A. "Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute.
If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me"
(2).
1. So begins Holden Caulfield’s caustic assault on
the Hollywood studio, a symbol of burgeoning 1950s
materialism and artistic
hypocrisy and, closer to home, the corruptor of his brother's
fiction.
2. Since Catcher in the Rye
was published in 1951, Salinger has always refused film rights to his work, especially
his highly demanded novel, saying in short that Holden Caulfield wouldn't like
it
3. Paradoxical love/hate relationship: Holden rarely
misses a chance to see a movie
4. After Maurice punches
him, Holden role-plays a movie gangster pretending to be shot in the gut, a masochistic
homage to Film Noir
5. But what caused Salinger to turn his
back on film was the 1950 Samuel Goldwyn Studio release of My Foolish
Heart, based on his New Yorker story, "Uncle Wiggily in
Connecticut"
6. Salinger’s agent received bid from Steven
Speilberg
B. Holden hates autobiographical details about
his childhood and psychoanalysis. He therefore, hates the adult world
intruding on childhood.
“If you really want to hear about it, the first
thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was
like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me”
C.
Holden is also depressed by the old World: he's Anti-European: “…and all that David
Copperfield kind of crap” (Dickens)
1. most European
characters define themselves in context of family
2.
Holden is saying that he doesn’t define himself with others or the past (birth of the
American rebel)
a. Not defined by
family
b. Not defined by
society
c. Not defined by old world
values
d. Not defined by old
literature
e. Not defined by old
movies
D. Holden is depressed
by “Phonies”
1. Glad-handing adults
(headmaster)
2. Over-sexed teens
(Stradlater)
3. Pretentious snobs
(Luce)
4. Celebrity-obsessed girls (in Lavender
room)
5. Materialistic artists
(D.B.)
No comments:
Post a Comment