ipl-logo

True Grit Movie Comparison

596 Words3 Pages

Samantha Hoppe – True Grit (novel and recent movie) Comparison Journal A cowboy pops up out of the never-ending landscape riding on the back of his trusty steed. The picture that was just described is the opening scene to more than a handful of Western novels and films. These forms of literature tend to emphasize the bond between man and horse more strongly than any other animal. The horse is an integral part every cowboy’s story and can almost be distinguished as an essential character, especially in the novel, True Grit (1968) and the remake of its film interpretation, True Grit (2010). In the novel, written by Charles Portis, the characters take notice of the horses but fail to show how deeply necessary they are. This novel does, however, show that the horse can bring about emotion in its owner. This is one way they act as a character. For, characters have the ability to trigger emotions in other characters. Mattie recalls how unbelievably happy her father’s horse made him: “Nobody loved to gad about on a prancing steed more than my Papa” (Portis 13). In addition, she is overcome with a great sadness when Little Blackie, her horse, passes away. …show more content…

The ability to see the horse working to its maximum potential is the biggest advantage that the film has over the novel in the case of demonstrating the power of the horse. The audience can see the veins popping out of its neck and its hot breath in the night air, and they can hear the horse wince in pain and grunt in determination. The audience is only then able to realize how critical the horse is to Mattie’s adventure. In addition to the visual significance of the horse, the audience is also shown how deep a connection Mattie has with Little Blackie. It is in the brief moments of her petting him or smiling him that the audience sees this. Of course, the scene where Blackie dies is still very moving as

Show More
Related

  • Seabiscuit: An American Legend

    656 Words  | 3 Pages

    Seabiscuit, An American Legend, is a book about the racehorse, Seabiscuit, who stole several American’s hearts as he made his journey through the horse racing world. Throughout the book, the bond of trust between the horse, trainer, and jockey grows into a greater appreciation and respect for one another. Red, Seabiscuit’s primary jockey, faced several vigorous trials that take place in the racing-world. Nevertheless he never gave up his dream, which was to ride race horses. Seabiscuit traveled all over the country to compete in races, which can be a ridiculously huge strain especially on animals.

    Read More

  • The Character Of John Grady Boyd As The Western Hero In All The Pretty Horses

    1881 Words  | 8 Pages

    Big Boots to Fill: John Grady Cole’s Evolution as the Western Hero The allure of the mythic West has long called out to Americans longing for the freedom promised by Turner’s American frontier hypothesis. However, with American societal evolution, the already unreachable west has grown increasingly distant for those who long for open land and equilibrium with the wild. John Grady Cole’s adventure in All the Pretty Horses stems from a similarly naïve understanding of the mythic West, and his quest to find the land as the western hero stuck in a time long after the height of the western frontier. The novel shapes John Grady’s traits as a western hero to slowly match the hardship and sorrow forgotten in John Grady’s vision of the mythic West.

    Read More

  • Cormac Mccarthy All The Pretty Horses Analysis

    876 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Sarah Gleeson-White’s article, Playing Cowboys: Genre, Myth, and Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, she talks about how “Cormac McCarthy moved from the South to the Southwest in the 1970s, so did the settings and associated meanings of his novels.” This novel is somewhat related to the background of the author and the transitions they went through. John Grady Cole is a representation of the last generation cowboy of Western ancestry. As written in All the Pretty Horses, “People dont feel safe no more, he said. We’re like the Comanches was two hundred years ago.

    Read More

  • Class Relations In The Movie Stagecoach

    853 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the film “Stagecoach,” there are a wide range of characters: Mrs. Mallory, high class army wife; Hatfield, a shady Southern gentleman; Curly, the marshall; Gatewood, an embezzling banker; Doc, the town drunk; Dallas, a whore; and Ringo, an outlaw who just wants to live the American Dream. They are representative of the diverse society that occupied the American West in the late 1800’s. Through these characters’ interactions, and specifically through the relationship between Mrs. Mallory and Dallas, Ford explores class relations and how appearance often dictates our perception of a person’s character From these initial descriptions, one would assume that the two women are going to be at odds with one another, and they are for a large portion

    Read More

  • Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem Summary

    843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Her approving tone, which is sparsely given, is expressed when describing Wayne. She writes, “Although men I have known have had many virtues…they have never been John Wayne, and they have never taken me to that bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow” (30). In this passage she confesses how John Wayne (Both the actor and movie character), epitomized her dreams of a male hero. Later, she goes onto describe how he said he would kill another man before let him go to prison, in a tone that suggests her value on hyper-masculine values that existed in Wayne’s films. For Didion, his stereotypical image as the Western cowboy exists as a metaphor for the stability and order the present “California” lacks.

    Read More

  • Joan Didion's John Wayne: A Love Song

    362 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joan Didion’s “John Wayne: A Love Song,” published in 1968 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, begins in her monotonous Colorado hometown. She argues that John Wayne, the character, has set an exceptional example of the American dream. Didion references a makeshift theatre where she acquired an ideal representation of life marked by comfort to emphasize Wayne’s popularity. In, War of the Wildcats, John Wayne states that he will build a house, “at the bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow.” (30) His compassion and charisma expand Hollywood’s flawless symbol of the dream.

    Read More

  • As True Grit By Joee And Ethan Coen

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    As True Grit, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, opens up we as the viewers are introduced to an established female character. Her name is Mattie Ross, and she is on a journey to find the man who cut her father 's life short. This was a very solid movie from top to bottom. The acting was very real and convincing, the plot was impeccable and interesting and it was not predictable unlike any other westerns I have seen in the past.

    Read More

  • Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Irony Analysis

    812 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography told through the eyes of Frederick Douglass himself. Douglass was born as a slave; he was an African-American abolitionist and orator. In the book, Douglass highlights numerous cases of irony associated with slaveholding. Throughout his narrative, Douglass examines the irony of religious slaveholders and one of his non-religious slaveholder. He also speaks of the irony in which slaves are treated below animals.

    Read More

  • Horse Domestication

    1352 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Horse The horse has worked alongside humans for many years. They have served for a number of purposes in the past such as transport and work in agriculture and battle. “Horses are no longer used in battle, the tractor has largely taken over in agriculture and the diesel engine is the main means of transport. Yet, horses are still held to high esteem.” (Vogel, 2011).

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Day The Cowboys Quit By Elmer Kelton

    1181 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kelton is writing for the people in order to tell them a story about a group of the Texas cowboys. This novel is based on a real historic event that is a strike against large ranches on the high plains in Texas. Kelton develops his thesis by explaining a process. This real historic story was an excellent way to look at changing

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'The Georges And The Jewels' By Jane Smiley

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    This, being the last sentence of the story, returns to the idea that the horse is what keeps her from giving up. Because of the story’s first person point of view, the reader gets attached to this horse as the girl does. Regardless of the specific details within the story, the horse is a symbol of optimism. This optimism is what helps the girl cope with her fear of

    Read More

  • The Sled Dog In The Call Of The Wild By Jack London

    601 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many authors write about the experiences and difficulties that animals must face. In his fictional novel “The Call of the Wild,” Jack London tells of Buck, a sled dog, and his long, hard life and journeys with his many owners. One can tell a great deal about a person’s character in a novel by the way in which they treat animals, such as the characters Hal, Charles, and Mercedes, and John Thornton from “The Call of the Wild”. In the novel, “The Call of the Wild”, Hal, Charles, and Mercedes, the trio and one of Buck’s owners, demonstrate how selfish and cruel they were because of the way they treated Buck and the other dogs.

    Read More

  • All The Pretty Horses Analysis

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    In All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, the main protagonist, John Grady Cole, exiles himself to Mexico when his known and beloved way of life is threatened. This experience to him was both alienating and enriching. He gets to where he is going only to have everything he has worked for taken from his hands. He is left alone and sad, but full of new insights about the world around him. John’s relationship with and the death of Jimmy Blevins, his love for Alejandra and her abandoning him, and his lost position at the hacienda ranch are three main events that leave John alienated, but enriched with worldly ideas and understandings he would take to the grave.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: All The Pretty Horses

    715 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy, the main character John Grady Cole is submitted to many evils as he tries to find his own place in the world. In his own personal quest for a happy ending, John represents the idealized cowboy of the Old Wild West uncovering the truth of the violent and deadly landscape he encounters. John Grady attempts to mesh together his romanticised cowboy honor code into a land that concedes nothing to nobility and the only winner is the one who survives. Only through his many trials and beatings does John Grady begin to accept the world for what it is, a place that does not contain only pretty horses; however, he still manages to remain true to himself and what he believes in. From the beginning of “All the Pretty Horses,” John Grady Cole faces threats from the modern world towards the cowboy life he admires so much.

    Read More

  • Buck's Change In The Call Of The Wild

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel of the Call of the Wild, Buck tried to adapt to his new and difficult life. He was forced to help the men find gold; he experienced a big transformation in him. At the end, he transformed into a new and different dog. Buck went through physical, mental and environmental changes. In my essay, I talked about how Buck was like at the beginning, what he changed into, and how he was forced to adapt his new environment, and underwent these changes.

    Read More

More about True Grit Movie Comparison

Open Document