“I wish Jerry were here. Not in jail, but somehow with me. What would I say to him? Think of all the tomorrows of your life. Yes, that’s what I would say. Think of all the tomorrows of your life.” p 205
From the very beginning, I was drawn into the novel, Monster. I literally could not put it down, forgoing many other tasks I had planned for the afternoon. I am a huge fan of multi-cultural literature and enjoy viewing works with a mirror/window continuum. With that image in mind, this book would fall more towards the window-side of the line. (Although I can relate some to the despicable treatment that police are too often displaying towards under privileged members of society, it is not to this extreme of a degree.) The way that race and implicit racist ideologies play out in the book is sadly all too real of an occurrence in society. Myers does a great job of developing these major characters but leaves the jury, judge, officers, and prosecutor vague to show their placement in the racist system at the heart of American society.
For me there was only one element that didn’t feel real. Numerous times, Steve talks about suicide but it just never had that much of an emotional response for me. It didn’t seem like a real threat. However, as I got towards the end of the story, I was growing nervous of the threat that Steve was going to fall victim to this system. I expected him to end up in jail. Instead, he is free and playing around with his hobby of filmmaking. I found it quite interesting his “trying on” of different costumes in his movies. I see a striking parallel between this experimentation and the phenomenon of code switching that is prevalent, not only in youths but especially in the African-American community.
This code switching and the plot as a whole quite well depicts a realistic experience that classifies as multi-cultural. It is a sad state of affairs that does occur in our judicial system, and the defense’s goal of trying to get the jury to see Steve as an individual makes for a great plot. This generalizing is what causes stereotypes and bigoted behavior to occur, and that is what Steve needed to stop to get his freedom.
The multi-modality of the novel makes for a quite unique experience. The use of diary and screenplay formats makes for a great read, and the additional images allow for more vivid imagery. This text would be a great tool to introduce students to the creative process of video making. At the very least, there would need to be some preloading of film terminology and the techniques needed to read a screenplay. One of the few critiques I have is the screenplay; I have slight trouble in the believability that this is Steve’s handiwork. It seems a bit advanced for a sixteen year old, especially since I wish this was a movie!
I agree that there would need to be some frontloading for this novel, and I also agree that the writing is advanced for a 16 year old narrator. I just had to keep telling myself that, you know, in his head maybe it really sounds like that :) or something. His 'personal' journal entries are what made it real for me.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by your notion that you wish Monster were a movie. Personally, I feel as though it would lose the essential qualities that give it it's strength if it were actually adapted into a film structure. The first-person journal entries are what engaged me towards Steve as a character. These would be lost in a film adaptation.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the suicide, I think the threat didn't feel real because he hadn't been convicted. It was included to sit on top of the conviction to contribute to the rising tension of the trial. It would only become real if he were convicted -- at least that's how I viewed it.
I think what would make me want to see this as a film is the desire to see how the director approaches the ending (i.e. the looking-away of O'Brien and the question Steve leaves with the reader). While I think this is one of the most cinematic qualities of the novel (very Lost-in-Translation-esque), it is interestingly in the "notes" format, not the screenplay format. So Carl makes a good point--for Monster to be a good movie, a director would need to find a way to best present the screenplay and notes elements of the textual narrative.
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