Water For Elephants: Drying Up Fans Expectations

By: Wyatt Lavoy

Summary:

Based off of the book by Sara Gruen, Water For Elephants is a love story starring Robert Pattinson, Reece Witherspoon, and Christopher Waltz. An older Jacob starts off by telling the story of how he became involved in the circus. Jacob Jancowski (Pattinson) has hit rock bottom. With only his final exam in the way of receiving his Cornell degree in vet science, he gets news that his parents have died and the bank own all of their possesions. With nothing to lose, he jumps on a train in hopes of going somewhere with work. Unknowingly to him, he jumps aboard a car of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show On Earth, owned by a paranoid schizophrenic August (Waltz) and his beautiful wife, Marlena (Witherspoon). Jacob is welcomed into the business as the shows vetrinarian. It's not long before Jacob falls in love with Marlena. As time goes on, the show buys an elephant named Rosie. When it seems like Rosie does not obey, August beats her. However, Jacob discovers that she knows Polish, and Rosie and Marlena become a hit. Then one night August and Jacob get into a fight when August slaps Marlena. The circus goes downhill from there. When the show collapses Jacob and Marlena run away and get married. The movie ends with the elderly Jacob rejoining the circus as a ticket seller.

Marlena

August

Jacob with Rosie

In Depth Analysis: The Plot

The plot of the movie for the most part stuck to that of the book, but the plot of the book is still better. The Plots differ in many ways. The movie plot leaves out details and goes over events too quickly. For people that have not read the book but saw the movie, more information is needed for the plot because it is not explained in the movie. Everything happens so fast in the movie and it could be hard to keep up for those that have not read the book first. The movie has a different order of events than the book. In the book, Marlena and Jacob stay at the cirus for three more weeks before the animals escape and the show collapses. It is better in the book because the movie rushes everything but the book builds more suspense and tensions. The movie also leaves out a key character from the book, Uncle Al. In the book, August works for uncle Al, who owns the circus, but in the movie, there is no Uncle Al and August is both characters put into one. It was better in the book to have Uncle Al because he is too important to leave out since he is the owner of the circus and makes all of the dicisions. Another way that the two differed was that in the book, the story is told by jumping back and forth between old Jacob and young Jacob, but in the movie, older Jacob is showed just at the beginning and at the end. However, this change is better because it would have been hard to do it that way for the movie. All in all, the plot to the movie stayed with the plot of the book, minus a couple of changes. Water for Elephants is a great story to read and to watch, but reading the book is better. 

Marlena Diary Entry

Dear Diary-
It seems that we are all having problems. Uncle Al is so stressed these days trying to beat Ringling, his plans with Rosie not working out, and most of all being short of money. August is fed up with the way that Al is running the show. He worries too much about me and Jacob when there is nothing going on. And Jacob has problems, too. I know that he has feelings for me. I know about his friend Camel that he is hiding in his stock car. And I know that things between him and August are getting worse. But diary, I have problems too. I try my very hardest to to cover them up and act like everything is alright, even though they definately are not. Its only a matter of time before something terrible happens. I can feel it deep down. August is due any day now to explode. The smallest thing will set him off. I hate him for this. I hate living in fear every second of every day living in fear that he is going to flip. Sometimes I actually want to kill him. I scare myself when I think about it. I miss my family, very much. I think about them often. I wish that things could have played out differently then they did. Yes, it seems as though we all have our problems, but somehow the show must go on. It's a crazy damned life, thats for sure. I only hope that everything turns out to be okay in the end. Until next time, dear diary. Your friend- Marlena

Modern Day Circus

The circus in todays world is not what it used to be. The circus used to be something that everyone in town went to and got excited about. Now days, circuses aren't as big of a deal. But circuses have evolved into fairs, which are similar to circuses. A fair is like a circus, but with more to offer. The circus part of the fair is the midaway that has freaks, animals, sideshows, and games. But in addition to all of that, fairs have concerts, 4-H shows, vendors, food, and most importantly, carnival rides like ferris wheels. The circuses of long and today are very alike in some ways but they are different from each other.

Forrest Gump

The moral of the story in Forrest Gump is that you should live your life to the fullest and not let anything hold you back. Forrest could have lived his life differently than he did because of his autism. But he didn't let it get in the way and his life weas full of wild adventures. I think that we should all have an attitude like Forrest.
When I read this book I got a lot out of it. I got a few laughs and good entertainment from the book. I liked the book in the beginning and at the end but I didn't like the middle of the story. I thought the story had a good ending. I am glad that we are watching the movie in class now because I have never seen it before and now I can compare the book and movie and see what I like better.

YOUNG GIRL INVADES HOME OF BEARS

On Wednesday afternoon, a young girl was reported to have broken into the home of a family of bears. She is due in court next Tuesday, facing charges of aggravated burglary, felony breaking and enetering, and misdeamenor tampering of evidence. She also faces a law suit against the victims. Prosecutors allege that the girl,10, is called "Goldilocks", and her last name is being witheld because she is a minor, broke into the home of the three bears while they were away for the day. Police began recievings tips of a possible home invasion from neighbors around noon, but no officers were sent to investigate. When the three bears returned in the evening, they report to have found their home "destroyed". The troubled girl stole food, sat on furniture, and made her way into one of the victims beds and fell asleep. On Wednesday evening, emergency responders rushed to the residence after recieving a frantic 9-1-1 call from one of the terrified victims. Goldilocks was arrested and booked into the county jail on a $500,000 bond. As of Thursady, she had not posted bail and continues to be held in jail. The bears are seeking an undisclosed amount of money from the intruder to cover the cost of damages.

First Halloween Memory

The first Halloween that I can remember was in pre school. At the time, Peter Pan was my most favorite movie and so I was Peter Pan for Halloween. My grandma made my costume. I wore a green vest and sweat pants and a green hat. I also had a belt with a wrench on it to make it look like I had a sword. I wore my costume to pre school like everyone else did and that night my mom took me and my brothers, who were both dressed up as dalmations, trick-or-treating. It was pretty fun and thats the first Halloween that I remember.

Grocery List--Typical Sunday At My House

Sunday at my house:
1. Sleep
2. Shower
3. Church
4. Lunch
5. Chillin
6. Supper
7. TV
8. Bedtime

Goldilocks and the three bears pitch

310 West Seventh Street,
Big Timber, MT

October 11, 2011

1000 Flower Street
Glendale, California
91201
(818) 695-5000

To whom in may concern

It has been brought to our attention, while doing an assignment for our Film and Fiction class at the SGHS, that the book The Three Bears has not been made into a feature length film.  The three of us have read the book and find it very intriguing.  We would very much like to see it turned into a film.

We have enclosed ten pages of our short screen play for the movie as well as our storyboard for that portion of the script.  We wrote it so that not only would it be entertaining for children to watch, adults could enjoy it as well.  The book is a very well known story.  Not only have we built upon that story but we have added some action and humor of our own that would entertain people of all ages.  Many different groups of people would want to watch the movie, therefore there would be a large profit.  

Although the screenplay is still in a very rough stage, it has a beautiful flow and we really think it would make a great movie.  We would need your funds and assets to accomplish this.  We really believe that there is great opportunity here and would love to work with your company.

Sincerely,




Colten Wheeler, Wyatt LaVoy, and Branden Timm
Students at the SGHS

Enclosed (2)

Max Choosing Teams

I think that it was easy for Max to pick teams for the war because all he did was put his favorites on his team and the others on the opposing team. Judith, Ira, Alexander, and the bull are on the bad team while himself, Carol, KW, and Douglas are put on the good team. He started out with Judith on the bad team because of their fight earlier and since he doesn't like her. He puts Ira and Alexander on the team with her because they are always with Judith and he doesn't want to split them up. And the bull goes on the bad team because Max does not like him. Max puts himself on the good team because he is the king and he says he has to be good. Carol and KW go on the good team because they are friends to Max and he wants them to get back together and to quit fighting. Douglas goes on the team because him and Carol are friends. I think it was unfair how the teams were chosen because Max played favorites and his team had more talent and beat the other team.
I think that the bad guys in other movies are the characters that cause conflict against the main character who is always the good guy.

The Last Time I Laughed Until I cried

The last time that I laughed until I cried happened about a month ago at the Billings Fair. It was the last day of the fair and I went there with my family. The ride that I wanted to ride the most was called the Zipper. On this ride, you are strapped into a cage and flipped upside down forwards and backwards and up and down. Its pretty fun but you are not allowed to ride it alone and you must have a partner, but no one in my family was brave enough to go with me. So as I was walking around the fair I happened to run into Katie Fitz and Carlie. Katie said that she had wanted to ride the Zipper too but Cartlie was too afraid to go with her. So her and I decided to go on it together and we did. But I forgot that I had a bunch of change in my pocket before I got on the ride. Once the ride started and we began flipping, the coins in my pocket started flying out. They were ratlling around in the cage and hitting us in the face and it was pretty hilarious at the time. Eventually they fell through the screen of the cage and onto the ground. My phone was in my pocket too but luckily I was able to grab it mid air. By the time the ride was over I didnt have any money left in my pocket and that is the last time I laughed until I cried. THE END

Observation by a Movie Critic

My observation of this movie directed by Robert Redford  was good. I observed many things about this film and I will share with you what I observed.
First, I observed that he did capture the spirit of the novella in the movie. The spirit of the book is happy and sad towards the end. The spirit of the movie I think is the same as it is in the novella.
Second, I observed the plot changes. There were many things that were added o the plot in the movie and also many things that were dropped from the story. Major events that were added to the plot were Paul and Norman stealing the boat with their friends, when Jessie and Norman first meet at the dance, and the scene where Jessie drives Norman home on the railroad tracks through the tunnel. Some things that were dropped from the book were that Norman and Jessie had already met and married and were living in Wolf Creek, and Jessie's brother Ken,his wife,and the part where they all go fishing together with Neal hungover was left out.
I also observed the cinematography of this film. I thought that the filming crew did a great job of filming this movie. I liked how they shot scenes of nature. I think that this film represents Montana well. If I would have directed this film, I would have kept every ones ages the same as they were in the novella, but it turned out to be okay that every ones age was changed.
Overall, in my opinion, I think that this film was directed and filmed excellently and I strongly encourage everyone to watch this movie and read this book.

Loving Without Understanding

Loving completely without completely understanding means to me that you can love something or someone even if you dont know everything or very much at all about it. In the story A River Runs Through It, everyone in the Mclean family loves Paul even though they do not know everything about him. They all hear stories and rumors but none of them know exactly the trouble Paul is in with his drinking and gambling habits. But even though they do not know everything about him, they still love him and care about him. That is what this quote from the story means to me.

Taking Risks

The quote means to me that if you want something to happen bad enough, then you might have to take a chance and risk something in order to get what you want. In A River runs Through It, Norman wants to catch the big fish that he sees in the water. He had to risk losing his fly in the bushes if he wanted to catch the fish. But unfortunately, when he does catch the fish his line does get stuck in the bushes growing on hte bank. When it gets stuck he loses the fish, and Norman doesn't succed at catching the fish.
One time I had to take a risk when I wanted to go to the movie after my mom said I couldn't go. But I really wanted to see it so I went anyways and took the risk of getting caught. But I did not get caught and I got to see the movie so I triamumphed in this situation.

Finding Peace

The passage "he was anxious to be in the hills to restore his soul" in A River Runs Through it means that he liked to go out into the hills to get away from everything and clear his head. To "restore one's soul" means that you stop everything else and take time to do something that you like doing and relax. To find peace I go out and walk with my dog or listen to music.