I’m afraid of settling down / Into a love / That ain’t love at all” (Ferrick Freedom). The fear and insecurity lies in the lack of feeling for Rachel. Charlene is compelled to move on.

Amis, Martin. The Rachel Papers. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Print.

Crow, Sheryl. “The Book.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 17 Feb. 2012. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

DiFranco, Ani. “Angry Anymore.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 06 Apr. 2010. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Etheridge, Melissa. “Your Little Secret.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 07 Oct. 2009. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Ferrick, Melissa. “Drive.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 22 June. 2010. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Ferrick, Melissa. “Freedom.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Dec. 2011. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Jewel. “Foolish Games.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 26 Oct. 2009. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Matchbox Twenty. “Mad Season.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 26 Oct. 2009. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Morissette, Alanis. “Perfect.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Jan. 2009. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Tegan and Sara. “Not With You.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Dec. 2012. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Third Eye Blind. “Semi-Charmed Life.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 13 Aug. 2012. Web 9 Aug. 2013.

Film Adaptation- The Rachel Papers

My film adaptation will take place in the late 80’s. It will involve high school kids who are in their senior year. They will be wearing late 80’s attire and hair styles. Charles will look like the stereotypical nerd of this period and Rachel will look like the stereotypical popular girl. Her bangs are sprayed up and she wears short mini-skirts, kind of the punk rocker look. Deforest will be a popular football player. The scene will be a high school, and popular teenage hang outs.

Stereotypical 80’s Beat music
The first scene will show Charles as a nerd. He is skinny and wimpy, with big glasses. Not only is nerdy, but he is immature and creepy in his ideas about women. In the first scene there will be playing 80s beat music. It will show kids in the hallways between classes. The camera will focus in on different sub-groups in the high school population. In this scene you will catch the distinction between popular kids and nerdy kids. Rachel will be seen standing by her locker with her cute football player boyfriend, while Charles falls into infatuation/ love with her.

“Beat it” – Michael Jackson
In the second scene Charles will make his first attempts to talk to Rachel at the school dance. He attempts to talk sophisticated. He also makes cheesy pickup lines which get him rejected. At this time, “Just beat it” by Michael Jackson will start to play. Rachel will walk off the scene all sassy and join arms with her popular boyfriend. She leaves Charles standing there feeling like a dweeb.

“Always Something there to Remind Me” – Naked Eyes
In the third scene we see Charles obsession forming. Everything reminds him of Rachel. He thinks about Rachel constantly. He begins to start a computer file on Rachel. He also begins to stalk Rachel, watching her every move. Finally Charles gets up the nerve to call her. She blows him off but he is persistent. Finally Rachel agrees to go out with him on a date.
“Wouldn’t it be good” –Nik Kershaw
Nick is ecstatic about his date with Rachel. He goes through a lot of effort to make this the perfect date, thinking that he has his chance. When he shows up at the restraint, which is also a popular hangout, he is quickly pushed aside by Deforest and his friends. They leave him standing up since there is really not a chair for him. Charles is humiliated once again. He looks over at Deforest and the song “Wouldn’t it be good to be in your shoes for just one day” by Nik Kershaw plays. In this scene Deforest seems to have everything. He is popular and he has the beautiful girl that Charles desires.

“Tell me lies- tell me sweet little lies” –Fleetwood Mac
Charles is persistent. He tries new tactics to get Rachel. He lies and manipulates. In this scene he tries to play with Rachel’s head to make her desire him. He starts to ignore her. This plan actually works. In this scene we see the development of a friendship between Charles and Rachel. While Charles listens to Rachael, he is really plotting and trying to edge his way in between her and Deforest. He discovers Deforests sexual inability. This gives Charles an edge.
“Hungry like a wolf” – Duran Duran
In this scene Charles sexual appetite increases. Up until this point Charles and Rachel have only been friends. Somewhere in the midst of this a sexual charge starts to build. Finally, while at a family dinner, Charles and Rachel kiss for the first time. This is the point where Rachel and Charles are sneaking around. The first time they kiss the song “Hungry like a wolf,” plays because it unleashes a lot of passion.

“I want to take you there” – Madonna
Rachel is still with Deforrest and has to keep up appearances, but her heart is with Charles. One day she ends up at Charles house. This is where the first sex scene takes place. Rachel is of course beautiful and has a beautiful body, while Charles is a skinny nerdy kid. The sex scene is very graphic and takes the audience through a rapid succession of different sex scenes over a period of time. All this demonstrates that their relationship is largely based on sex, which is fairly new to both of them.
“She drives me crazy” – Fine Young Cannibals
Life carries on and Charles has everything that he ever wanted. In this scene Charles is very happy. The camera just flashes through various fun scenes of Charles and Rachel, seemingly in love. They continue to have a relationship that is largely based on sex. Eventually Charles begins to be disgusted by Rachel. The longer they stay together the more she just becomes a normal girl. He no longer sees her as the mysterious popular girl that was out of his league.
“Trouble”- Lindsey Buckingham
Charles spends some time contemplating how his feelings have changed. He tries to feel the same about Rachel but he just cant. He does not tell her and continues to go through the motions but the feelings are no there. When his X girlfriend comes over he has no trouble sleeping with her. This scene just shows Charles sleeping with his X girlfriend.
“Strait Up”- Paula Abdul
Rachel comes over and does not realize that Charles X girlfriend is down stairs. She is anxious to go down stairs and have sex. Charles tries to distract her from going down stairs and finding Gloria. This all seems suspicious to Rachel. When she makes her way down stairs Gloria is not there. After sometime Rachel starts to notice some things. The sheets on the bed are ruffled up. Charles has scratches on his back. What finally gives it all away is that there are no more condoms left. Charles tries to put on a used condom but Rachel notices that it has been used. Glory gets scared and runs out of the closet. Rachel is very upset and goes ballistic.

“The Final Count Down” – Europe
In this scene Charles and Rachel have spent some time apart. The both realize that the time that they had was over. Things have changed. They acted as each other’s partner in sexual exploration, but there was no relationship. This scene just shows how nothing last forever, things change. While Rachel is beautiful, the physical beauty loses its power and becomes ordinary. Charles, the nerd, realizes that all the things that he once wanted so bad, were not all that they were made out to be in his mind. At this point Charles and Rachel both enter into new chapters in their life. Charles has matured. He is no longer the nerdy immature boy who desperately stalks girls. He now has some confidence and becomes a slick talking womanizer who knows how to lure girls and use girls. Rachel leaves on a plane. She wants goes to New York to pursue her dreams of being on Broadway.

Tags

Bell, Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch : Aesthetic Freedom

In Iris Murdoch’s The Bell we see similar themes and patterns as those found in other modernistic novels. There is a great fear of anything that would stand in the way of one’s aesthetic freedom, be it religion, tradition, or naivety. Murdoch uses three particular characters to personify each these things. According to Pondrom Murdoch views the world as both contingent and as a threat to individual freedoms (Pondrom 1). This is something that she demonstrates through her overly dramatized existential characters, as they interact with the forces around them.

Nora, a child wife who struggles to find her position and identity, represents the struggles that individuals have with the traditional roles of society. This character starts out very unsure of what she wants, what life holds, and how she fits in. She marries a man thirteen years her senior. At the time this kind of maturity appeals to her but she soon finds herself unhappy. She finds her original ideal of herself as a wife too hard to keep and begins to dislike it (Murdoch 8). Whereas it was once appealing to marry a older mature man, it soon becomes a situation in which she is being forced to grow up to fast and being pushed into a person that is her husband’s ideal. The author give us a description of this, “It seemed to her that Paul was urging her to grow up , and yet had left her no space to grow up into. He wanted to teach her everything himself, but lacked the time and the patience to do so” (Murdoch 9). Nora’s life becomes filled with pressure and constant criticism, as Paul continually trys to push her into fulfilling his ideal, a role that does not come natural to her at all. In this way we see Nora’s battle between what is traditional and social acceptable verses what is her own hearts desires and who she wants to be.

The second Character is a homosexual pedofile who aspires to be a priest. He has several homosexual relationships as a teenager, but tries to leave this lifestyle behind, thinking it to be against the religious beliefs of the catholic church. He does succeed for a time, but finds himself having sexual and emotional fantasies about young boys (Murdoch 109). During the novel he struggles to sort out how his love for young boys and religion come from the same place and wonders how they can be contradictory or wrong. Towards the end of the novel, he states that, “his belief in God had been broken in a single blow, or (that it was) as if he had discovered that he had never believed.” He finally concludes that, “there is a God but I do not believe in Him” (Murdoch 308). So in this way Michael dismisses the religious side of the struggle and accepts himself as a homosexual pedophile.

The third character, Toby, is a young teenage boy who is very naïve. We read that, “he was privileged to be aware of his youth and to enjoy it in a series of present moments crammed full with intense experience” (Murdoch 47). For the majority of the novel Toby is just a boy in the state of innocence who is savoring all that life has to offer, while totally unaware of the negativity of life. What befalls Toby all happens very suddenly. First he is kissed by Michael. This leads him to have to rethink everything that he had formerly believed. He begins to blame himself and question his own sexual orientation. Fearing that he may be gay, he falls into the arms of Dora and has his first intimate relations with a woman. Even though he is struck with some immense issues that send him hurling out of his innocence and force him to requisition the beliefs he eventually seems to come out of it okay. Ultimately he goes from believing things because of what he is told by others, to believing things out of his own convictions (Murdoch 305). This shows that in a way, innocence can keep one from real freedom.

Overall, Murdoch targets three elements that can keep a person from real freedom: Societal traditions and expectations, religious rules and regulations, and holding naïve beliefs that spring from what one has been told rather than true experience. The author uses three characters to personify these things through dramatization. She also uses a form of existentialism to present her characters. Each one of her characters starts out in a state of confusion and eventually works out the contradictions in their life. In the end, Murdoch demonstrates her belief that traditions, religion, and naïve unexplored ideas are the enemy of true aesthetic freedom. This author, like so many of her time, make the statement through their work, that the rules of societies and religions need to be abandoned, as well as the naïve ideas that one picks up from and about these systems. Instead a person should experience life with their own senses. In this way, one’s own feelings should be the elite force in making decisions, drawing conclusions, and in living one’s life.

Pondrom, Cyrena Norman. “Iris Murdoch: An Existentialist?” JSTOR. Vol 5 No 4 Comparative Literature Studies, Dec. 1968. Web. 01 Aug. 2013.

Murdoch, Iris. The Bell, a Novel. New York: Viking, 1958. Print.

Relationships in The Bell

Sarrah Labor

I found The Bell to be a very interesting story. There was a lot going on in it including people finding out about themselves and about their relationships.

We start the story off with Dora. We learn that she is married to Paul but it is an unhappy marriage. She married for the wrong reasons and has since seen the light of that. She leaves him because she is afraid of him but decides to go back to him because she is afraid of him. Throughout the novel we see different aspects of their relationship. He is a very devoted to her but almost out of obligation because he made a commitment and he is sticking to it. She is not so devoted to him and has a relationship with another man while she is away but does eventually go back. She doesn’t understand why Paul is upset with her when she does go back to him and he doesn’t see why she doesn’t understand why he is upset with her. It seems to me that they have, at times, a very childish relationship. For instance, when she lost her shoes “”She hoped that he would find her shoes, and not one of the other two. It would put him in better humour,” (Murdoch, 29). But when he was not the one to find them he became upset and irritated.

I’m going to skip to Toby now because he is the next character view point that we see. With Toby we see a young man who is still very green. He wants to fully experience everything at the Abbey. He wants to live with them and work with them before he goes off to college. He is housed with Nick and he is uncomfortable with him. A little later in the story Toby and Michael end up going to town to run an errand and Michael ends up having a few to drink while they are there and when they get back to the Abbey Michael kisses Toby. Nick sees all of this happen. After a few days Michael ends up apologizes to Toby. Toby also sexually attracted to Dora and he decides to tell her about the bell he found while swimming in the lake (Baldanza). They then decide to switch the new bell with the old bell to try to play a trick on everyone. After they do get the bell switched. Toby ends up kissing Dora which is viewed by Nick who in turn tells both Michael and Paul what he saw. After they get busted Toby is sent away because they fear he is being corrupted (Baldanza).

I’m skipping on over to Michael now. Throughout the story we discover that Michael had originally planned on becoming a priest but because of the relationship that he had with Nick he was unable to. We also see that Michael has developed a relationship with Toby. He is more of a tutor to Toby and encourages him and as we saw when we first met the characters is excited about him going away to college, then he develops an attraction to Toby.

I think it’s really interesting how muddled and crossed all of the relationships are throughout the story. Everyone is attracted to someone else at the Abbey which is just a completely different thing because it’s an abbey and you’re supposed to go there to worship and develop a relationship with God not a sexual relationship or sexual attraction to someone else. I suppose that just goes along with the curse of the original bell though because of the nun’s secret relationship.

Works Cited:

Baldanza, Frank. “Chapter 5: The Bell.” Iris Murdoch. Frank Baldanza. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974. Twayne’s English Authors Series 169. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 July 2013.
Document URL
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Murdoch, Iris. The Bell. New York: Penguin Classics, 2001. Print.

Duality in The Bell

The duality of human nature is something that is greatly explored in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell. Nearly every character that Murdoch creates is multifaceted, which makes for an interesting story and development of characters. Dora and Michael are both great examples of this duality. Both of these two characters have two very different sides to their personalities and they both struggle with which side to let dominate and which piece of their personality to suppress.

            Dora is a young former art student who was infatuated with her husband Paul upon their first meeting. Paul was older, handsome, and elegantly charming. He swept Dora off her feet and it took little persuasion for her to agree to marry him. Dora came from a decent lower middle class family and Paul’s high society lifestyle seemed grandeur to Dora, which made it that much more exciting. Upon her marriage, Dora became the demure, quieted housewife and essentially became a bird in a cage that had her wings clipped. She was once so fun-loving, adventurous, and artistic, and once the newness of her marriage to Paul wore off and she began to see his true nature, all of these attributes that were stifled began to try to resurface. This is ultimately what leads Dora to leave Paul at the beginning of the novel. She found a man (Noel) who supports her and encourages her and takes her whims in stride, and genuinely cares for her the way she is. A part of Dora longs for this love and support, even if it means living a lesser lifestyle than the one that Paul can provide for her.

            This part of Dora’s personality is directly at odds with the other half of her that wishes to be a good and faithful wife, and the part of her that wants to be there to support her husband and have the good and easy life that he provides. Paul is able to buy her the best things and take her to the best places, even if upon these outings, he puts her down. Dora wants to be taken care of, but she also wants to be free to do as she pleases. She wants the comfort and stability of being married, but she does not want the constraints that being linked to another human being negates. She wants to be able to be frivolous and carefree, but does not want to do the work necessary to sustain that type of lifestyle. She wants love and passion and all of the other romantic notions without the chains. “The novel begins with the struggle between Dora and Paul. It may look like just another bad modern marriage, but as Murdoch describes its endless, overwrought, and exhausting agon, the very notion of a “bad marriage” takes on new significance. He seeks to dominate; she wants to preserve herself; their romance is painful, sometimes exciting, more often excruciating,” (Levenson 572).  Dora was a great representation of the struggles that many women living in the 1950’s felt. Women were still not being treated as equals, and Dora was Murdoch’s character of choice to shed light on these plights.

            I also think touching on Paul’s dual nature would be acceptable here. Paul is a less developed character than the other two, but enough is said about him that the reader is able to get an understanding of what it is like to be married to such a man. On the one hand, he does love Dora and he is incredibly protective of her. This protective nature often turns to possessiveness and, although he deeply cares for her, he often tears her down as if he is afraid to lose her. It is this anger and destructive nature that makes her leave him in the first place. It seems as if Paul desires a slave of sorts as opposed to a wife. He wants someone to be there to maintain his house, wash his clothes, cook his food, satisfy him sexually and do so without incident, which Dora is not capable of. He is unwilling to put forth the effort to satisfy her creative spirit and is surprised when she is resistant to fulfill his needs.

            Michael is another character that represents the epitome of two completely different people living in one body. For me, Michael was very reminiscent of Stephen Dedalus in Portrait of the Artist. Michael has some deep seeded sexual desires that he is unable to ignore no matter how hard he tries. In the same vein, he has a deep devotion to the church and desperately wants to serve God by becoming a priest. Michael’s character has a difficult time rectifying his two equally persistent urges and this leads to him living a life of turmoil. Michael has two sexual encounters detailed in the novel, both of which leave him confused and angry. On the one hand, he is gratified by being able to act on his feelings, and on the other, he is ashamed because by succumbing to these desires, he is betraying his faith. Because of this struggle, Michael never fully pursues his dream of becoming a priest. He is constantly down on himself about his perceived shortcomings and is his own biggest critic. Michael’s encounter with Nick in his younger days leaves him questioning his path in life and whether or not he is even fit to call himself a Christian, and all of these feelings resurface upon meeting him again and in Michael’s interaction with Toby. Michael is deeply flawed and has a difficult time coming to terms with the convergence of his two halves.

 

Levenson, Michael H. (Michael Harry). “Iris Murdoch: The Philosophic Fifties and The Bell.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 47.3 (2001): 558-79. Project Muse. Web. 31 July 2013.

Jada Graff

Iris Murdoch’s The Bell and Homosexuality in 1950s England

Submitted by Donna Bowers

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This post will investigate Iris Murdoch’s exploration of homosexuality in her novel The Bell as a reflection of English society during the 1950s.

Iris Murdoch’s novel The Bell investigates the moral and religious implications of homosexuality. Through the complex and morally-charged topic of homosexuality, Murdoch was able to examine morality in general, “Murdoch was exploring in her philosophical writings the relationships among the freedom of choice of the individual and public and private moral concerns, making homosexuality a fitting subject in which she could explore in her fiction these larger moral questions” (Grimshaw). In The Bell, Murdoch presents the homosexuality question through the context of several different characters. Firstly, there is the firsthand perspective of Michael Meade. Michael is inherently, though limitedly, affected by society’s perception of his sexuality, “Michael Meade at twenty-five had already known for some while that he was what the world called perverted” (Murdoch 88). Despite this understanding, Michael is acutely aware of his inability to separate his sexuality from the rest of his being, especially his religion, “It scarcely occurred to him that his religion could establish any quarrel with his sexual habits. Indeed, in some curious way the emotion which fed both arose deeply from the same source” (Murdoch 88). Murdoch provides the common societal attitude toward homosexuality through the character of James Tayper Pace. In describing his feelings towards Nick Fawley, James is nothing short of homophobic, displaying stereotypical attitudes reflective of 1950s English society, “‘He looks to me like a pansy,’….‘They’re always trouble-makers, believe me. I’ve seen plenty of that type. There’s something destructive in them, a sort of grudge against society’” (Murdoch 104). As yet another perspective on homosexuality, Murdoch provides the character of Toby with a more enlightened (though still not accepting) attitude, “In so far as he had up to now reflected on this propensity at all he had regarded it as a strange sickness or perversion, with mysterious and disgusting refinements, from which a small number of unfortunate persons suffered” (Murdoch 147).

In many ways, Murdoch’s representation of the homosexual experience is a direct reflection of common attitudes during the 1950s in England, “The Bell, Murdoch’s first fictional work that depicts the daily life of a male homosexual in detail, was published only months later in 1958 and accurately illustrates the legal dilemmas facing homosexual men during this era” (Grimshaw). Murdoch’s examination of homosexuality during this time period should be considered especially courageous, “Murdoch often portrayed homosexuality in her fiction at times when it was not necessarily in vogue to do so, particularly during sensitive periods of change of legislative control over homosexuality in Great Britain” (Grimshaw). In fact, during the 1950s “homosexual acts were still considered by law to be criminal offences” (“Cabinet Papers”). According to the Lesbian & Gay foundation, sodomy “was punishable by life imprisonment, though before 1861 it was a capital crime” (“Lesbian & Gay Foundation”). During the time period just before publication of Murdoch’s The Bell, prosecution against homosexuals was actually on the rise, “Between 1945 and 1955 the number of annual prosecutions for homosexual behaviour rose from 800 to 2,500, of whom 1,000 received custodial sentences” (“Lesbian & Gay Foundation”). As an alternative to imprisonment, some so-called “offenders” opted for a “cure” to avoid jail time, “In the 1950s and 1960s, behavioural therapy was used to try to “cure” gay men. Men convicted of homosexual acts were routinely given electric shock treatment, hallucinogenic drugs and subjected to brainwashing techniques” (Wheeler). According to Brian Wheeler of BBC News, “The most common form of treatment was aversion therapy, of the kind seen in Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange” (Wheeler). This treatment of homosexuality as a disease is reflective of Toby’s attitude in the novel, “He also knew, and differed here from his father, that it was more proper to regard these persons as subjects for the doctor than as subjects for the police” (Murdoch 147). While medical treatment would be far more desirable than criminalization, this is still a far cry from the attitudes towards homosexuality in England today.

In 1954, in response to increased controversy and media coverage, the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Great Britain was formed to reassess the criminalization of homosexuality. Just before publication of The Bell, “The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957. It concluded that the criminalisation of homosexuality was an impingement on civil liberty. While the law should prevent abuse and protect the young and other vulnerable individuals, it should not intrude into matters of personal morality” (“Cabinet Papers”). Another revelation of the Wolfenden Report, was the vocational tendencies of criminalized homosexuals to seek refuge through clerical and teaching positions. Murdoch represents this tendency through Michael’s character. He is not only a teacher in his early career, but also a religious leader, who has dreams of one day becoming a priest. According to Grimshaw, “The guilt and fears some homosexual men experienced also stemmed from the social and moral responsibilities inherent in their vocations. Perhaps choosing such vocations to quell their fears and desires, homosexuals found that these fears paradoxically heightened when they could not suppress their sexual desires through their work” (Grimshaw). Essentially, criminalization was driving homosexuals into these kinds of vocations where they attempted to escape themselves, but sometimes failed to do so, inevitably increasing the risk of harm to the young.

It could be said that Murdoch’s treatment of the social question of homosexuality certainly wasn’t undertaken in the search for popularity. It is very much the work of an activist, exploiting social issues through artistic literary means. During this time period, Murdoch also took the stance of activist in her contributions to the publication Man and Society, “Writing for the journal in 1964, Murdoch speaks out against members of society who “simply…make unfounded assumption about what it is to be homosexual,” adding that “the law and social prejudice” create difficulties for homosexual men” (Grimshaw). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, homosexuality continued to be a topic of derision and judgment in popular media, “The infamous Sunday Pictorial feature of 1963, ‘How to spot a Homo’, [pictured above] might be less a subject of interest today.  Much use was made of stereotypes of mincing queens and child molesters or corrupters which bore at best marginal resemblance to the generality of gay men, then as now, but were nonetheless often believed”  (“Lesbian & Gay Foundation”). Homosexuality was not decriminalized in England until almost 10 years after the publication of Murdoch’s The Bell. According to the National Archives, “The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 decriminalised male homosexuality between consenting adults above the age of twenty-one” (“Cabinet Papers”).

 

“Before and after the Wolfenden Report.” The Cabinet Papers. The National Archives. Web. 31 Jul 2013. <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/before-after-wolfenden-report.htm&gt;.

“‘Gay’ in the 1950’s.” The Lesbian & Gay Foundation. The Lesbian & Gay Foundation, 02 Sep 2012. Web. 31 Jul 2013. <http://www.lgf.org.uk/news-articles/-gay-in-the-1950-s/&gt;.

Grimshaw, Tammy. “The Social Construction of Homosexuality in Iris Murdoch’s Fiction.” Studies in the Novel. 36.4 (2004): 552-571. Literature Online. Web. 31 Jul. 2013. <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2287/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xri:lion-us&rft_id=xri:lion:ft:abell:R03505892:0&gt;.

Murdoch, Iris. The Bell. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.

Wheeler, Brian. “When gays were ‘cured’ .” BBC News Online Magazine . BBC News, 11 Nov 2003. Web. 31 Jul 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3258041.stm&gt;.

Lucky Jim and A Separate Peace

 

A Separate Peace was a movie released in 2004 that is based on the original campus novel written by John Knowles .  The movie stars J. Barton and Toby Moore,  and was directed by Peter Yates. The main character in the novel is Gene Forrester. He is the first in his southern family to attend Devon, an elite boys school.  He finds himself boarding with a character who is quite the opposite of him.Finney’s family has been attending Devon for centuries. He is very outgoing, charismatic, and smooth talking. While Forrester has to work hard, academically, Finney does not have to work for anything. Everything comes naturally for him.  Finney adopts Forrester from day one and takes him under his wing. He also constantly pushes him into daring acts, as well as adventure. This builds resentment below the surface, on Forrester’s part.

          There is a tree that Finney pressures Forrester into climbing. At the beginning of the novel we see Forrester slipping and falling out of the tree.  It is Finney who saves his life by grabbing his hand.  A little later in the novel, Forrester actually bends his knee while in the tree, causing it to shake. This causes Finney to fall from the tree. The fall shatters Finney’s leg, which,  ends up costing Finney all of his dreams and everything that he loves. He is no longer able to play sports, which is what he lives for.  His chances of ever getting to enlist and go into war are eliminated.  In the course of the novel, Forrester realizes that the antagonism that he once imagined Finney having for him, was all in his own head.  He is ridden by guilt over what he has done.  Despite what he did to his friend, Finney shows him the utmost loyalty.  Even when Forrester confesses to being responsible for the accident, Finney refuses to believe it.  There is an extreme amount of loyalty and comradely on Finney’s part. Because he is no longer able to fulfill his own athletic dreams of being in the Olympics, he expects Forester to live them out. He pushes Forrester to be everything that he was supposed to be.  No matter what heart ache, tragedy, or betrayal Finney faces in life, he always has a positive attitude. He cannot seem to see any bad in life or in people, especially Forrester.  

Throughout the novel, the rest of the boys at Devon have a suspicion of Foresters culpability in the accident involving Finny. One night they hold a secret trial in the night where they force the truth out. Finney still does not want to acknowledge the truth. When he flees the scene he ends up falling down the stairs and shattering his leg again. When Forrester visits him in the infirmity, Finny is angry at first as the truth sets in, but what he really wants to hear is that his friend did not do it out of hatred.  Forrester explains that he did it out of a strange random impulse, not out of hatred.  Finney is able to justify this, saying that he has had impulses like this before.  After Forrester confirms that he does not hate Finney, Finney seems to be satisfied. He concludes that none of it matters as long as they are still friends, after all, in the end that is everything isn’t it?   While Finny is having his leg set, some of the blood marrow goes to his heart and kills him.  After the death of Finny, it is like Forrester assumes Finney’s life. He goes on to enlist in the war and lives out Finney’s dreams. He realizes that Finney taught him how to live and how to not be at war with himself.

This film is based on an academic novel that takes place in 1943-1944, during World War 2, just slightly before the time period that Lucky Jim is staged in.  It centers around the fraternization and comradely that takes places in the academic world of a boys school.  Like lucky Jim there are social distinctions.  Finney’s family has been attending Devon for centuries and so he is free to goof off and not take life to serious.  Forrester on the other hand comes from a life of hard work and discipline. He has worked hard to come to this school and will be the first person in his family to ever achieve success. He is very uptight and resents Finney’s free-spirit attitude. He resents the way Finney tries to distract him from his studies and perceives that Finney is trying to intentionally set him back. While Lucky Jim develops the main characters relationship with women,  The Separate Peace develops the main characters relationship with other young men, particularly his polar opposite Finney. The relationship between Forrester and Finney is one of intense love, which boarders into an underground Jealousy. Even though the life of Finney is a tragedy in which he loses all his dreams, aspirations, and finally his life, the result is Forrester’s growth as a Character.  He does not know at the time how loved he is. It is only through Finney’s suffering, and his own guilt that he comes to see the extent of Finney’s loyalty. In the novel Lucky Jim, Jim also seems to grow as a character but it is more through his own self-inflicted catastrophes. Another thing that Character Jim and Forester have in common is they both learn to be comfortable with themselves.  Jim learns to be okay with his personality, rather than trying to wear a mask through life and be a person that he is not.  Forrester learns to not be at war with himself. He learns that it is okay to live and not be so uptight.

Both Lucky Jim and A Separate Piece are staged on the campus scene during the forties.  They share the same general University environment, as was common in this period. Both are filled with campus imagery, such as the old brick buildings, school halls, and grassy in-betweens.  While both novels acknowledge some of the elements of privilege, Lucky Jim makes more of a criticism of the academic world through satire and comedy.  A Separate Piece is not a comedy.  It does not use satire, humor, nor does it criticize the academic world.  The feeling behind A Separate Piece is one of hard work allowing a few to make it to a place usually reserved for those of privilege. The novel is written from the standpoint of a professor, while the screen play is completely from the stand point of a student.  What both characters do share is that they are middle class.  Neither character has been born with privilege and therefore neither of them fit the typical mold of what was to be expected at the university.  Forrester is academically behind the other students because he has not been exposed to their level of privilege. He must work extra hard to catch up and by pass the other students.  Jim is also out of place at the University. He has to wear a mask and constantly improvise for what he lacks.  He needs to come to terms with being who he naturally is, rather than trying to conceal it, which leads to it spilling out anyways in awkward ways. Forrester just needs to learn to live and relax, which is similar but different.  While, over all, both stories have very different plots and aims, never the less, they both capture a particular historical moment.  They capture the academic environment of the 1940’s. This is a time when the classic school setting is still very much intact.

On last notable similarity in these two stories, is the element of luck.  While The Separate Piece starts off as a story of hard work, and the character most definitely does work hard, we also see that his growth comes from Finney’s demise. There is almost a great since of pain in watching Finney loose it all, because he is the All American boy.  He has the good looks, charm, and athletic ability. He does not have to work hard at school.  He is a character that is easy to love.  Forrester does love him because he is attractive character that everyone loves. When Finny returns home home because of his injuries we see that the live of the school goes with him. The group of students left behind quickly turns into a boring lifeless academic group.  While Finneys behavior almost seems sociopathic at first, through his tragedies it reveals his deep loyalties and geniuses.  He has a particular love for Forrester, even though Forrester does not really seem to deserve that kind of love.  Forrester is quiet, uptight, organized, and hardworking.  He has no charisma.  However, Finney is incredibly loyal to him.  As Finney loses his dreams and abilities, Forrester is the one who gains them.  When Finney dies, it is like the final step in Forrester assuming Finney.  It is like Finney lives on in Him.

In Lucky Jim we see a character who is attempting to conceal everything that he is. He puts on a mask and attempts to play a role that will appease the academic world he is employed by.  As Jim tries to suppress his true person, it just seems to spill out all over the place.  His true person comes out in the most awkward ways and places.  Eventually this leads to him losing the job that he was working so hard to keep. At first Jim seems to be really unlucky, but in the end he gets the dream job and the dream girl. He is able to show it off and rub it in to his enemies, the welches.  It is through all the catastrophes that happen when Jim is trying to keep his mask on, that Jim ends up growing as a person. In a lot of ways this builds him into the character he should be and this leads to his luck at the end of the novel.  Therefore, in a lot of ways, both characters end up being lucky through a lot of misfortune. 

Amis, Kingsley. Lucky Jim. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print.

Knowles, John, and Alan C. Coman. A Seperate Peace. Agincourt: Book Society of Canada, 1966. Print.

A Separate Peace. Dir. Peter Yates. Perf. J. Barton;Toby Moore. 1972. Cineworld, Inc., 2004. DVD.

 

Mona Lisa Smile/Lucky Jim

I watched the film Mona Lisa Smile, and I personally thought it was a really great movie. The movie, for those who are not familiar with it, is about a revolutionary female teacher, played by Julia Roberts, who is hired on as a professor at an all girls academy in the North Eastern part of the country in the 1950’s, and insights dramatic change. IMDB describes it as “A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 50’s Wellesley girls to question their traditional societal roles.”

This movie really explores how society viewed and valued women in the 1950’s and it is a highly critical film. As a viewer, you are able to see many different people’s opinions portrayed about a lot of different issues, and the writers/directors did a great job of having a wide variety of characters to view things through. Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) heavily pushes her students to really examine how their family and peers treat them, and requires them to think critically about what they want to do with their lives rather than succumbing to what society believes they should do. This position leads her to be very popular among a majority of the students, and wildly disliked by the others. Miss Watson’s criticisms of society and the limitations it puts on women help the viewer understand how much pressure young girls felt to fulfill their roles as docile housewife and mother during this time period.

I feel this movie is criticizing the oppressive nature of the attitudes towards women in the 50’s and that it serves to inspire and empower young girls who watch it. It really shows how education was a luxury for women, and that it was not viewed as something extremely important for real substance. The only reason many people wanted a girl to have a diploma or degree was to prove that their family had money and that they came from a good family breeding line. All of the main girls in this movie have different battles they must fight, whether its gathering the strength to break societal shackles, choosing to be a working woman as well as a wife, or overcoming her own self imprisonment to be able to be the best possible version of herself. To me, this movie really shows that an education can be a great tool if you let it and that it is worth being unpopular to be able to do what makes you happy and whole, and that you can have it all if you let yourself.

Lucky Jim is similar to Mona Lisa Smile in the fact that it is criticizing the ridiculousness of the elite ivory tower. There are plenty of professors in both Lucky Jim and Mona Lisa Smile that expect the lower (or newer) professors to bend at their will and require them to jump through hoops in order to stay in favorable standing. One example of this is the speech that Jim is agonizing about throughout the entire novel.

Katherine is more outwardly criticized in the movie than Jim is in the novel, and she has many more confrontations than Jim does to speak of. Her ideas are much more radically different from societies in the movie than Jim’s are in the novel. Katherine is encouraging women to be empowered and “break the mold” so-to-speak, and that notion was considered dangerous during this time period. Jim, on the other hand, is not attempting to insight a revolution with his students. In fact, he would prefer his students ignore him all together, as is the case with Michie’s character. Jim is just trying to earn a paycheck and make it through the year, while Katherine is trying to spark thoughts in the minds of her students.

Both the movie and the novel are criticizing the expectations that society places on its members. Women are viewed as lesser citizens and seen as “property” almost in both the novel and movie, but the difference is Mona Lisa Smile is trying to change this, where Lucky Jim is just showing this aspect of society. Katherine and Jim are both trying to break free from the restrictions that have been placed upon them by society and are trying to find their happiness in the process. Both of these characters have to decide to ignore the criticisms that are thrown at them in order to do what makes them happy. Katherine has to gain the strength to end a relationship with a man she doesn’t love and who doesn’t respect her. Jim has to get rid of his perceived obligations in order to be happy and to be able to start his life with Christine.

Jada Graff

Surviving Desire and Lucky Jim: A Comparison

Submitted by: Donna Bowers

This post offers an evaluation of a campus novel (Amis’ Lucky Jim) and a campus film (Hartley’s Surviving Desire), drawing first a review of the film, followed by a comparison of themes found in both the film and the novel.

A Review of the Film

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Hal Hartley’s 1993 film, Surviving Desire, is a relatively short film depicting the failed romance between a college professor, Jude (Martin Donovan), and his student Sofie (Mary Ward). The film opens with Jude reading an excerpt from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, setting the tone for a film filled with poorly performed but intellectually crafted dialogue. Jude is intrigued by the idea of love simply because it is “unfamiliar territory”. Sofie, on the other hand, is simply fascinated by her professor; he makes her want to write a short story “with him at the center”. Their relationship throughout the film is a bit of a dance. Initially there is an obvious attraction, which Sofie tries to resist despite the fact that she repeatedly finds him embarrassing.

Eventually she gives in to his persistence, but warns Jude about the consequences. Jude’s friend Henry, a quirky and unemployed PhD student, even warns that he’ll “never survive this”. To this, Jude replies with tragic-comedic inflection, “I don’t know if I want to”. Fittingly, Jude appears to go mad when Sofie will not acknowledge any relationship between them, despite having slept together. The depiction of his madness is made somewhat unbelievable by the comedic elements put in place during his heartbreak.

The language and dialogue within the film could easily be considered pretentious. There are also two arty intermissions of music and dancing which translate into a pompous and absurd presentation of high (or very low) art. The acting in the film is poorly delivered, almost to the point of distraction, forming an interesting dynamic with the intellectual and artistic subject matter. Surviving Desire is a very interesting film, ultimately portraying the male tortured scholar and the female manipulative and calculating student.

A Comparison to Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim

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Despite the expanse of 40 years between the printing of Lucky Jim and the filming of Surviving Desire, the association of the academy with pretentious language has remained the same. In the film, we hear nearly constant excerpts from literary masterpieces. The novel presents pretentiousness through the dialogue of the characters. For instance, upon meeting Bertrand, Jim receives a conceited summary of his profession, “I am a painter. Not alas, a painter of houses, or I should have been able to make my pile and retire by now. No no; I paint pictures (Amis 38). The “arty weekend” at the Welches is surprisingly suggestive of the arty intermissions found in Surviving Desire. In Welch’s pompous description of the agenda “he disclosed that the local composer and amateur violinist were going to ‘tackle’ a violin sonata by some Teutonic bore, that an unstated number of recorders would then perform some suitable items” (Amis 42), which is sardonically translated by Jim into “at least an hour of scraping and blowing” (Amis 43).

Another similarity between the film and novel is the attitude of both protagonists towards their profession. In the film, Jude “didn’t intend to teach anything” and readily admits that he is a bad teacher. He even reveals that he doesn’t even like teaching. The same sentiment is presented by Jim Dixon in Lucky Jim, “Haven’t you noticed how we all specialize in what we hate most?” (Amis 30) Jim’s thoughts on teaching very much reflect an attitude similar to Jude in Surviving Desire, “Things get in the way. I don’t quite see who’s to blame for it. Bad teaching’s the main thing. Not bad students, I mean” (Amis 225). Both Jim and Jude seem to participate in a sort of passive intellectual rebellion against the academy as institution. Perhaps they do not want to be considered “good teachers” as this would align them with the very individuals and institution which they so wish to never embody or become.

The most striking connection between the two novels is the parallel attitudes and stereotypes toward women. Both the novel and film effectively objectify women. In the film, we hear that Jude doesn’t care that he doesn’t know Sofie; his desire is not dependent on her personality. In Lucky Jim, Bertrand relates a comparable feeling for his “object”, “I’m having Christine because it’s my right….If I’m after something, I don’t care what I do to make sure that I get it” (Amis 217). The women in Amis’ novel are presented as one dimensional, concerned with their status or their looks. We see very little evidence of intellectual reasoning among the women. Women in Surviving Desire are presented in much the same way, showing Sofie and her roommate at home primarily concerned with good-looking men in music videos, fashion magazines, and whether or not they should bleach their hair. Additionally, Catchpole’s intimation about Margaret is eerily reminiscent of the way Sofie is portrayed in Surviving Desire, “Quite soon I realized that she was one of these people – they’re usually women – who feed on emotional tension” (Amis 248). Even though 40 years separate these two representations of campus life, many of the same themes of elitism, class struggles, and sexism (either through humor or drama), rise to the surface as enduring subjects inherent to the basic structure of works focused on campus or academic life.

Amis, Kingsley. Lucky Jim. New York: The New York Review of Books, 1953. Print.

Hartley, Hal, dir. Surviving Desire. American Playhouse, 1993. Film. 19 Jul 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103010/&gt;.