Assignment 1-3

The Sound of Music
Journal Analysis



Carolyn Chairs






HUMN 341, Popular Cultural
Professor Schottenstein
October 15, 2008





Journal Analysis

In reading the article “The Sound of Music (in Movies)” by Gary Hoppenstand, people are to remember where making a film has came from and criticize why things have changed from then into now. All persons should know that movies where based of the people that played the part instead of the person that directed the films. The writer would like people to object the case of looking at film making as reading a novel like it was used in prior years, but to look at it as a movie that is being represented by authors, actors, and storey tellers.
The writer, Gary Hoppenstand, doesn’t intend for readers of his journal to acknowledge the directors of filmmaking to take credit for directing the film. He believes that since the actors are the one that are ranking in the money at the post box office, they should be the one who take the credit, as well as the screenwriters, and everyone else that has taken part in making films a hit. If it was not for the actors and every person that play a part in the film, it would never made it to the box office and know person would have made a dime off of the film, so where would the money go when it could go directly to novels because more people would get their monies worth out of reading the novel then watching the movie because novels tells it all, but you have to break down what you read into a movie, therefore a lot is being left unheard.
Gary states, “Film theory and auteur studies are fun to read at times, but one needs to

understand that these are as much a fiction as the source matter they analyze.” This means that

novels should have stayed the first source to studying. A person shouldn’t have to watch a film

unless its for enjoyment. In college when studying for a novel some professor would like for students to watch a film instead of reading a book and that isn’t good all the time because a lot of information may is being left out.
“Do we really need another book published about how great Alfred Hitchcock is?” states Gary Hoppenstand. Meaning that let dead rest and focus more on the background. Persons should look or read more into what is being said instead of what is being watched. Reading is everything and instead of you viewing films that doesn’t tell the whole truth and most of the time is fictional should not be good for the soul.
Reading should tell more about what a person does and how they came up with the theory of doing what they done, instead of filming it and going ahead with only that of what you see. If people look into the background of what they watch they probably would get a lot out of what they may be watching by trying to understand the characters and the background of what the director is thinking. For instance, there’s this movie called, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” written by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. This movie is about a phenomenal author name Terry McMillan, who told her life through novels; her life of dating and marrying a younger man. A few novels that Terry had written became on film and blew up in the box office, but her film that was at the box office did not tell her true story. Meaning that if people would read the novel, they would have known that all was not perfect for Terry. Yes, she was in love with a man 20 years younger than her, but it all was not perfect. In the end Terry ended up being divorce because her husband was gay.
In all, Gary Hoppenstand, is letting the audience know that that reading is the best way to get more information out of life because you learn a lot more by reading then watching a movie.
Its good to enjoy a movie here and there, but if the people would read more novels instead of watching them on film a person would get more out of the novel then a person would at the movies. He believes that movies are more fictional then novels because you have to break things down for the audience, when reading a novel is right in your face and you could read it over to get the concept of what is being said in the story. With novels the truth mainly is told and in movies you have to come up with your own theory. Gary likes the audience to know that he likes to watch movies, but he also would like it more if they would publish more about why the film is being made. Gary would like the audience to focus more on the how the film is being made instead of who made the film.


































Reference

Editorial: The Sound of Music (in Movies), Gary Hoppenstand. The Journal of Popular Culture,

2008. Volume 41, Issue 5, Pages745 – 746