Differences between Norwegian Wood Movie and book

The movie Norwegian Wood is a more whimsical adaptation of the Murakami novel. Unlike the book, The Norwegian Wood movie gives more focus on the interpersonal relationship between Watanabe and Naoko. The movie cuts down his interactions with Nasagawa and Midori and short preludes before going back to Naoko. For example, Midori just introduces herself and smiles at him after Watanabe compliments her short hair, then the next scene he is at her house with her cooking a meal and them kissing. There was no scene with Midori issuing the invitation or really why she does which if you haven't read the book leaves the viewer with a bit of confusion. The relationship between Nasagawa and Watanabe is never explained in full, there are only three short scenes with them interacting with no explanation on why or how Nasagawa and Watanable met. The camera also  focuses a lot on Watanabe and Naoko's faces to convey the fact that they are both trying to communicate with each other but failing due Naoko's inability to connect with people. The movie also portrays the characters slightly differently. Naoko seems much more fragile due to her long hair, not pulled back by hair clip nor is seen going to school and having a functioning life. The only times we ever see Naoko is her interactions with Watanabe, and even then she does not talk much and is seen walking away much faster than Watanabe is, which implies that she is a distant figure. The movie also gives her a blue tint as if she was some ghostly figure that exists in our reality but cannot stay.

Alison Post 5

Our discussion of the futuristic technologies of Murakami and Gibson's works brought to mind a video that was very popular when I was in high school. I'm from the middle of nowhere in the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, but one thing that we do have is Corning. Corning does quite a bit of engineering work, but is perhaps most famous for CorningWare and its glass that is used for things like iPhones and spaceships. Corning released a video in 2011 when I was in 11th grade called "A Day Made of Glass." (The resolution may or may not be better if you click through to YouTube.)

In the video, there are all sorts of futuristic uses of glass, in ways that admittedly look really intriguing. The high tech worlds in the works we read would still be a long way off, but strides are being made in our society to integrate technology even more with our everyday lives. Is this a good thing? Maybe, or maybe not. There are all sorts of issues that come with technology - perhaps including detachable razor-thread thumbs, or literally turning off the voices of women - and technology is not always accessible to everyone. For every good that new technologies add to the world, how far behind does it leave those who can't afford it?

We also discussed online personas quite a deal, and I do believe that people have a number of personas, whether they realize it or not. Perhaps there are people out there who behave the same no matter what, but that would be the exception. Most people behave differently around different people, with whole sides of personalities becoming hidden or unearthed. I don't believe I have a strongly different online presence than I do in person, but there are slight differences. I play a lot of World of Warcraft, and my personality when I'm playing is far more confident than I am in real life. Perhaps I fear the shame of being incorrect less when someone does not actually know who I am, but I speak up more and willingly engage in conversations with strangers about the game or even controversial topics. When I am playing, I feel like an expert, and that is reflected in my online personality.

Finally, when we watched the video of Tom Gibson, his speech style reminded me a lot of my late stepfather, Will. Of course, I am not a psychiatric professional and can make no diagnoses, but his manner of speaking (pacing, intonation patterns, etc.) was strikingly similar to Will's, who very likely had Asperger's Syndrome (and had had multiple surgeries for brain cancer). It may be a stretch, but with Gibson's intense focus on science fiction, it would be interesting to think about his life and career under the framework of Asperger's and how that may have influenced his works and his life. It may also be very likely that Gibson suffers from no such social difference, but I couldn't stop thinking about it once I had made the connection.

krystal blog post #5

It’s not until I read Kokoro that I found out A LOT OF characters commit suicide in Murakami’s works, for example, Hatusumi and Naoko, Naoko’s sister in Norwegian Wood, Rat in A Wild Sheep Chase, K and the narrator in Kokoro.  I knew that Japan is a country with a high suicide rate. It’s been a severe problem in Japan. And the problem is reflected on literature.

In Seiko, K and the narrator both fell in love with the daughter of their landlord. The narrator was afraid that he would lose the girl to K, so he used a stratagram to ask his landlord to marry her daughter before K. K was so said that he committed suicide. The narrator felt guilty about K’s death. He was tortured and he eventually committed suicide as well.  I think they are both too extreme and are really fragile. The narrator is a very negative person. After marrying his landlord’s daughter, he was guilty everyone. He was living under the shadow the K’s death. He kept expressing his remorse. He represents Japanese at that time of being lost, decadent, confused.    

Japanese’s value of death was effect by Buddhism where it advocates people to leave the dirty world and get into the land of ultimate bliss. This makes Japanese think death is the end of everything and death can solve every problem. I think this is a morbid mentality, which makes them not willing to face the problem, rather choose to avoid it by suicide.  I think their suicide in fact is a refusal to face the responsibility, is a negative attitude. 

Maylin Post #5

After reading The Strange Library, I found the Boku in that book to be a bit different than the other Bokus in Murakami's works. Boku from The Strange Library seemed to be more emotional and shy, and I'm not sure if it's because he was younger also. However, I liked this Boku more than the other Bokus. I'm not too sure why but I had the impression that the other Bokus were more stoic and nonchalant even though they clearly aren't. All the Bokus do share the trait of indecisiveness, which I thought was interesting.

After discussing The Strange Library in the context of the mind's consciousness, I realized that my interpretation of the book changed. The jail seems to be the hidden dark side possibly holding in thoughts that a person would like to forget, seem forbidden to society, or are scary to the person. The old man in the book seems to be some sort of demon inside that realm of the human mind, which would make sense to me because he was definitely a frightening character. I think it would be interesting to re-read the book and analyze it with the context of the human mind, because I think it could tell a whole new story.

Blog Post 4

Haruki Murakami work's always seems to have unique female characters that are a central aspect throughout the main character's journey. As seen in The Wild Sheep Chase, the woman is also an engaging aspect of the story. In Norwegian Wood,  it's interesting to see how Naoko, Midori, and Reiko all seem to impact Watanabe in similar yet different ways. Watanabe's relationship with Midori and Reiko seem to be manifestations of Watanabe's despair over Naoko. This is especially seen through his sexual encounters; he's not 'making love', it's an emotional distraction. Midori seems to be the opposite of Naoko, she's bright and cheerful, rather optimistic about life in comparison to Naoko.
Each of the characters have distinct personalities, showing how each experiences the struggles of life and come to the decisions that they make (i.e suicide, romantic and platonic relationships)

Post #4

We talked about music in Murakami's other works, so I wanted to talk about Norwegian Wood by the Beatles.  The song itself is short, but has no chorus and has lines that obviously seemed to inspire Murakami's book in some ways.  The first line of the song "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me" is a great summary of Watanbe and Naoko's relationship.  Watanabe until the end of the book is completely engrossed with Naoko.  Watanabe never had possession of her in some way, but Naoko definitely held a sort of control over Watanabe and his life.  Watanabe's interest in Naoko restricted his relationship with Midori.

The ending of the song is also similarly similar to the end of the book.  The second to the last line is "And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown" similar to how Naoko left Watanabe in the novel.  However, not all of the lyrics were influential for Murakami.  The narrator in the song burns down the girls house in revenge, whereas Watanabe achieves a sort of closure through Reiko at the end.  There was a burning house in the novel, it just wasn't Naoko's.

Blog Post 4

As someone mentioned in class, I do not believe that Watanabe had committed suicide because the beginning of the book shows how he is reflecting on his past. He is writing this story to preserve the memory of Noako since he is starting to lose his memory of her. Watanabe's aimless travels after Naoko's death would end with him "call[ing] out for Midori from the dead center of this place that was no place"; I interpret this as being the ending of making new memories with Naoko. His life with Midori is a different story now; he can now freely be with her.

I find it interesting though, if you go back to the beginning of the story, that even after Naoko's death, he still had an attachment with Naoko. Naoko tells him a couple of times that she would always be safe when she is with him and that she wants him to remember her forever. Because Watanabe had not been able to "save" her, I feel like he has a responsibility/obligation to keep his memory of her alive. In addition, now that Watanabe has matured, he has come to accept death as being part of life – Naoko, who was associated with death, would always be attached to him.