Being an adaptation of a best-selling novel with the same title makes it easier for me to figure out the movie’s genre placements. However, as I intended to watch it again so I went to the video store and I just couldn’t find it in the drama section, about which I was quite sure to find it in. It ended up sorted under the comedy genre. Because of the earlier confusion caused by genre understanding of Wonder Boys, I had a visit to IMDB to check out which it belongs to. Drama/ Comedy were the answer. I had never heard of this genre and that, was the reason I wanted to watch it again. It was such a special film that involved great deal of deeper thoughts and well-placed humor. Grady Tripp, played by Michael Douglas, was a university literature professor, who had a very talented student named James Leer, portrait by Tobey Maguire. As the story line advanced, Grady found him self less worthy to others and himself; on the other hand, James had his talents discovered, his life style changed. Although they both went through a couple of hardships, they eventually found their dreams and their realities.
Dualism
There were a few dualism performed in the film. Between Q and Tripp was a rivalry that was easy for audience to catch up with. There were others that expressed significant characterizations by the story creator. Crabtree and Tripp, the editor and the writer, although their jobs link them together but the ways they deal with life were on the opposite sides. The dualism, or the binary opposition, can be seen when Professor Tripp sent James back to his home and immediately Crabtree had the idea of rescuing James from his parents. Crabtree did play the opposite side of Grady but also he was positioned also as an editor in Grady Tripp’s life. He made him make the right choices a lot of time as shown in the scene where Grady lost his lengthy novel, which made Grady pick up his new life. Sara, the chancellor, was not “faithful” to her husband but Walter though she was. Sara, who didn’t seem to care too much about her husband’s dog’s death and the loss of the jacket which was put on Marilyn Monroe before showed a strong contrast as Walter called the police to try to find out who was behind all that. James Leer was a mutual character between all. He was unique and sort of the mixed of all other character in my point of view.
Feminism
Sara, played by Frances McDormand represented Feminism in this movie. She was first very humble and seemed to be obeying all her husband’s commands. You can see this through many scenes’ detailed portraits. She came to answer the door at the party, she sit quietly during the Word Fest. She tried not to offend her husband by her affairs. But towards the end, when Grady called Walter and told him about the affairs, she also began more in-control on her situation with Walter. She became stronger and told her men that she would make her decisions herself. She no longer bowed to men and respected everything they did. And in fact, she made her choice of having the baby and divorce Walter to stay with her true love, Grady.
Auteurism
Curtis Hanson, the director of Wonder Boys, used a lot of musical expression in it. From every now and then, we heard a background song playing either on TV, or on radio. These songs give us a clearer image of the situation in which the characters were. Doubting if this is the director’s style, I went to check out some clips from one of his well-known movies-8 Mile. The story was the biography of how Eminem came to his success. Curtis was proven very gifted in adding musical elements into his films when I watched parts of 8 Mile again. One example from Wonder Boys would be the scene at Tripp’s house in Kinship where James turned on the TV and heard a “lecture.” It was very compatible to Tripp’s situation and that is why the movie makers left the subtitles on during that part on DVD. Also, another specialty of Hanson’s films is that there were many good sayings. “What does it matter what I think?” “I mean, what does it matter what anybody thinks?” “Most people don’t think, James.” This had become my favorite movie quote. My second favorite would be-“Books, they don’t mean anything. Not to anybody.”
Cognitive Psychology
One thing I particularly noticed was the usage of muted environmental sound during important conversations. In a scene, professor Tripp had a conversation with James on the road to Johnson’s where James’ parent came to pick him up. In that scene, there was no obvious sound effect coming from a fast-driven car and road sounds, just the conversation. The director successfully gave the scene a soft-touched sense by eliminating other unnecessary sounds, making us feel how precise, deep-hearted, important that conversation was without letting us easily know that he was doing so. Also in the last scene in the Word Fest gathering, Curtis showed the student who were criticizing James’ novel in class standing next to professor Tripp, implying that the professor was surrounded by the things he didn’t favor to encounter. But later, as James got honored by the audience, Tripp wasn’t afraid to shout out for him, showing that he overcame those negative events and walked out from them on a way of his. They are both wonder boys!
This is Hannah Green.
Oh yeah, by the way, she's Tom Cruise's wife in case you don't know that!
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