The Rachel Papers (The Movie)

                                  -Wendy Dinsmore

My movie version of The Rachel Papers would be a dramatic comedy. A young male reminisce over his sexual encounters of the last few months of his teenage life. The movie will be set in today’s time, in Seattle, Washington as Charles attends the University of Washington. (I chose this place because in the novel they are always drinking tea; I will replace tea with coffee and Seattle is the birth place of Starbucks coffee shop.) Their wardrobe will be consistent with the style of college students in today’s time. (jeans, t-shirts, platted shirts, converse, flip-flops, etc.)

The main Characters will be played by:

Josh Hutcherson as Charles Highway

 

Hayden Panettiere as Rachel Noyes

 

Alex Pettyfer as Deforest Hoeniger

 

James Franco as Geoffrey

 

Lindsay Lohan as Gloria

 

Music Playlist:

“So Close  Now” – Eli Young Band 

This song will be played during the opening credits and pans through Charles parents house as he packs and gets ready to leave and headed to Seattle to stay with his sister and brother-in-law while he attends the University of Washington. This song is about someone living their home town and moving forward and pursuing their dreams. This song is great for the opening credits while Charles packs and tries to say good bye to his family before he leaves and realizes that no one really cares. He then getting on the long bus ride to Seattle and begins writing.

 

“Get Lucky” – Daft Punk

This song will play over Charles and Gloria’s sexual interactions together at his sister’s house. Norma refers to it as “Just Fuck and Coffee” (24) Charles and Gloria jump right in bed together “undressed like lifeguards” (27). This song was chosen because of the lyric “We’re up all night to get lucky” Charles continues to pleasure Gloria even though he is tired and wants to go to bed now. But he muscles through the pain.

 

“Summer Love” – Justin Timberlake

This song will play in the background at the party where Charles first sees Rachel walk in a lean up against the wall. Charles then begins to try to like of things to say to her to get her attention without being blown off. Charles and his friends will break out in a hip hop dance as Charles approaches Rachel. I picked this song for this scene because some of the lyrics are what Charles might have been thinking about in this time period to try and get a girls attention. This song also has a good beat and a dance/party like feeling to it.

 

“Some Nights”- Fun

This song will take place in the scene when Charles goes to have tea with Rachel after her class for the first time and meets Deforest. The song will start playing in the background when they all pile into the car and dive to the coffee shop. The song will continue to play over the coffee shops speakers as they all sit down to have coffee and Charles is left standing.

This song was picked because throughout the movie Charles refers back to his notes that he has written about Rachel to try and find out/remember what kind of person she was. One of the lyrics that stands out to me is, “This is it boy, this is war” Charles is subconsciously trying to take Rachel away from Deforest. He sort of sees it as a challenge and will not give up.

 

“A Day in the Life” – Beatles

This song will play out like it did in the novel on page 96. The song will play softly in the background when Charles and Rachel have their first kiss. The author of the novel seemed to make the background of this scene in the novel very specific so why change it?

 

 “Honestly” – Cartel

This song will play in the background over the store speakers that Rachel and Charles spend time together at in Notting Hill Gate Smith’s. Rachel begins to open up to Charles and tells him about her life and interests. This song is significant because Charles learns more about Rachel is really into her. He wants to be able to spend more time with her. He wishes that he could just tell her to dumb Deforest and be with him.

 

“Ill be (Your Crying Shoulder)”- Jeremy Kay

This song will begin play during Charles and Rachel first sexual encounter together, after they get back from the store. The song will slowly play through the love scene as they begin to truly fall in love with one another. This song becomes significant later on in the story because, just like the lyrics “I’ll be your crying shoulder”, Rachel does use Charles shoulder to cry one.

 

“Disease” – Matchbox 20

This song will play in the scene when Charles cheats on Rachel with Gloria. The song will begin when Gloria lifts her shirt up and Charles begins to undo buttons. Ironically, Gloria actually did give him a sexually transmitted disease earlier in the story. This song also helps reflect on that Charles has a “disease” or trouble controlling his sexual urges. He tries to resist but Gloria’s “wonderfully unsubtle, unliterary big breasts.”(188) pulls him back into a trans.

 

“Somebody That I Use to Know” – Gotye

This song will begin playing in the last scene (“The Break Up scene”) in the background when Rachel comes over to talk with Charles. The song will progress louder when they are done talking and Rachel is about to walks out of the room and leaves Charles staring at The Annotated Blake she had left him.

I picked this song because it is about two people breaking up. One lyric that stood out to me in the song was “I was glad that it was over”. This was relevant to the novel because Charles just wants Rachel to leave. “I wish she would go and let me mourn in peace.” (206)

“To Close” – Alex Clare

This song will be played at the ending credits while it scrolls through the actors and actresses names. This song is significant because it reflects back on him in the beginning of the movie; leaving home to move forward with his life, and also at the end when he breaks up with Rachel and moves on with his life as well. Some of the lyrics really stood out to me when hearing this song. “How do I say that I need to move on?”, “There is nothing that I can really say” referring back to Charles in the break up scene asking Rachel “What can I say?” (206

 

 

Mrs. Dalloway and Modern Art

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/964

This piece of art named Drawing from Stereoscope was done by William Kentridge in 1998–99. He created this marvelous artwork using charcoal, pastels, and colored pencils on a piece of paper. This drawling now currently hangs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

I picked this drawling because the man in the picture reminds me of Septimus. The man looks depressed and over come with sadness. It is like he is almost drowning in his own sorrows. In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, no matter how happy life maybe Septimus was unable to feel anything or kind of emotion and blames it on the world. “it might be possible that the world itself is without meaning.” (Woolf, p.88) Septimus seems to suffer from post traumatic syndrome disorder (PTSD) from his days serving in the war and seeing his best friend Evans, dying right before his eyes.

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/george-hyde-pownall-big-ben-over-westminster-5457101-details.aspx

This Painting is called Big Ben Over Westmindter Bridge by George Hyde Pownall. This impressions oil painting shows the details of the srtists love for his town and the modernist times. He liked to paint in the traditional styles of John Atkinson Grinshaw and James Abbott McNeil of his time.

I picked this painting because it reflexted what the London streets would have looked like in the time period of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway. The painting protrays how Clarissa describes the streets, being busy with lots of people walking around and driving motor cars. In the far background is the Big Ben clock tower that helps ties all the characters together. Big Ben plays a symbol of significants in all of the characters lives and ties them together. When Big Ben chimes, it brought back a memory of some kind to every character. When Big Ben strikes half past the hour and Peter remembers Clarissa shooting at him “Remember my Party!”(Woolf, p. 48).

By: Wendy Dinsmore

James Joyce: Working Conditions, Cultural Divide, Religion, and Inventions

Working Conditions:

Dublin in the early 20th century was a city full of new ideas and major changes. Irish Nationalism and the Dublin Lockout helped transformed Dublin into the city it is today. The city of Dublin was divided into north side and south side by the bridge of the River Liffey. The north side of town was considered to be the working class, while the south side was considered to be the middle and upper class.The Dublin Lockout was viewed as the most significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers went on strike for the right to unionise. Because of the lockout work was seen as valuable and hard to come by. Some children worked to help enhance the families’ income. We see a reflection of this in James Joyce’s novel Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Stephen Dedalus worked as a messenger boy (Joyce 53) and earned thirty and three pounds for an essay prizes which he gave to his mother to buy groceries for the family (Joyce 84-85).

 

Religion:

Changes in institutional religion had begun in the early twentieth century. Particularly the Roman Catholic Church was profoundly involved and influenced the views of people in social, cultural, and political fields. The clergy inclined the children through their schools. Priest played an important role in teaching Catholic social and moral values. The Church was united with the nationalist movement, helping to shape its religious and spiritual philosophy. This is relevant in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Stephen witnesses the churches power at Christmas dinner and the argument between his father and Mr. Casey. Stephen also see it when he was wrongfully punished at school by Father Dolan. (Joyce, ch.1)

 

Inventions:

John Joly

There were a few inventions and discoveries in Ireland during this time. John Joly and Howard Grubb had a small impact on advancing technology. John Joly was an Irish geologist and physicist who studied and taught at Trinity College in Dublin. He estimated how old the earth actually was. In 1914, he developed a method for extracting radium and its use in cancer treatment. This method is still used today. Joly also invented the photmeter for measuring light intensity.

 

Howard Grubb

Howard Grubb also attended Trinity College where he trained to be a civil engineer. Grubb would soon drop out and join his father in producing an astronomical telescope. They also manufactured periscopes, range finders and gun sights. In 1900 Grubb invented the reflector or “reflex” sight; a non-magnifying optical sight. This type of sight has come to be used on all kinds of weapons from small firearms to fighter aircraft. During World War I Grubb was contracted in providing and perfecting a periscope design for Royal Navy submarines.

 

 

Sources:

Joyce, James. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” New York: W.W. Norton & Company,

2007. Print.

“Poverty and Health.” Exhibition – The National Archives of Ireland, n.d. Web. 19 June 2013.

<http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/poverty_health.html

“Ireland: Religion & Culture, 1870-1914.” Multitext. N.p., n.d. Web.

http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Ireland_religion__culture_1870-1914

“Howard Grubb.” Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Grubb&gt;.

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