Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Published: 1921 Copyright: 2007 Pages: 32
My Rating: 3 stars - short story 4.5 stars - movie
Inspired by a comment made by Mark Twain ~ "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18" ~ the short story of Benjamin Button was born. This is an odd, kind-of-sad, fairy-tale like story, short in pages and on descriptive detail and character development. While a unique story, I found it quite a stark, blunt tale of prejudice, disillusionment and rejection. Obviously you have to consider that this was published in 1921 but frankly I much preferred the movie to the short story which you can download for free here. Set in Baltimore, the story begins in the 1860 as Roger Button rushes to the Maryland Private Hospital for the birth of his first child, only to discover his newborn is a full-grown, walking, talking old man, complete with beard, crotchety nature, & many of the health issues of the aged. (let's not think about the logistics of that!) With horror & embarrassment Roger takes Benjamin home expecting him to shave, dye his hair, eat baby food and play with baby toys. Benjamin eventually discovers he is aging backwards, he begins work for his father, marries the beautiful Hildegard & enjoys a degree of happiness, but as his wife ages & he grows younger, Benjamin becomes disenchanted, yearning for freedom. The majority of the story is really about the lack of acceptance from not only society but Benjamin's own family. In the film, Benjamin is born in 1918, an average sized baby with wrinkles and old-man health issues. While in the story Benjamin grows younger both physically and mentally; in the movie, he ages mentally as he grows physically younger. Abandoned by his father on the steps of a boarding house for the elderly, Benjamin is cared for by the good-hearted Queenie. Benjamin grows and flourishes surrounded by the wisdom, love, and acceptance of Queenie and the other housemates. He departs for a life of adventure on the sea, returning to once again meet Daisy, a little girl he he formed an emotional connection with as a teenager. Daisy is the emotional pivot for Benjamin throughout the tale, a passionate love affair blossoms into tender romance but you'll have to watch this one yourself to see what else is in store. Daisy, a dancer and free spirit recalls much of Benjamin’s life from her deathbed which obviously makes you aware of the bitter-sweet ending but does nothing to detract from the visual and emotional impact of the film. Unlike the short story, I loved this warm, sentimental love story which features Brad Pitt as Benjamin, Cate Blanchett as Daisy and Taraji P. Henson as Queenie. While it shares only a title and a basic premise with its literary source, the movie is a tender, poetic piece of story telling with attention to detail. Mind you at almost 3 hours long, there is plenty of time for detail.

8 comments:

  1. We just watched the movie this weekend..much better than I thought I was going to be! Have not read the short story - don't think I will:)

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  2. I haven't read or watched it. Sounds like an interesting contrast between the too. I will probably like the movie better too. Good review.

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  3. I read this short story a couple months ago and thought it was okay. A little heavy handed - and, ironically, without even knowing this existed, I tried to write a similar story in Dec 2002. I just recieved the movie from netflix yesterday, and hopefully will get to watch it this weekend.

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  4. I have it as an ebook on my iPod and I will definitely read this story some day soon. I never watched the movie and I don't think I will because I actually do not like Pitt at all :O

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  5. I did want to read this, but it sounds like I would be better off watching the film instead.

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  6. The short story isn't great, the best thing about it is that it's SHORT!! At 26 pages it really isn't too much of a hardship. I'm still glad I read it though, the idea is so original, the writing just wasn't what I expected.

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  7. Looking forward to watching the movie & reading the SS.

    Thanks!

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  8. Love the review you wrote :-)
    I'm no real fan of Brad Pitt *ducks and searches for cover* but the plot of this one sounded interesting. Sad thing is, I never found someone to watch it with me.

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