Reaction to a Review

 So, now I am going to write about a review by Manohla Dargis based on  the The Time Traveler's Wife.  I have to say that I really disagree with the author's review on The Time Traveler's Wife. Dargis thinks that the movie is about a time-traveler who takes advantage of a normal girl. Dargis argues that "you could think of it as a crazy story about a stalker who sweet-talks a little girl whom he later seduces when she's a teenager only then to knock her up and emotionally,psychologically, and spiritually knock her down again and again, as he hopscotches naked across the time space continuum." (Dargis) Dargis makes it seem like Harry took advantage of Clare, but he really did not because it was fate. Henry could not change what happened, because it had already happened to Clare. Henry is justa guy who suffers from disorder that makes him time travel uncontrollaby and he had no way of controlling his feeling for Clare. The author mainly thinks that the best part of the movie was " watching Mr. Bana frequently strut his seminude stuff, nimbly avoiding the full-frontal reveal even as he flashes some discreet cheek, is one of the few pleasures afforded by this often ridiculous, awkward, unsatisfying and dour melodramatic adaptation", but she is not right. (Dargis) The author of this review mainly focuses on how Henry time travels and appears with no clothes on. She is not really paying attention to the big picture since she is only thinking about the akwardness of watching a naked guy in front of a six year old (young Clare).
        One thing I do agree on with Dargis is that the novel can make you feel really close to the character, because it is told from the first point of view of Clare and Henry. On the other hand "the camera hovers vaguely between her point of view and Henry’s ". (Dargis) I also realized while watching the movie that one does not feel as close to the characters when it is told from a vague pointof view. Overall I do not really share the same opinions with Dargis's review on the TheTime Traveler's Wife.

Work Cited

Dargis, Manohla. "Movie Review - The Time Traveler's Wife - So Sorry, I Lost My Clothes Years Ago - NYTimes.com." Movie Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies - New York Times - The New York Times. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/movies/14time.html>.

The Time Traveler's Wife (The Movie)

Reaction to the Film: In my opinion this movie has been a very good interpretation of the novel  even though a lot of parts from the book were cut out from the movie. The movie starts with the death of Henry's mother and Henry trying to stop the car accident from occuring.. It starts with classical music and Henry as a little kid riding in a car with his mother. This is significant because it shows that he travels back to events that are important. I liked how the music playe din the beginning shows Henry's mother passion for music. Then everything seems to move fast, especially in Henry and Clare's relationship.
        One thing I really did like about the movie was the way the scenes were "put" together. I also thought it was kind of humorous when Clare and Henry go house shopping and Henry alreaFor example, when Clare gives birth to her daughter the camera manily focuses on Clare and Henry, but only up to their waist. This medium shot demostrated the emotions that Clare and Henry were going through as Clare was giving birth to their first child. They had tried to have a child so many times, but the fetuses time traveled and eventually died. After Alba (their daughter) was born everything happened quickly. The transition of scenes were very fast. There was a a part where Alba was shown growing up into a five year old. The scenes entered in and out through the doors of their home. It can be said that the scenes faded in very quickly, but it was a problably a mix of fade in and dissolve.
       Something I wish that the director had kept in the movie was the last time Clare and Henry met. The last scene of the movie showed Henry and Clare in the meadow. It took place 4 years after Henry's death and it was Alba who saw him first and then sent Gomez's kids to call her mother. Henry and Clare embraced and were only able to talk for about a minute. Henry told Clare to stop waiting for him, because he knew that Clare was still waiting for him to come back. In the book the last time Henry and Clare meet is when Clare is an old lady and he traveled from the past into her future. The movie does not show that Clare always waited for him, but the book describes the last time they met.
       The book and movie are very different, but their both entertaining in different ways. I think that the book was better than the movie since the book is more detailed and it is told from Clare and Henry's point of view. The movie is told from a third point of view, so the audience is not really able to get in the characters' heads.

The Waiting Continues

page 321-pg 546

 This part of the book is basically about Henry trying to have a normal life. While working in the library he time travels and finds himself locked in a cage in the library. There is no way out and no way in the cage. The security guards found him and eventually his boss found out about what was going on. All of Henry's coworkers thought he was a freak for being naked in the library's cage but another Henry from the past came just in time to reveal his secret. He had to tell his co-workers why he was always disappearing  and appearring with no clothes on or else he would be fired. Henry was not fired so that part of his life was secure. One big problem between Henry and Clare was that they had a hard time conceiving a child. Clare had about 5 or six miscarriages. She insisted on trying to have a baby even though she knew it was nearly impossible for her to go through a pregnancy without a miscarriage.
       Henry decides to get a vasectomy, but a Henry from the past time travels into Clare's present and they have a baby. Their daughter is also born with Chrono-displacement disorder, but she has more control over where she time travels to. Henry only gets to live with her for five years, because he dies when she is five. On one of his journeys he gets frost bite in a very cold day in Chicago. When Henry comes back to the present he still has frostbite and he gets his feet amputated. Henry feels sad and useless without his feet, because it is harder for him to move around and he isn't as independent. Then Henry dies while he is time traveling to Clare's childhood. Clare's father and brother were going hunting and they thought Henry was an animal, which is why they shot him. He died in Clare's past and did not come back, but he had already warned Clare that he was going to die.
          Henry left Clare a letter telling her to stop waiting for him to come back even though he is ocming back. He tells Clare that he will visit her when she is very old and Clare never stops waiting. Alba, Henry's daughter, does get to see Henry while she time travels. Sometimes they bump into each other while time travelling, but for a short amount of time. Alba has artistic skills just like Clare and she finds time travelling interesting. Clare does not remarry and she stays waiting for Henry until they meet again.

Quote- "Sometimes I am glad when Henry's gone, but I'm always glad when he comes back." (Niffeneger 410)

Reactions- The quote above shows how Clare feels about Henry's disorder. She enjoys being alone at times, but she is always glad that he comes back. This also shows that she has been waiting for him her life and that she is accostumed to always being the one who waits.
             This section of the book was pretty interesting and I like how in a way the novel has happy ending. Even though Henry dies, Clare still has her daughter. Alba also gets to see her father, even though he is dead. Something I found interesting was that there is a day when Henry time travels into Alba's school and Alba knows who he is. Everyone in Alba's classroom is also aware of her disease, which caught my attention. It is possible that in the future (in the book) more people  start time travelling. People who time travel are called CDDs. I also liked how Clare describes the last time she met with Henry, since the last pages are mainly tolf from Clare's point of view. She knew that it was the day she was going to meet him again.