Tension in Between Books and Movies - Essay Example

Creating tension within characters This paper aims at reviewing some of the literary works done by several He paper discusses the empirical issue of suspense and tension created by the authors. The paper also analyses and compares different themes discussed by the authors both in their books and in the film casts. The differences in literary work done by these authors are analyzed within the discussion. Season of migration to the north is a tense book written by Tayeb Salih. The book was first written in Arabic before translated to English. Tayeb writes about Mustafa Saeed a man who has spent most of his lie in England. Mustafa had a bad experience in his relationship with his wife. Constant battles gripped his love life with hate which made him return to his native home Sudan. The narrator describes the tension and the war that exists in the country. The narrator also mentions sexuality and defilement that exists during that time. The sexual scenes in the book caught the attention of religious leaders in Sudan. For several years, the book was banned for contravening Islamic religious ethics (Salih). The narrator shows tension and grief that Mustafa lived in while in Europe. The deadly relationships with British women remind him of crime and life full of war and hatred. Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is an actor while at the same time a good Iranian actor. Most of his works display rural setting, which he has only experienced. His stories and films are not factious but a true reflection of his observations in rural homes. The colonel is a breath-taking story of crime and war. Colonel is an army officer who realizes that his wife is adulterous. For this reason, he murders his wife. He loses his job and thrown to jail. Ironically, he finds himself in the same prison with his son. His son is student while at the same time a strong politician supporting Iranian Communist Party. The author of this book creates tension when he writes about how Colonels children die while in action. His fourteen-year-old daughter is captured while distributing leaflets against the existing regime. One of his sons dies while fighting for the Ayatollah an Islamic group that Colonel was a member. One of his children sadly dies in war being sacrificed as a martyr during the Iraq-Iran war in the 9180’s. The author also discusses sexual immorality that grips the war tone country. Cases of rape and sodomization are rampant within the streets as angry mobs take to the streets lynching and killing everyone on their way. The writer narrates excerpts of how colonel unites with the evil spirit. The writer paints a picture of how colonel tales to ghosts and evil spirit while constantly visiting the cemetery. The rain at night and thunderstorm all over are also scenes used by the writer to create tension (Dowlatabadi). Pyscho is a suspense and horror film. The film is a cast from pyscho a novel. The crimes and horror is a result of Wisconsin murderer. The film is about a secretary Marion who engages in fraud and embezzles money from the employer. She steals $40,000 from her employer. She decides to move to California. On her way, she decides to sleep on her vehicle due to heavy rain. A police officer notices her and questions her actions. Marion decides to book a motel room to finish off her night. Scenes of sexuality are evident when Marion overhears a conversation between Norman and her mother. A tense scene follows when a ghost stabs Marion to death. Norman assumes that the mother has committed the crime after her assumption that Norman wanted to sleep with Marion who is a stranger. Arbogast a police officer contacted to trace the money back find his way to the motel where Marion died. While attempting to enter the house, the ghost reappears and kills him too. Lila and Sam decide to look for Marion. They trace Marion to the motel only to find it as a crime scene. The film portrays Norman wearing his mother’s clothes. The ghostly story is all about Norman and his mother uniting in the world of spirit. Mrs. Bates the mother died long time ago after Norman the son murdered them together with the husband. Norman felt so lonely and spiritually decided t unite with the mother in spirit (Anthony Perkins). Due to loneliness, the spirit in form of a woman would kill anyone attractive to Norman. The story is hilarious with a love tale dominating. Murder is however the central theme behind this story. ‘Jaw’ is also a horror film. The film is about white shark that attacks people who visit Amity Island. Chrissie Watkins goes swimming in Amity Island where she becomes a victim of the white shark. The police later find her remains. A medical examiner reveals that Chrissie is another victim of the white shark that has been causing havoc in the island. Brody the beach police suggest that the beach be closed due to the deadly shark but the town mayor disagrees with him. The mayor Larry argues that it is a summer season and tourists are expected to visit the island not forgetting that the island is the main source of income to the residents to the town. To make the matters worse, the shark kills another young man in the beach. This action prompts that mother to award the person who will kill the shark. The bounty is placed at $10,000. Quint a professional shark hunter decides to go for the hunt. However, in the evening a distraction sets in when anglers catch a huge large tiger shark. The residents settle with hope that a solution is finally home. However, Hooper and Brody are not satisfied and decide to conduct necropsy test on the shark only to realize that it was the wrong shark and not their primary target. The number of tourists visiting the Island increases while the shark continues with the hunt. Bodly’s son who ends up in shock observes a deadly scene. Brody and Hooper decide to hire Quit to help them in killing the deadly shark. The trio kill the shark I the end but Quint dies in the struggle (Benchley). “When a stranger calls” is a thrilling story of a man who keeps calling a baby sitter asking her if she has checked he babies. The film is tense with scenes of crime and death. Another tense scene is created in the film when a child is seen sitting alone in a huge house with the phone ringing on and off. The baby sitter reports this matter to the police who finds out that the stocker is a man in the house. A somber mood engulfs the film when the stranger kills two children but the baby sitter escapes unhurt. This prompts a police officer to search for the stranger. The stranger is later found and jailed. Astonishingly the Tony the stranger escapes from prison. He then goes back to his former acts of stocking and murder. Before he commits another crime the police officer sets back to find his former convict. He traces him before killing children of a couple who are seen taking breakfast (Schoelen). Similarities in the Literature According to the excerpts of the story analyzed above, a central theme of murder is evident in all the stories. Murder stories are present in “Season of migration to the north”. Mustafa’s life is seen in war both at his naïve home Sudan and while in Europe. The cases of murder force him to come home. The “colonel” also comprises various murder stories. The colonel an army officer experiences tough times as he watches his children die in different circumstances. He also murders his wife. All these scenes create tension in the books and the films. “Psycho” another horror thriller is engulfed by murder as the central theme. A strange serial killer who murders children and stoke their baby sitters surrounds “When a stranger calls”. Another similarity amongst these stories is the tension that exists created by rain. All the authors use rain to create horrifying conditions in their stories. The rain and thunderstorm contributes in cultivating horror in the stories. Western culture is present in all the stories. The stories also linger around sexuality, which leads to crime. Season of migration to the North expresses several sexual acts within its story line. The same theme repeats itself in Psycho where jealousy results to murder of Marion due to Norman expressing his sexuality. The Colonel kills his wife because the wife is adulterous. All these stories of sexuality result to death of one or more character within he stories. Works Cited Dowlatabadi, Mahmoud. The Colonel. Paddyfield: Haus Publishing, 2011. Jaw. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Peter Benchley. 1975. Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Vera Miles, John Gavin Anthony Perkins. 1960. Salih, Tayeb. Season of Migration to the North. New York: Penguin, 2003. When a Stranger Calls . Dir. Fred Walton. Perf. Jill Schoelen. 1979. Read More