F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mmmmh. Did the film not only yesterday on TV? Yeah, right. The film, which I resent me again and again can ran yesterday in the evening program. The novel "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was published in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In Fitzgerald's Benjamin Button, however, at the beginning of history, from its appearance to an old man in the name of artistic freedom have been rewritten in the film adaptation also the time and place of action ado - Fitzgerald's version begins in 1860 in New England, the future of cinema in 1918 . in New Orleans
What bothers me most, however: The film is primarily a (moderately successful) love story. The literary model, however is opposed to forced conformity Standard and bondage as a social phenomenon of the American middle and upper classes of the 1920s. On the a tragicomic manner caricatured Fitzgerald n hubris bordering on fantasy control creditor progressive citizens of Western civilization. And because they added little romantic aspects in the film were so consistently left out, I think it is important to point out the conceptual richness of the original.
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If a baby comes into the world, this is generally a moving and joyous event. Whether as a mother or father - would expect a bright-eyed, courageous hugs, congratulations ... The more so when one has as Mr. Roger Button on money and influence. When the young father-to-be on a September morning in 1860 in the clinic opens to see after his wife, it is quite different. Instead of kindness suggests a wave of antipathy towards him and this is already on the steps of the porch of the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen ". Dr. Keene, for decades the family doctor button and charged to bring the junior to the world reacts to Mr. Buttons sight with a "strange expression in his face stern doctor. Information on the health of Mrs. Button and the sex of the newborn, he brusquely rejected and is immediately clear: "I would never see again, neither you nor any of your relatives!"
enters hit on the head Mr. Button. the clinic and met with more alarming reactions of the staff that work in retrospect as a harbinger of a harrowing encounter, the first meeting of a father with his newborn son. This is not a rosy bundle of joy, but an old man of about 70 years, with thin, almost white hair and a long, smoke-gray beard. At first Mr. Button believes in a "heinous hospital joke," but the present nurse brings him mercilessly back to the earth. The baby, whose legs over the edge of the bed of the bed and dangle with the gray-haired, broken voice to the shock staring Mr. Button abruptly directed the question: "Are you my father?" Was his baby, because there is no doubt. And this baby had to go to a rocking chair and something else required as a bottle with milk, will be removed immediately from the hospital. Easier said than done, refuses to become the resolute old woman in a white pixie suits ("Thus always to have a little baby") shipped. Thus, there is Mr. Buttons paternal first act is, in the city quick Suit to get the baby Benjamin - and a crutch
The unnatural child brings the social reputation of the buttons momentarily in danger, the story makes about the "mishap". as a huge sensation in the upper layer of the round. Meanwhile, the buttons take the decision to raise Benjamin as a normal boy . They put him in a suit cut for little boys, and dye his hair. But all the illusion of conservation measures can not hide the fact that Benjamin Button, despite its age-related Position one meter seventy, the eyes, "blurred, watery and tired" is.
A few weeks after his twelfth birthday, the young old makes an amazing discovery in the mirror. His hair color had changed from white is now steel gray. And the wrinkles seem less deep than usual, the skin fresher, healthier and firmer ... Is it true or just imagination? In fact, when Benjamin Button used a rejuvenation process that can go unnoticed to continue his grotesque end of life is . In the meantime, life is more problematic for Benjamin lived . At the age of 20 he begins his service in his father's company and is p eu à peu introduced into society. At a dinner dance at the House of Shevlin, he meets the beautiful Hildegarde Moncrief, later Mrs. Benjamin Button .
But this connection is due to the opposite development spouse - Hilda during aging and sullen, her husband works with each year fresh and fun - to fail. So it is for Benjamin Button is not a great effort, as the English-American War broke out in 1898, join the army and three years of being absent. When 50-year-old who looks like a 20-year-old, he enrolled at Harvard, where he was making his outstanding athletic performance (seven touchdowns and 14 field goals in a game) for "the most famous man of all Harvard.
is from this physical and intellectual highlight it with a button down, sometimes he goes with his pubertal Weltschmerz's own son Roscoe on our nerves. When he asks him to say uncle to him, the measure is full. Benjamin would like to return to the army. But how will that work? The minimum age is 16 years and the now 57-year-old looks much younger ...
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My recommendation: read the original. And the wonderful biographical essay " beautiful and damned" behind the same. I loved him. To know more about Fitzgerald's last lover, I recommend the " The fearless memoir of Sheilah Graham . Have fun!
