It's basically McCandless' life story, as near as he can get it, based on a combination of interviews, McCandless' letters and diaries, guesswork, deduction, investigative legwork, and sometimes a combination of all of the above. Though it may not have been a terribly accomplished novel, Kirn's Up In The Air could serve as a really good initial study for a far better film written and directed by Jason Reitman. And if an actor doesn’t measure up to what you imagined when reading the book, there’s some disappointment. Perhaps I missed a “pallid shape of academic goose flesh” in the Brave New World movie because of time constraints. Proceed with appropriate caution. The Book Stays With You In the film, he's a gentler soul, cheerful and friendly, wandering the earth like Caine from Kung Fu and dispensing wisdom that doesn't necessarily help people, but still makes him seem a bit like Buddha. Never said much. But it's also because the viewers are right there with McCandless all the way. Which left a full two months for the film's supporters and haters to argue their cases at me. Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2016. In fact, during his first several weeks in Bullhead, McCandless camped out in the desert at the edge of town; then he started squatting in a vacant mobile home. clooney as usual is brilliant. What do the characters say to each other? “That’s Not How I Pictured It!” This condensing of books into movies leads to deleted parts from the book or abbreviation of developments within the book. Even the all-Eddie Vedder soundtrack (which drove some people of my acquaintance nuts, even people who otherwise really loved the film) strikes me as fitting. You might wish to select one of the following options as the foundation for the activity: For a Shakespeare unit, for example, student groups might study the same scene from three different versions of a play like “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet,” and analyze how the scene works Alex becomes progressively lost to point where he must push canoe through reeds and drag it through mud. Options include these: In a future class, have students share these textual analyses. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary 1. If you’ve never flown, how do you imagine the airport experience? They perceive the author’s writing and spin it into their own take. Think about George Clooney’s line about the “systemized touches” of the airport experience — how does the way in which this scene was shot reflect this phrase? I am african american too , and this is very distressing to see that but I look at the movie because african american had to go through humiliating and stressful things to get to where they are today in the entertainment industry, still so sad that had to happen. And that idealization really bugs some people. and the artwork of others. So it's no real wonder that the film would provoke a similar response–people who saw McCandless as a foolish twerp who got what he deserved naturally aren't going to appreciate the way writer-director Sean Penn revels in his life and shows events from his viewpoint, framing him as an almost Christ-like shining hero. Alex is utterly confounded. Visual Arts Completely demoralized and frustrated he lays in his canoe at day's end and weeps. Throughout the novel we are exposed to the perspective of Ryan Bingham - a man who Kirn seems to be attempting to paint as a charmingly cold individual with flaws and emotions hidden underneath that make him endearing. Books Allow The Reader to Put it Together Assign or allow students to choose a scene they feel is pivotal in the work and write an “Anatomy”-style essay explaining why it is crucial to the plot or themes or to understanding characters in the The plot lines generally included a couple of mysterious deaths, a couple of funny men leads, at least one pretty singer and some bumbling cops.Up in the Air follows all of the above elements. Based on the novel by Walter Kirn and directed by Jason Reitman who gave us Juno, the revisionist film on teen pregnancy, Up In The Air has George Clooney vying for the Oscars this year. Arts and Communication them successfully become better writers – not really learning how to be directors.       Not to be missed at all. “Meaning” ? Had a lot of complexes sometimes, though. Movie-going is a *collective* enterprise, hence its appeal to government-school “teachers” Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2018. 7. ETimes is an Entertainment, TV & Lifestyle industry's promotional website and carries advertorials and native advertising. "Nice guy, yeah. You may wish to introduce the subject of the film they will consider first, Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” (based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn), Teacher-selected films being taught as primary text or as part of a literary unit. Of course, Jaws was so effective because you never see the darned shark! Why or why not? community if we don’t want to – but, that does not mean that their planning strategies and techniques are not valuable. The film leaves all this out, I suspect because it's irrelevant to how McCandless would tell his own story. scenes we live and scenes we see in movies or read in books or plays? Leave this list on the board to refer to throughout class. It’s undeniable that a book original usually blasts its movie version out of the water. I understand what Krakauer is trying to do–he's illustrating, personally and intimately, what sort of mentality would drive a young person to McCandless' extremes of behavior. What action takes place in the scene? That's the book in a nutshell: McCandless from Krakauer's fractured perspective, as seen through the refracting lens of a whole bunch of different voices.