Short Stories - Emmett Glazer

Throughout this course we have read many of Murakami's short stories. After just now finishing Sleep, I am solidifying that I do really enjoy his short stories. Before the class I had only read some of his novels, and not the shorter one's (besides Norwegian Wood). It has been interesting being able to read his stories right next to many of the authors that inspired the works and to see where he draws influence from. 

For me, what stands out is actually how easy it is for me to quickly dive into his work. Within a couple of sentences he is able to quickly have me intrigued. I don't know if it is just his writing style or translation, but I genuinely find them easy to read. Maybe I am just not built for the more "intellectual" (confusing and wordy) writing some older writers entail, but Murakami's short stories so quickly and effortlessly keep my focus. 

Carver's short stories also stood out to me. I had never read his stuff before and so far he has been the author for me to read like Murakami. They both can build quickly build a character and make you understand their way of thinking. While some aspects can feel a bit surreal, overall they both leave you with a glimpse into a person's life for just a few weeks, days, or even hours. 

My favorites so far of Murakami's short stories have been: Drive My Car, Barn Burning, and Sleep. While the Norwegian Wood movie really blew, I have only heard great things about Drive My Car and Burning, so I am excited to sit down and watch those soon.

- Emmett Glazer

Short Films and Bakery Attacks -Krisha

 Man, what amazing examples of good and bad adaptations.

The first Bakery Attack short film really nailed the advantages of film as a medium, as the ability to hear narration while the characters acted help to make the absurd situation even more bizarre. Watching them critique the woman's choices while music plays in the background truly helped to make the scene work. Speaking of music, having Wagner actually play while they slammed bread into their mouths at Mach speed made the scene so much better. It made their hunger feel that just more all consuming, and really highlights their desperation to eat something. Being able to combine the music of a Murakami scene with the visuals really made that adaptation come to life.

The Second Bakery Attack is memorable for the really weird moans where the couple were watching burgers. Also while it makes sense to cast an American film with American actors, it made the film just a little too American. Part of the weirdness of the wife having a shotgun is lost when the actors look like modern Bonnie and Clyde. Here, the act of making people say the dialogue but not the narration really hinders it for me. The choppy discussions only work with that background of the unknowable subconscious imagery.

blog post #4 - laura

 The film adaptation of Norwegian Wood was (as we all know) underwhelming, and when we watched the short films of the first and second Bakery Attacks, I started to think that while Norwegian Wood itself might be a bad movie, the problem might have more to do with trying to translate Murakami’s writing to the screen in the first place. The voice of the narrator is crucial to Murakami’s work, and it is harder to see his typical disinterested narrator when we are only seeing what is actually happening, and not getting any inner thoughts. In this vein, the adaptation of “The First Bakery Attack” told the story better, as it implemented the narrator’s voice by having the actors narrate it within the movie. In a short form like this, I think the choice was successful, though I doubt it would hold up in an adaptation of a longer piece, mainly because film is meant to be such a visual medium, and it should theoretically be able to tell a story without needing such excessive narration, hence the problem when trying to adapt Murakami. 

The adaptation of “The Second Bakery Attack” got rid of the narrator’s inner voice entirely, thus removing the volcano motif. This significantly impacts the story—throughout the text, the volcano is an internal progression the protagonist undergoes. It becomes clearer as the narrator and his wife try to find the reason for their hunger, and goes away once they have robbed the McDonald’s, ending the curse. I’m not totally sure what the volcano is supposed to mean, but there is definitely some importance in the way it becomes more and more clear to the narrator and then vanishes entirely. Removing the ability to communicate the progression in the film adaptation makes the story much more surface level, reducing it to the physical actions. The narrator seems much more flat, a character who only acts and seems to have no internal life, and this does a great disservice to the depth of the original story. While I’m sure it is possible to execute Murakami’s ‘iceberg method’ through film, I don’t think we’ve seen it successfully—or even an attempt to. On a positive note though, I did think “The First Bakery Attack” was pretty wild, and the closest thing to capturing the spirit of the original story out of anything we’ve seen. I wouldn’t say I entirely hated it.

- Laura 

Blog Post #4 - Kara

After reading “Metamorphosis,” I felt somewhat unsatisfied with how the story ended. There isn’t really resolution for any of the characters, even for Gregor who dies. Though, I guess death is some sort of resolution. Throughout the story, Gregor’s situation gets worse and worse, and you can feel the humanity start to fade. Eventually, his entire family turns against him. It’s also frustrating as a reader to see no attempt at communication. Because he can’t clearly speak English, his family assumes that Gregor can’t understand them, despite his initial attempts at communication. Over time, they treat him more like an insect (which he is, granted) than a family member who somehow got turned into an insect. 

“Samsa in Love” provided me with some of the resolution I was looking for, and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. I liked the call-backs to the original story and the little insect jokes like being afraid of birds. There’s no denying it’s kind of a weird short story, but I felt like Murakami did a good job of continuing “Metamorphosis.” However, I did want a little more from the story. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I feel like it’s lacking something. I also would have liked more references to the original story or a cameo from some of the original characters.

4th Blog Post - Hide Your Bread - Alanis

I wanted to write the blog post for the stories we had to read for class on 27 March for the blog due in a few days. 

The First Bakery Attack is one of those short Murakami stories that builds up to a conflict, has a simple resolution, and then people basically move about their business. I am personally not a fan of this format of story because I think it resolves too fast. This is the same kind of story that we saw in Sydney Green Street and other stories we had to read that day. I did like that The Second Bakery Attack was an extension on the first one, and I didn’t expect the wife to be the kind to be ready for some kind of crime, and the ending was funny. 50 BIG MACS? Wow.

The last story, A Small, Good Thing, was weird. It’s weird that Ann wanted to kill the baker but then the baked goods are enough to convince her not to, and Howard is just there. I didn’t really get a sense of time until the end when the baker said that the cake was three days old. Intentionally, it felt like the story was going on forever and time didn’t exist, which is some of the feeling I imagine a parent goes through when they’re seeing their own child on a hospital bed.

Norwegian Wood - The Movie (ahah) - Alanis

 When reading Norwegian Wood, there were a lot of scenes that were hard for me to picture. Upon seeing the movie though, I can say that the movie made me visualize some things, but it also left some things to be desired.

Coming into all of this, I wanted to enjoy the movie because I automatically go in and expect the movie to be worse than the book itself, since that has been my experience. I liked having a visualization of where things were happening, as I assume other people have said, but also I think that the inclusion of certain things just made no sense, and these additions were clearly made just for monetary value such as the sex scenes. While I did appreciate seeing how Kitzumi died, I sort of wish I hadn’t seen it so I wouldn’t imagine it (but that’s just a touchy subject for me, I am sure this is an amazing addition to the movie).

However, I feel like this movie could have helped me get into the heads (or an interpretation of the heads) of the main characters, but I didn’t really get that as much as I wanted to. I think some complex ideas from the book are hard to put into the movie, and while they tried, I just did not think it was there. I think in general this novel and many of other Murakami works just elevate one man and make women seem bad and they go through a lot of things, and I wish this was not the case every single time.

Norwegian Wood Movie - Blog #3 - Evan

Before watching the film, I thought that translating Norwegian Wood from a book into a movie would be an impossible task. This is a story so dense that I truly didn't think it could be done. After watching it, I fear that that assumption remains. There are definite improvements made to the book in the movie, but overall I feel as if the story is hurt by this change in medium.

One of the things I feel that the film improved greatly upon was the setting of the story. The University protests provided a very interesting background to the beginning of the film that didn't feel very important in the novel. I also think that some of the scenes in the story were better understood in a visual medium. For instance, one of the most initially pivotal scenes in the story, Naoko's birthday party, felt much more impactful in the film. For one thing, it seemed much clearer that Toru took advantage of Naoko in her vulnerable state, which really changed the way I viewed a lot of his actions later in the story as well.

I feel that most details in Murakami stories matter greatly, and although some scenes absolutely had to be cut in order to meet a time limit, it hurts the story. For instance, Stormtrooper's importance, in general, is significantly curtailed, to a point that he hardly seems relevant at all. This also means that the firefly scene isn't present, which I feel marked the first big shift in the narrative. 

Ultimately, I enjoyed watching the movie a lot. If it had one thing, it was an atmosphere, and I think that is one of the most important things to nail if you are adapting Murakami to film.

Norwegain Wood - from Yennie

I think that the movie was great. Of all the books we read this semester, I have been the most drawn to Norwegian Wood. It was difficult for me to put down, so I was really excited to watch this movie. I thought that the movie was shot very artistically; and if I was to watch it again, I think I would try to pay more attention to the cinematography and the intentions behind the shots. I also thought that the scoring was beautiful and almost haunting at times, which I believe to be indicative of great skill and storytelling. I would love to see someone create a playlist of the music in this movie. Additionally, the locations were absolutely beautiful and make me want to visit Japan in the near future. I’m not sure when the film was produced, but I think the costuming and sets were also very natural and fitting of the time period during which the book was set.

I never think that movies that are based on books ever live up to the book, and I found that to be true in this case as well. I felt that I was only able to grasp the depth of Watanabe’s character from my previous reading of the book – I don’t think I would’ve understood the complexities of his persona from just watching the movie. I did think that the movie was a little slow and dragged on at times, but I felt that it was intentional to create discomfort for the viewer in high intensity situations like when Watanbe is alone with Naoko. 

I would have liked to see some more humor, like with Stormtrooper. I thought that it would break up the intensity of the movie and allow for a more entertaining viewing experience. However, I think the movie did the best it could do considering how complex the realm of mental health and young adult life is.

 

Norwegian Wood Reflection Brittany Olson

     I honestly did not have high hopes at all for this movie. Norwegian Wood is probably my least favorite Murakami novel so far. I felt like the characters were not developed enough (especially Midori) and primarily used as a foil for Toru's own growth. Almost on the level of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl aesthetic before the trope was even created. I also felt that the dialogue was almost painful to read at times and I really struggled to finish the book.

     The movie didn't fair much better. Strictly from a film perspective, I thought there were a lot of really interesting and beautiful shots. However, the decisions made when adapting the book left a lot to be desired. The pacing was extremely rushed and jarring at times. I think the movie was more focused on romance to appeal to audiences as well as contrasting Naoko and Midori's view on life, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, to fit in a 2 hour run time, a lot of the scenes that make the characters more sympathetic are left out. The scene about Midori's father seemed pointless with how short they cut multiple pages into a 15 second scene of Toru just staring at him. None of Toru's actual interactions with him, or the harshness towards Midori in the hospital room was shown, which is really disappointing as this was one of the scenes in the book that gave both characters more depth. Even Reiko becomes so vague and washed out as a character in this movie compared to the book that none of her decisions carry any weight or understanding for the audience. I also think a big part of understanding Toru and Nagasawa as characters comes through the discussion at dinner with Hatsumi, especially Nagasawa claiming that they are the same, Toru just hasn't realized yet. Of course that was not included. Overall I think the film adaptation might have been biting off more than it could chew, as well as focusing on the wrong details to get the story across. 

    I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't enjoy this story, as when talking about Murakami, so many people claim this to be his masterpiece. If I read this back in middle school or even high school I probably would have liked it more. I just feel like Murakami has so much more to offer in his other work.

-Brittany Olson 

Blog Post #3 - Film Adaptation of Norwegian Wood

 The film adaptation of Norwegian Wood takes an artistic and quietly emotional approach to moving the story from the novel to the screen. Firstly, I was struck with the depiction of Kizuki's suicide, as in the novel, I could not really picture how he killed himself through his methods, but the movie visually showed how it happened and I realized that it must have taken longer for him to pass away than I previously thought, which also makes Toru's comment that he was not sure how long it took for Kizuki to die more clear to me. However, much less time was spend on Naoko's suicide, and though the movie shows a grim scene of her hanging, more time is spent showing Toru's reaction to her death which highlights his emotional response but leaves out the complexities of her character. That being said, the scenes of him crying amongst the rocks and other moments of scenery/landscape enhanced the cinematography, adding in visual elements that highlights feelings of hopelessness, loss, grief, beauty, etc. that aligns with the tones of the novel. I also thought the movie score contributed to the overall atmosphere of the movie, especially in the high-intensity orchestral background at the end. As is usually the case, the movie adaptation left out some scenes from the novel, but I do think the omissions watered down the story so the character development and plot progression didn't make as much sense. This had the consequence of me connecting less with the characters and I felt that I sympathized with them more while reading the novel. I also felt that the inclusion of the sex scenes didn't fit as well, as they left out Toru's inner thoughts and physical descriptions. It was interesting to see visual adaptations of the characters as they work through loss and love in their comings of age, but the movie didn't really resonate with me well and I found that some scenes were hard to get through.

- Alice Liao

NW Movie Alex DeRosa

 I wasn't sure what to expect going into this movie. It seemed like a daunting task to adapt everything that happened. For this reason, it made sense that the pacing felt much faster than it did in the book, and I think it worked well for me. However, because I already had the context from the book, I wonder if the pacing would be too fast or unclear for a viewer going in blind. I thought the cinematography and use of color was beautiful, and it fit the themes of the book well. It's hard for me to say I liked the story, but I think that's because I didn't love the book, so it's hard for me to like it any better here no matter how well done the film is. I think that the film did a good job adding to some pivotal scenes though, like Naoko's birthday. I could genuinely feel Naoko's pain more in the film, and the scene really highlighted how Toru took advantage of her. Overall, I thought it was a decent adaptation of the book, but I didn't love the book in the first place. 

Norwegian Wood film vs novel

I thought some parts of the movie were really well adapted but overall the film lacked some key elements that were present in the novel. Naoko's character felt very similar to me. In both the novel and film her closed off personality made sense. In the film, her moments of despair hit harder given more visuals and sound juxtaposition between her silence and screaming. Midori on the other hand was not well adapted in my opinion; she was a lot more subdued and mysterious in the film while in the novel she's more outgoing and blunt with Watanabe. Overall, I felt like the film toned down on the bizarre, funny or nasty moments of life to appeal to a wider commercial audience but without these aspects of realism the film doesn't have the same effect of the novel. Also I feel like the editing of the film was really abrupt and choppy which made some plot/character development even more confusing than it already was. And Reiko's character was so completely hollowed out the ending didn't make any sense either.

--Viv

Blog Post #3 - Cassandra Berrette

When reading Norwegian Wood, I found Naoko to be a very compelling character to me. Her sadness and complexity was something that I sympathized with. To me, Naoko was a woman plagued with grief and trauma, in addition to struggling to conform in a very homogenous society. Her struggles with mental health and suicidal ideation gave a lot of depth to her character, which I enjoyed reading about. 

Going into the movie, I was very curious with how my version of these characters (in my head), specifically Naoko, would play out on screen. The filmmaker was consistent with depicting her mental health trouble, which I felt was a vital aspect of Naoko. Both the film and the novel showcases the melancholic nature of this character. Additionally, I found there were cinematographic choices that affirmed the complex nature of Naoko. Various shots throughout the film highlights the isolation and detachment Noaka feels with herself and the world around her, which is affirming of how I depicted her myself from reading Norwegian Wood. Focusing on her emotional strife was a solid choice for me. Even though this film was not really to my taste, I enjoyed the valid portrayal of characters (and their characterization) in the novel on screen.  

-Cassandra Berrette

Blog Post #3: Norwegian Woods Movie

The movie really gave me a chance to set myself in the scene. "Where" and "when" we were almost becoming an afterthought while reading the book, however seeing the settings and the fashion was very fun and changed the way I thought about some aspects of the story. For example, having the protesters in the background of a lot of Toru’s daily life reminded me that the student movement was an important aspect of the story’s historical setting. It never really occurred to me in the book that the protests were a big deal. 

It was an interesting decision to leave out Reiko’s story in the movie, in fact, in the movie she seems like a totally insignificant character, while in fact Toru spent a lot of time with her at the institution and writing letters back and forth. Her story took up a big chunk of the book and while it's disturbing to hear, there were many other disturbing aspects of the book highlighted in the movie. 

The movie adaptation also gave me a really different perspective on Toru and Naoko’s relationship. While I did read their first sex scene as being odd and the consent being somewhat grayed in the book, this was made even more clear in the movie. Seeing how distraught she was while they were having sex made me look at their whole relationship differently. In the movie, she seemed more unwell the whole time and much less capable of making decisions and engaging in a relationship. After she breaks down multiple times in the movie, I began to judge Toru more and more, he seemed to be latching himself onto a woman who is clearly unwell and would not be capable of ever being with him.

I also didn’t like the way Midori was depicted in the movie. I realize that her character is somewhat of a manic pixie dream girl, but I read her character as being much more of a force and vibrant than her character in the movie. In the movie, she just comes across as overly sweet and almost ditsy?

- Sarah Rosenthal

Blog Post #2- Norwegian Wood, Impressions

I liked this book! It was an exciting contrast to Wild Sheep Chase, which was very interesting but the magic realism in it made me feel like I had to decipher Boku’s every action and description, and so throughout the novel, I was hyper-aware of everything I was reading– if that makes sense. Norwegian Wood flowed more traditionally and so I was able to lose myself in the storyline. And although the main character is from a completely distant time and place, I felt that I could relate to how he navigated growing up and becoming an independent person at university. 

I liked the discussion in class we had about the comparison of the “world of the dead” in both Sheep Chase and Norwegian Wood. And while the obscurities and differences between the “real” world and the “other” world are less obvious in Norwegian Wood, I liked the nods to mythology– the gates/fences, the eating of the food, the stillness of time, etc. While the Rat and Naoko represent different things for the protagonist, they both seem to give their friend a purpose. Without Naoko’s friendship, Toru would have little motivation– he doesn’t show a particular interest in school or making friends. When he visits each in their respective world, time seems to escape him. He feels a sense of serenity, tempting him to stay with them, however in the end the protagonist makes the transition back to the world of the living. However, in Norwegian Wood at least Toru has someone to return back to– Midori. 

The love story, although tragic and disturbing at times, was also beautiful, and although I couldn’t quite see the progression of Toru and Midori’s relationship, I liked the naivety of it and how they both care for each other in small ways. Toru cares for her sick father and Midori gives him companionship when he has little in his life. This novel had a sweet and compassionate quality that I haven’t yet seen in the other Murakami stories we’ve studied. I felt that the protagonist had much more depth in his relationship with other people. In Sheep Chase, for example, everyone around him seemed to exist for his own entertainment or pleasure, while Toru seems to make genuine connections. 

- Sarah Rosenthal

blog post 3 - a rant about the movie

 I’ll start by saying that I didn’t like this movie. I don’t know if the movie itself is bad, or if it’s just because I read and really liked the book. Compared to the book, the movie adaptation of Norwegian Wood falls flat and highlights the worst parts of the book, especially the manic pixie dream girl qualities of both Naoko and Midori. With both girls, many of their scenes are cut short or eliminated entirely, and we thus get much less of their back stories. They don’t stand on their own as real characters, and are instead just love interests to Watanabe, which I think does them a great disservice. Furthermore, cutting so much of these plotlines lessens the impact of the potential romance plots. An example of this is with Midori’s father in the hospital: this scene seemed very important to me in the book as a step in their relationship, yet it is entirely bypassed here and she just seems like a liar for claiming her father was in Uruguay and never elaborating further. The way Reiko is minimized so much in the movie also surprised me, and it made the ending with her and Watanabe feel very out of nowhere (even more than in the book). 

Along a similar note, the movie adaptation seems to have isolated Watanabe more than he is in the book. Side characters such as Stormtrooper and Reiko have been significantly cut out in favor of the (mediocre) romance plots, and simplifying their characters to such an extent makes them feel unnecessary. This even seems to have happened with Nagasawa—he seemed much more like a dick in the movie, when I think his character had more nuance in the book. 

The book relied a lot on Watanabe’s thoughts and inner monologue, which don’t have a clear translation into film. Without them, however, everything seems to fall flat. We are watching Watanabe’s memories, but we don’t know why they matter, and I don’t think the movie does a good enough job at making me care. It’s not like the movie was entirely terrible—I did like the way it illustrated the student protests going on—but overall I think it failed as an adaptation, and it pales in comparison to the novel. 

- Laura Hurley 

Blog Post 3 - Max Dahlstrom

 I was definitely at least entertained by the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood and thought it did alright given how much it was supposed to cover, but I certainly had some gripes with it. I thought the cinematography and music score were pretty good and the acting was decent as well. I thought the actor portraying Watanabe did a good job of conveying that detached ‘good listener’ type character. My main problem with the film was its pacing, which seems inevitable given how much plot and content it tries to cover in just over 2 hours. There were a lot of crucial parts of the plot that were skimmed over, and I know that if I hadn’t read the book in advance, I probably would’ve been pretty confused. I thought this was an issue particularly at the beginning of the movie since we’re not given much context on who Kizuki and Naoko are in relation to Watanabe. Another instance where plot was quickly skimmed over was with Reiko’s character. Her backstory is pretty much left completely unexplained, and her relation to Naoko is mostly left up to inference. The book explains a lot of things up front that can only be understood in the film from inference or from prior knowledge. While this difference may be unavoidable given the difference in expository capabilities of films and prose, it made it feel like the movie had a lot of room for improvement in terms of pacing, character development, and plot progression. In some ways, the film felt like a highlight reel of the book, focusing on moments of dialogue and more iconic or memorable scenes in the story, while excluding a lot of the subtle elements of the narrative that build up to these scenes and make them really impactful.

Blog Post #3 - Kara

  The book Norwegian Wood has the potential to be a really beautiful, melancholy movie. However, the movie I just watched was so bad. For one, the personality of the characters didn’t come through at all and all of the characters in the movie felt really one dimensional. The movie characters were shells of the book characters. For the entirety of the book, Naoko was clearly not 100% emotionally or mentally stable. In the movie, the only indication that she wasn’t ok was that she would start crying. Her suicide felt uncharacteristic. The relationships between characters didn’t develop either. I didn’t feel any chemistry between Watanabe and Naoko and there wasn’t really anything in the movie that showed a romance developing. At the beginning of the movie, it seemed like they barely knew each other and then all of a sudden they’re sleeping together. The entire movie felt rushed and haphazardly thrown together. Whole parts of the book were cut out and certain things were changed that really had no reason to be. For example, why did they change Watanabe’s gift from a sweater to a scarf? The movie seemed to completely abandon the book, including the vibes, the characters, and the plot. 

Blog Post 3 - Movie Adaptation

Though I found it entertaining, my initial impression of the movie was that it wanted to touch upon key components of the novel without dwelling on any long enough to properly develop them. There was the sense that everything was being rushed through to include all the highlights of the story, which would have made it difficult for me to emotionally connect with the characters had I not already read the book. I conceived of it more as a visual summary rather than an adaptation invoking similar emotional impressions.

One instance of the sacrifice of such fast pacing that stood out to me was Nagasawa’s characterization. In the movie, when delivering the line about not reading books that haven’t had the baptism of time and smacking Toru’s book out of his hands, without the context that him and Toru have bonded over literature and Nagasawa having already been properly established as a character, he comes across as far more childish and obnoxious than he did in the novel. While the statement can still seem pretentious, when the depth of his character has been explored, which is what really fascinates Toru and in turn can interest the reader, this bias towards older literature has the potential to become one of his more sympathetic traits since it’s an example of something he values in his predominantly irreverent life. It reveals that, despite how he treats other people, he does have his own standards. So I found that Nagasawa’s introduction in the film flattened him.

In a similar way, when Stormtrooper moves out in the film, his personality has been shown so little that the sense of loss at his absence isn’t comparable to that felt in the novel. Time and time again, Toru brightens people’s lives with absurd Stormtrooper stories, making him such a staple presence in Toru’s life that his absence is jarring. I really liked Norwegian Wood, and the film made me appreciate the novel more for how well it could build investment in its characters.

-Kate Waldron

Blog Post #3 - Emmett

 Nahhhhh. 

Well that was disappointing. After watching the movie I just wonder why? I found that Norwegian Wood (the book) was already written like a movie. You could visualize the scenes, you felt for the characters, you were uncomfortable as things unfolded, but it all felt almost honest and real. This movie on the other hand…. First off  there was no character development. You were introduced to the characters and then it almost just felt like a video slideshow of greatest hits from the book. You never get the depth that you get in the book. The movie also cut key parts of the book, like Reiko’s story and the fire. Her story is uncomfortable but raw and helps you understand her and also what Watanabe is to people. The movie felt like it was jumping around almost, one thing to the next, no real explanations. I found myself uncomfortable watching the movie even when it maybe shouldn't have been uncomfortable, it was just awkward. 

Overall it was just disappointing to me that a book, which is so perfectly set up for a movie, could end up like this. In an ideal world this movie could feel intimate and personal, but instead it's distant and shallow. No offense to the people who made this adaptation, I’m sure they're good people, but honestly I think I could have done a better, more accurate and more appealing adaptation of Norwegian Wood.

- Emmett Glazer

Norwegian Wood Movie- Krisha

Norwegian Wood as a book is strange, sure, but an exciting read when it comes to the pacing and the odd nature of the dynamic between the three major characters and their internal struggles/emotions. In my opinion, this is why the movie adaptation is not as powerful for me. The scenes which best present those internal elements are either cut or altered. The first chapter of the book does such a good job of establishing how the story is going to feel and how Naoko and Watanabe are as people. And while it does make sense for the movie to instead start with Kizuki's relationship and death, those scenes felt protracted. Replacing the novel's opening with the high school backstory was a choice that, in my viewing, changed the mood of the story. Likewise, the first big Midori scene at her house just felt off. There was no fire, no declaration of death, the singing wasn't particularly bad. All the elements that added to the awkward romance were lost.

 

What the movie does a good job with is evocative elements of the book, like the university protests and Kizuki's death and the ending with the telephone call. It even added that scream into the ocean which was very emotional but definitely conveyed the opposite vibes of the book, where Watanabe described walking at the bottom of the ocean. I guess that makes sense given the media. It is a difficult job translating a book that is like half internal monologuing into a coherent visual narrative. It is just a shame that some of the best parts of the book for me had to be altered for the narrative to happen.

Also doesn't help when you realize Murakami's famously bad sex scenes had to be filmed by and with real people. It is one thing to read about Naoko crying while they had sex on her 20th birthday but watching that in real time was not fun.

Norwegian Wood's Movie Adaptation (Blog 3)

     While I did enjoy seeing the book in a visual sense and watching the characters interact, everything playing out more or less the same, it still felt like an empty shell of the original story, more like I was seeing scenes recreated rather than a plot unfolding. I think this partially has to do with having the movie be in the third person perspective. From reading the novel, we all know that Watanabe is not a very interesting person. He says it himself, he is completely ordinary. However, what is very enjoyable is how he sees the world and situations going on around him, explaining it to the readers. At least, that's what I grew to like about him and as an extension, Murakami's writing revolving around an awkward but attentive male protagonist. However, with a movie adaptation, we do not see into his mind or thoughts. We only see what he reveals to others through dialogue (which we know tends to be limited compared to his thoughts) and actions (which again he just allows fate to run her course in most cases). To me, this makes Watanabe seem dismissive and uncaring through the whole movie besides the yelling/crying scene and his occasional smiles towards Naoko.

    Another reason I think the story does not feel whole in the movie is because of some of the details they leave out. Of course in a movie you have to remove some of the details to allow for a movie that's under two to three hours however in a Murakami novel that uses such simple language, the slight details to a person's character is essential. For example, Midori did not read as the strong curious individual she is to me because we do not see her hard work towards the bookstore and taking care of her father. We also see her talking about masturbation once but the topic of sex or male genitalia never comes up again which I feel is essential to her character. To me she represents more than just self confidence. She represents how adulthood (caring for her father, running a store, cooking meals) and childhood (curiosity, self esteem, her temper-tantrums towards Watanabe) can mix together to create one wonderful person regardless of adversity. With Naoko, the movie did a slightly better job, however added things in that I did not enjoy like her small fight where she is hitting Watanabe and her rudeness/aloofness towards him at times once she is admitted to the sanatorium. They made Naoko seem more mentally ill when the deal with Naoko is not her illness, but in my opinion, is that she has lost her childhood by losing Kizuki who was there for every part of it and is slowly dying hence from losing her inner child.

    To end I at least want to say some nice things about the movie like how I enjoyed them adding a bit more emotion to Watanabe to show his suffering in the second half of the story. The yelling scene was hard to watch (which is a good thing because that's what they were going for I think) and the pulling out the stitches scene moved me a lot. I thought it was very symbolic of all the pain he was going through but never actively said anything. It worked extremely well for Watanabe and his character.

-Anna

Blog 3 - Norwegian Wood Movie

I wish I could say I enjoyed the movie version of Norwegian Wood as much as the book, but the two don't even come close. I feel as if the movie simply failed to capture the essence of the story, and I was especially upset with the way the medium handled a couple of what I felt were the most important scenes in the novel. This is not to say the film was bad, just that it felt detached from the book in nearly everything but the names of the characters and overarching plot. Before I delve into what I disliked about the movie, I feel it is only fair to also include the things I did enjoy. I really appreciate having watched the movie purely for the fact that it allowed me to listen and see the characters expressed in the language and setting in which the story takes place. I feel as if the western skew of my subconscious takes over when reading, and my imagination can't help but picture characters and places through the lens of an American. Having watched this movie, though, I feel almost as if I can reassess and rework the mental image I had of places and individuals mentioned in the book. 

In terms of the scenes I was particularly upset with, two stood out to me. Firstly, the scene with Midori's father in the hospital. I really disliked the fact that the directors chose not to have any verbal interaction with Midori's father, and especially disliked the lack of the cucumber scene in which to me, Toru and Midori's father create a very important bond. As I've noted in a previous blog post, I believe that scene with Midori's father is of pivotal importance to the story as a whole, as it is the point at which Toru makes up his mind that he loves and wants to be with Midori. Maybe my interpretation of the story is very different from those that wrote the script for the movie, but excluding this scene from the movie felt almost criminal. The second series of scenes I really disliked were those involving and following the death of Naoko. I felt that the scenes, the atmosphere, and especially the score really mismatched those same scenes in the book. In the novel, I pictured Toru learning of Naoko's death and succumbing to the numbness that would come to dominate his life and travels for the coming month. I did not picture a dramatic scene by crashing waves with him screaming into the emptiness; that simply didn't fit with the rest of his character. I pictured a somber yet quiet Toru trudging along a peaceful coastline with no emotions, and no hope. 

These were only a couple of the scenes I disliked, there is unfortunately a plethora of others that I feel could have been explored to greater lengths and could have better aligned with the source material. Overall, I enjoyed the book far more than the movie, but I do appreciate having consumed the story through another medium and through the script writer's interpretation, unfortunately I disagree quite a bit with that interpretation.

- Sam

Blog Post #3 - Norwegian Wood: Novel versus Movie

 It's halfway through spring break and I actually went hiking through Muir Woods in California. I knew that a Norwegian Wood (a Norwegian Spruce Tree, to be exact) would have no place nor would it have any reason to grow here but the air, smell, and overall tranquility I felt reminded me of the sanitorium Naoko was at and it just fit what I had in my imagination. This inspired me to watch Norwegian Wood online and honestly, it was interesting to see the characters and the notable scenes, but that's all it felt like. Watching scenes.

In almost an anthological sequence, Murakami's Norwegian Wood novel comes to life with little narration and little effort to transition between scenes or locations. Having read the novel, these switches make  sense as they seem to highlight the important interactions between characters in each chapter. Perhaps this movie benefits those who have read the book prior, thus only need to watch in order to put a visual to the words? 

In class, we were going through the slides of Japan concerning certain points where Watanabe, Midori, and Naoko frequent and the question, "Does this help? Having photos to go with the novel? or would you prefer to leave it to your imagination?" was posed. At the time, I thought it was best to leave it to the imagination and after watching, I honestly wished I had kept it that way. Almost none of the scenes in NW matched what I had seen in class and the sanitorium did not look as nice as I had envisioned it to have looked like. 

I think all in all, the movie does do the novel justice, but only as if to serve as a visual cue for certain events in the book. It lacks a certain cohesiveness that keeps other story based movies together and easily trackable. It kept me watching, no doubt about that, but I felt like I had to make the connections for them in order to tell myself, "Oh this is about here in the novel... oh they missed that part but I know how they got to this scene..." etc. 

Last blog post I was hoping that the movie would answer my burning question of what the ending meant... it did not QAQ but I think it gave me a possible interpretation -- when Midori asks Watanabe where he is, I was thinking literally where he was, but Watanabe thinks in more of a philosophical sense. He says everyday he grows farther from the dead as Kizuki is stuck at 17 and Naoko at 21. My interpretation is that Watanabe is confused as to where he is because if he was younger than 17, he would know he still had Kizuki and Naoko; if he's between 17 and 21, he would know he still had Naoko; but now that he has neither, he's alone and unsure of what to do/where to go. 

I hope he ended up with Midori in the end... any lady in this day and age would be confused with his answer and probably assume he was making a really mean joke.

- Alexander Wen

Blog 2

Hi everyone,

Norwegian Wood was Murakami's fifth novel, and it was published nearly a decade into his career. The following year, in 1988, he would publish Dance Dance Dance- which marked the return of Boku. In subsequent novels, it would seem that Murakami exited his "Boku era", as every full-length novel after Dance Dance Dance features a named protagonist; this pattern continued until 2017's Killing Commendatore, in which the nameless narrator returned.

At any rate, Norwegian Wood seems to be Murakami's first full-length novel with a named protagonist- marking a clear shift in his literary style. 

And... To be frank, I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it. At first, I was enthralled by the story's more grounded approach, one which I thought to be wholly uncharacteristic of any Murakami I had previously read. However, as the story continued to develop, I found myself more and more distracted by the characterization of certain characters. Namely, the female cast. 

It seemed to me that these characters were written into the story solely to further Toru. They seemed one-dimensional in a way that made Norwegian Wood difficult to engage with-- especially when one main focus of the novel is Toru's relationships with these women. 

For instance-- and this may be a hyperbolic statement-- I don't believe there is a single scene in the book involving Midori where she does not mention sex in some way. In this way, I believe Midori's character is flattened, and I found myself completely disinterested in the story surrounding her and Toru. 

What I found compelling about Boku in Wild Sheep Chase was the fact that this detached, aloof protagonist was watching the world progress around him as the supporting cast moves the plot. I believe that is not the case in Norwegian Wood, in which I would argue that Toru-- not Naoko-- is the main driving force of the story.

That's not to say these issues with writing female characters were not present in Wild Sheep Chase, just that I did not find them nearly as distracting as I did when reading Norwegian Wood.

Perhaps there is a deeper meaning behind the gratuitous sex presented in Norwegian Wood that I am simply not seeing. However, to me, this novel suffers greatly due to the fact that Murakami does not write women well.

Evan Laufman

Blog Post 2

Realism always makes me cringe. It's something about the complete honesty of the characters and depictions of human actions put so clearly into words. Films like Kids (1995) and Mid90s (2018) come to mind when I think of adolescent realism. Both these films and Murakami's Norwegian Wood have themes of coming of age, sex, friendship, and trauma. The characters don't shy away from foul language or nasty images; Midori's dialogue in particular was especially vulgar and her character was just as funny as she was cringy. I loved how she pointed out Watanabe's peculiar way of talking but she was just as weird in her imagination. Her bluntness was completely different from the closed-off Naoko. Both girls were exposed to death at early ages; I wonder if the manner of death was what set the girls apart. Midori witnessed slow, unwilling death while Naoko witnessed abrupt suicide. Perhaps this is why these girls navigate life so differently. Midori understands the value of life because her family members held on so strongly to it while Naoko's sister and Kizuki couldn't find a reason to go on. Maybe taking care of her dying family members grounded Midori in realism while Naoko fell further into hopelessness.

--Viv Johnson

Blog Post #2

This was my second time reading Norwegian Wood, the first time around being about three years ago during the very beginning of the pandemic. I remember loving the novel, and what left the biggest impression on me more than any plot point was the deep sense of sadness that I felt when I finished it. The book is certainly not a happy one, and none of the characters seem to ever be content. Toru Watanabe's narration, that upon our class discussion I find myself comparing to Nick in The Great Gatsby more and more, is so perceptive and descriptive of others. Although surely biased, Watanabe's narration is so detailed and descriptive of others' psychological states that it almost seems like we are in the heads of the other characters as well, almost like an omniscient narrator. 

Another thing I wanted to note about the comparison between this book and The Great Gatsby is the ending. The ending of this book struck me particularly both times I read it because of how strangely vague it is and how abruptly it seems to end. Murakami's "again and again I called out for Midori from the dead center of this place that is no place" reminds me of Fitzgerald's memorable "and so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" because they both have this element of mystery and impenetrability. What is this place that is no place? Isn't Watanabe in a phone booth? And what does it mean to be borne back into the past? While we can make inferences about what this symbolic language means, my point is that both novels end on a very vague albeit very poetic note. The theme of the past, evoked explicitly in the last line of Gatsby is also a very prevalent theme in Norwegian Wood, as Watanabe seems to be ceaselessly held back by a past that he has a hard time letting go of. Murakami states how The Great Gatsby is his favorite novel, and while the ending of Norwegian Wood may not be directly inspired from the ending of Gatsby, for me, there is a whiff of similarity between the two. 

-Audree Damiba 

Blog Post #2

 Hi all, I wanted to explore Murakami's the use of sex throughout Norwegian Wood. Upon finishing the novel, some of the sex scenes and portrayal of women left a bad impression on me. Often times, sex was removed from hints of romance or love, even between Toru and Naoko. I noted previously that there is often an imbalance between the participants when sex occurs, but these imbalances do not seem to get resolved, so it feels that women are reduced to their sexuality. When Toru has sex with the "small girl" that he meets in Shinjuku, somehow being around Toru makes her personality do a 180 and she becomes like "a different person", a theme that continues on throughout the novel as the women seem to find sex with Toru irresistible, but for unwarranted reasons, as Toru emphasizes his own ordinariness and does not do anything particularly appealing or romantic. This has the effect of reducing the women as two-dimensional and irrational in the face of a male's presence. Reiko's sexual encounter with the thirteen-year-old girl also strikes the reader as discomforting and assailing. The disconnect between Reiko's physical description of the girl, saying she had "big breasts" and was "picture-perfect beautiful", and the wrongness of the situation sexualizes a young girl, paints lesbianism in a predatory nature, while Reiko's character of being an older sister, mentor-like figure to Naoko becomes corrupted. Similar with Midori stripping her clothes off and showing off her private parts to her father's altar photo, these scenes felt out-of-place to what the reader knows of the characters thus far, and portrays women as hyper-sexual to the point of ignoring rationale. 

Toru having sex with Reiko also somewhat tarnished the ending of the novel for me. The age difference was unsettling, but also the fact that Reiko was one of his friends and for him to have sex with almost all the women he encountered throughout the novel seemed like the women were put there for male gratification. I did find it interesting however, that though Toru stops having sex with other girls because of his love for Naoko, after Naoko dies, he has sex with Reiko, so he is no longer waiting for Naoko. There could be something to be said about sex being used as a means of escape, but characters like Nagasawa consistently engage in sex with no implication that he uses it as a reprieve. As a natural activity, sex could also be used to make the characters more human, but because of some of the morally wrong contexts in which sex appears, it makes the characters less relatable and alienates them from the reader. On another note, Murakami could be using sex as an instinctual and natural process that demonstrates how characters choose life and a process related to life, birth, etc., over death. I do believe deeper meanings can be found in how sex is used throughout the novel, but it often seems to come at the expense of putting down women in some form. 

- Alice Liao

Blog Post 2 - Alex DeRosa

 I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into Norwegian Wood. I knew that it was one of Murakami's most popular works, and that it was a little different from his other books, but that was pretty much it. While I really enjoy Murakami's writing style, I found it difficult to get through this book. 

I liked it a lot in the beginning. I thought the more grounded and realistic approach was nice (although I think I prefer his more surreal and weird work), and I liked how the characters still maintained that "Murakami weirdness" that is generally accepted by everyone in the story's universe. Despite the story's setting feeling very realistic, the characters act very strangely—almost like exaggerated caricatures—and yet, Toru seems to not question it too much. 

However, I think the weirdness relating to sex and women's bodies was a bit gratuitous. It was difficult to read some of these passages, not just because of the disturbing content but rather because of how much space they occupy in the book. I felt like every chapter there were long and graphic descriptions of sex that seemed to go on and on, and they distracted me from the characters and the philosophical themes the book was trying to touch on. I'm not opposed to sex in literature—I think if it's written well and used purposefully, it can be really effective in stories. But, with this book, I had a hard time seeing why it was so excessive. It seemed like some characters existed only to be described in a sexual way, which also didn't quite sit right with me. I found myself wanting more depth and development for Midori, Naoko, Reiko, and Hatsumi. I felt like I didn't really get to know or understand them well, and they felt kind of one-dimensional.

I understand what Murakami was going for with Norwegian Wood, especially regarding the themes of life, death, and coming of age. I wish that more of the descriptions had been dedicated to exploring these themes further or adding depth to other characters. I understand why Murakami is often criticized for the way he writes women—I didn't really see it after WSC, but I definitely see it now. I still enjoy his style a lot, but I couldn't get into this book nearly as much as WSC. 

Blog Post #2

 Hi all, 

I wanted to use this week's blog post to touch upon a specific scene I really enjoyed within Norwegian Wood. I think that this scene in particular added much to the story, character development, and my overall enjoyment of the work. The scene I am referring to, one I was quite touched by, was the interaction between Toru and Midori's father in the hospital.

As one of my classmates noted during discussion during the past week, throughout much of the novel Toru is often on the receiving end of other characters spouting their life's story and gives the occasional muted, yet deliberate response. Toru's responses are often much shorter than the person's whom he responds to, and in most cases he is much more of a listener than a speaker. However, in his conversation with Midori's father, these roles are reversed. Perhaps it is ironic that the only conversation he is able to dominate is one with someone who is physically incapable of dominating a conversation. Regardless, I thought the way Toru opened up to Midori's father was unlike many of his previous and later conversations, even with people he knew far better and should be able to speak with more openly. I felt as if Midori's father, too, quite enjoyed the conversation he had with Toru. I also greatly appreciate being able to try the coveted "cucumber wrapped in nori dipped in soy sauce" snack that was so tasty to the bedridden cancer patient, because I can't lie I was morbidly curious as to what the fuss was about (thanks professor!). 

I believe that the final line Midori's father says to Toru, that involving Ueno station and taking care of Midori, is far more important to the story than it initially seems. I believe this is the point where Toru decides between Naoko and Midori, exactly when he says he will take care of Ueno station and Midori. Additionally, the hospital interaction plays an important role in the final scene of the novel. This scene takes place in Ueno station, and the final line spoken by any character is Midori's "Where are you?" (The answer, never given by Toru, being Ueno station). I feel that Toru's conversation with Midori's father was foreshadowing for this very event, that the old man somehow knew that Ueno station would play a significant role in the relationship between Toru and his daughter. Perhaps this working class bookstore owner had similar predictive powers to Boku's beautifully eared girlfriend in A Wild Sheep Chase? Overall, I believe this scene was my favorite in the book. It deepened Toru's character by revealing him capable and caring of those around him more than any other scene, and to me was the very scene that determined his resolve, and his future with Midori. 

Thanks for reading!

- Sam Soares

Blog Post #2 - Norwegian Wood

 Norwegian Wood is the third work of Murakami that I've read and I have to say, I enjoyed it more than A Wild Sheep's Chase and 1Q84. The story was straightforward, was quite realistic (in the sense it lacked fantasy or highly unreal, unexplainable circumstances), but the ending again got me all "arghhh what does this meannnnn??!?" I think I tend to enjoy novels that are realistic and/or understandable. I found Watanabe's interactions with the various women in Norwegian Wood to be mirrors of common relationship tropes we see in western writing. Watanabe and Naoko is more of a first love that doesn't work out later; Watanabe and Midori is a friends turned lovers situation; ignoring the sex scene at the end of the book, Watanabe and Reiko ends up being a mentee/mentor type of relationship; and Watanabe and Hatsume are really just acquaintances with no feelings between them. 

I really enjoyed the chapters when Watanabe went to the sanitorium to visit Naoko and Reiko, and the small snippets where we'd get a letter from Naoko or Reiko about the sanitorium's happenings. I felt relieved when Naoko was making a quick recovery once she had moved to a proper hospital because I am a big fan of slow burn angst kind of vibes that turn fruitful. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when Naoko killed herself. 

I also enjoyed reading about Watanabe's relationship with Midori. I think Midori, after they took their trip, forced Watanabe to do something he wouldn't have usually done which was to break curfew, let alone for a girl, and let alone to not sleep with her! Midori was a breath of fresh air that Watanabe so desperately needed, but he just didn't know he needed it more than Naoko. 

Much like Watanabe's move out of the dorms and into the real world, the monotony of doing the same thing day in and day out with nothing and no one to pull him out of it definitely contributed to his poor habits. On top of the fact that his main love interest had killed herself, his desire to be nowhere in the city is totally understandable. When he's finally done feeling sorry for himself and calls Midori, I think Watanabe realizes that he's lost his way and even considers stepping back from everything he's been stumbling through. Hopefully Midori can continue doing what she's doing and pull him out of his trance, but honestly, I think that Watanabe (should the story continue) will kill himself. I'm hoping that when I watch Norwegian Wood over the spring break, that the ending will make a little more sense.

Stay tuned.

Alexander Wen

Blog #2

     Looking back on these two books, while I enjoyed both quite a bit I did enjoy Norwegian Wood more between them. I think this was because of two main things. The first was the clearer theme of Japan, its politics, war, and what Murakami's own ideas about these are. In a Wild Sheep Chase, we see subtle hints to these themes, such as Mishima's suicide on the TV in the beginning, the use of sheep, a non native animal to Japan, and Alice's amazing description of the boss's house and its possible subtle meanings reflecting the left wing of Japan and the right wing of Japan. However, all these ideas were kept in the background and had to be looked for which made it feel like Murakami was not yet comfortable with making his opinions known to the public. Which of course, made sense with the atmosphere of Japan in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. But, in Norwegian Wood, Murakami is not afraid to implement more direct ideas towards war and show his opinions. For example, in the very beginning of the book we get the flag raising ceremony, accompanied with the national anthem as well as the description of the dorms creation. Murakami sums his scene structure greatly when Watanabe says the dormitory has "one problem with the place: its political smell." Murakami has taken from his life and experience at Waseda to make a plot of politics and almost even anti-left right separation. If we choose to see Watanabe's ideas as Murakami's own (being that we've already established many Murakami protagonists are based off himself) then we see that Watanabe doesn't quite care for the right or the left. When he says he does not care for the political smell of the right wing built dorms he shows his opinions for not enjoying politics as well as right wing politics. Similarly, when the leftist duo of students came into his Greek tragedy class, he did not really care saying "I had no problem what they were saying but the writing was lame" and continues to detail how their speech and writing was bad and how it was "same old tune with different words." He and Midori leave the class, all of these actions showing that Watanabe/Murakami don't mind the left wing but in a way, there's a disorganized sense to them. Especially using the same old tune with different words, yes it can be interpreted as the left explaining the same ideals over and over again, but it can also be interpreted as the right wing and the left wing having different ideas but they are the same in a sense, both poorly structured and unable to make Japan better with their extremist views making two halves of an ugly whole, again similar to the house in A Wild Sheep Chase. Maybe what Murakami is trying to say is that the separation between parties makes for a unnerving whole but possibly the blend of the two would allow for a better, more pleasing Japanese political system if we assume that is what we get when we put the two wings together. But that's just an idea!! This has gone on a bit too long, but the second part of Norwegian Wood that I loved was Midori, who in my opinion, is one of the best written woman we have read from Murakami in this course so far. 

- Anna-Maria Marinescu

Blog Post #2

 I just finished Norwegian Wood, which is definitely my favorite thing we have read so far in this class. I’m still processing the end section of the book, but have a handful of half-baked ideas about it. The thing that stood out to me most in the last section we read was the idea of detachment. In class, we’ve talked about how Watanabe is less detached than Murakami’s other narrators, and I agreed with that. In the dinner scene with Nagasawa and Hatsumi, however, Nagasawa says that he and Watanabe are the same, and that they are both unable “to feel any interest in anything other than what [they themselves] think or feel or do” (208). To me, this makes Watanabe sound very detached from the world around him, at least in Nagasawa’s view.

As I continued reading, I found myself viewing Watanabe as detached more and more. It feels like a different kind of detached than with Boku in A Wild Sheep Chase—with Watanabe, the readers have a better feel of his thoughts and feelings, so he is less detached to the reader. Within the world of the story, however, he is very distant. One of the ways this feeling of detachment is made is by the communication methods used—letters and phone calls. In both cases, attempted communication is often met with a lack of response, be it letters which never receive a reply or the other person not answering the phone. In these periods where he is waiting for a reply, Watanabe is very isolated, seemingly only going through the motions. Even when characters are together in person there is a disconnect at times, like when Midori and Watanabe are together but Watanabe only finds out her true feelings through the letter she gives him before she leaves. This feels like a surface level exploration of the idea of detachment in the book, and the end of the novel is another clear example—Watanabe is on the phone with Midori, but he is entirely unaware of the world around him, and while he calls out for Midori, trying to use her as a line back to reality, he never gets a reply.

- Laura Hurley