Post 6: Redicide

I agree with Redicide because in school we read a lot of books that I find pointless. Last trimester I was in English 1a and we read Romeo and Juliet for a majority of the trimester and then our final was on argument writing. This didn’t make much sense to me. Even though the topic was on Romeo and Juliet I still didn’t like how we wasted most of our time reading and deciphering the story. I don’t think that genre fiction is less “worthy” than literary fiction because as new books come out, more and more of them fall under the category of genre fiction. I think that we should not reach literary fiction so exclusively. Honestly English and reading in school has ruined any book for me. I hate reading books that are assigned to us because then I know that I’m going to have to study it and remember important parts and take a test when all I really want to do it read the book for pleasure. I know we have to read at some point but I wish it was more enjoyable. More genre fiction should be added because kids are reading those books on their own, like The Hunger Games, almost everyone read these books, yet did our English teachers talk about them? Romeo and Juliet is the classic love story but its dated way past our time. I understand that they have to reach them and there are some important lessons but can’t we teach them a different way? I would be okay with swapping out the classics because the newer books are more genre fiction, like Twilight, The Hunger Games etc. I think that in an English class today we should read things like The Hunger Games and books that are extremely popular among the high school. I don’t think that reading Romeo and Juliet is preparing us for future jobs and life ahead of school. A friend of my dad’s asked me what I was doing in English and I told him Romeo and Juliet and he said that after we read it I will never use it again and I thought, why do I need to read it then? We should want kids to read books because 1. It boosts your IQ but it also is fun if you can’t find the right book. If I like a book imp sucked in like I’m actually in the book and I would read all day if I could but don’t get the chance to read often because not that many classes give you a chance to read.

Adapting The Book Thief

I think some challenges that a filmmaker would have in adapting The Book Thief is when death pulls you out of the story and helps explain some things to you. He pulls you out for a second just so you have a better understanding but in a movie it would be hard to show that because of the way the author has it happen. One scene that needs to be included is when Liesel finds the gravediggers hand book because that is what the story stems off of. Another scene that needs to be in the movie is when Liesel goes to her new family’s house, because if she hadn’t gone there, none of this would have happened. The 3^rd scene I think that should be included is when Liesel wets the bed and her dad helps her. They are changing the sheets when the book falls out and he picks it up and asks her if she wants to read it. This is important because now Liesel will know what the book is about.

One thing I wouldn’t include in the movie is when Liesel and her mom go to collect the people’s laundry. I think it would be okay to show it, just not in full detail. Another scene I would cut is when Rudy Steiner pretends to be Jesse Owens and runs around the street. This really isn’t that important to the story and what the story is really about.