Visual Text in Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley - Book Report/Review Example

Text is provides meanings. It ranges from the printed to oral, from the concrete to the and from the verbal and the non-verbal. However, a text coupled with images is a powerful tool in understanding and analyzing meaningful samples, patterns, and arguments. A plain text alone can provide forceful arguments similar to the visual text; but as previously mentioned, words and images can be combined to send a clear meaning. The famous literary piece of the African-American Walter Mosley entitled Devil in a Blue Dress had been made into a full-blown movie classic. Therefore, in relation to the model of picturing text, it is significant to take a closer look on one of the most socially relevant novels in the commonplace community which refreshed concerns on a lot of everyday issues such as racism, dominance, alienation, and unconstructive pride. These themes of Mosley’s story will be analyzed in-depth afterwards the attempt to evaluate both the apparent and hidden similarities and dissimilarities between the novel in black and white and the filmic version. The laid schemes for the two presentations of the narrative will be scrutinized in the light of their effectiveness in clearing up several of the issues mentioned earlier and their flaws in creating a clear image of the concerns chosen. Elements contributing to the manner of explanation by the two presentations will be examined such as the stereotypes, contextual keystones, nature of the composition, and the social milieu of the setting that has great effects on the fate of the characters. The verbal and visual methods in presenting arguments are both valuable mechanisms in depicting the constructed realities in a story. Nonetheless, there are essential distinct advantages and disadvantages in each of the two forms. Arguments that are given in a plain text form can transmit clarity and logic but rather tiresome; so, to support the soundness of an argument, verbal texts are usually combined with the visual form hence delivering an excellent viewpoint which is as much for the case of socially relevant novels turned into a motion picture. Devil in a Blue Dress was situated in the vibrant city of Los Angeles. The entire story revolved on the excess baggage brought upon by the conclusion of the World War II. Easy Rawlins, the leading role who was a former U.S. military soldier for five years during the World War II, was kicked out from his trade at an airplane manufacturing plant. He became really troubled after realizing that he has no job anymore to keep because as any other African-American residing in the United States before was financially distressed. Anxious to lose his home, Easy entered into a puzzling contract with a white man called DeWitt Albright. They met knowingly through the arrangement fixed by Easy’s long-time friend from Texas. In Chapter 3 of the book, Easy went to the office of Albright to get the full details of his new job. Even though Easy was scared and intimidated by Albright’s presence, he painfully ignored these negative thoughts for the sake of keeping his beloved house which has abundant fruit trees in the backyard. Before reaching his destination, Easy stumbled upon a white security guard that made him flinch for awhile but then led him to the basement where Albright’s office is located. The job that Albright demanded to Easy was a search mission for a woman named Daphne Monet who was allegedly a lover of someone important whom she had messed with; then Albright gave him a hundred dollars as an initial payment for an anticipated successful mission. After the strict conversation Easy left with a heavy heart due to the realization that dawned on him that the man he will be working for is an obvious cold-hearted assassin. Furthermore, the new mission of Easy, motivated by Albright, involved him to the messy nature of politics, murder, and deception. In the movie, the manner wherein the contract was built between Albright and Easy was portrayed in a straight-faced expression that deficiently showed the firmness of the character of Albright and the worried attitude of Easy which were animatedly described in the book; the scene was just a conventional face-to-face interaction which was lacking the underlying dangerous motives. Nevertheless, the scene was successful in creating an air of an looming danger that will utterly change the life of Easy. The scene wherein Easy was walking on the cobbled streets and shown seemingly lost in confusion whether he had made the right decision in accepting the offer was cinematic in effect because it proved that people who are in dire needs and who are protecting something so valuable will diffidently accept the peril of the unknown. In Chapter 3, the surreal descriptions of the characters of Easy and Albright were not impressively addressed in the movie. However, the gravity of the situation which was the bowing of Easy to an agreement similar to a devil’s contract was adequately given justice in the movie. On the other hand, the arguments embedded in the chapter and in the scenes were clear; race, social status and authority were the root of all evils. These issues will be detailed on the conclusive pages. In Chapter 6, Easy met Coretta, a petite and timid black woman, and Dupree, a big man machinist who was having a dinner date with Coretta in John’s place which was an illegal liquor store. Easy visited John’s place to ask secretly on the whereabouts of a white woman named Delia or Dahlia; yet, in the movie, Denzel Washington who played the part of Easy asked about a woman named “Dahlia” or “Delilah. The salient incident in the chapter was the seductive act employed by Coretta towards Easy; the black woman’s involvement to the central character that she intentionally provoked became a deadly move in her part. At first, Easy insultingly rejected Coretta’s vulgar efforts but then she revealed a knowledge that Easy found hard to refuse; she knew the hiding place of Daphne Monet; afterward, Easy finally succumbed to the black woman’s temptations. Similarly, the movie rendered Coretta in a symbolic red dress which may mean passion and desire which fittingly signified her deceptive character. Once again, Easy being a bit weak against worldly objects trapped himself with an ungodly offer roused by Coretta; they aggressively consummated their sensual urges. After the steamy night, Easy went home just to be stirred up by a call from Albright; Easy then disclosed to Albright about his newfound knowledge regarding Daphne’s hiding place. In the book, Albright after hearing the progress of Easy’s mission, commanded him to go to the Santa Monica pier which was a community of white people; the location of their meeting place differed in the movie which pointed to the Malibu pier and not Santa Monica. Moreover, the confrontation among Easy, Albright, and the racist youths in the pier was presented differently in the book and in the movie. In the book, Albright seeing Easy being bullied by the white boys approached the scene to the rescue of Easy; he violently drove the white youngsters away by threatening them and shooting their testicles. Before Albright allowed the kids go, he commanded the leader of the boys named Herman to get down on his knees and say sorry. Whereas in the movie, Albright just simply cursed, throw explicative, and pounded against the young punks. To stop the fuss, Easy butted in and delivered the important information to Albright. However, even though there were divergences from the chapter in the book and the scene in the movie, the elevating danger of the enterprise Easy mistakenly got into was strengthened by combining both the texts and the images; also, through these teamwork the wicked complexities of the detective case that Easy was employed into were lifted to an approaching conspiratorial revelations hence making the story plot twisted and electrifying. The climax of the story began in chapter 28 and 29 of the book which were the moment of revelation for Easy unveiled by Daphne and of brutal confrontation between Easy’s part and Albright’s men. In these events, the book and the movie significantly deviated from each other. The manner of the capture of Daphne by Albright and his men and the responsive rescue attempts done by Easy and Mouse who was Easy’s best buddy differed noticeably between the verbal and the visual in narration. In the book, Daphne and Easy were attacked by Albright and his men in a cottage and both were abducted though in the movie Daphne was the only one kidnapped while Easy was restrained and lost consciousness. Subsequently, the rescue mission that Easy and Mouse courageously carried out were illustrated much in disparity between the two narrative versions. Nonetheless, the climax of the written story was further given much intensity by stimulating the readers’ imagination on the unfolding of the events via sustaining it through moving images. Furthermore, another observable difference between the book and the movie’s plot was the reason for the sudden disappearance of Daphne Monet. In the book, it was revealed that she was frequently harassed by the men of Matthew Teran, who was named Matthew Terrell in the movie, because of his frustration towards Daphne’s fiancé Todd Carter who was the incumbent mayor; Carter refused to blessed Teran’s mayoral candidacy which made the latter furious Conversely, the movie revealed that Daphne escaped from Carter’s protection due to her blood-tied relationship with Frank Green who was a black man; Daphne was not a white woman but a half-creole from New Orleans. This racial fact she assumed will endanger the impending triumphant appointment of Carter who was a white man to the mayoral seat, so she sadly chose to run away pocketing a substantial amount from Carter’s wealth. Nevertheless, these dissimilarities between the printed novel and filmic version did not misconstrue the reality that the aftermath of the World War II ushered more difficult problems of racism, broadening social status disparities, alienation, and egotistical pride. Devil in a blue dress relevantly explored on the idea of racial conflicts caused remarkably by incompatible cultural histories between the white and the black community. Even though there were historical records of African-American men and women who enlisted in the American Army and Navy during World War II, discrimination and segregation thrown against the black people was epidemic (Grenville 295). The character of Easy in the story depicted the sad truth that African-Americans were in a great disadvantage because of their color. In the movie, he powerfully expressed his grievances by proclaiming that even if a black person works hard he will still be positioned at the bottom because white men were the only chosen people for a courteous treatment. In the year 1929, the American stock market collapsed causing extreme poverty for people living in both the urban and rural areas. Yet, the heaviest blow of this catastrophic economic depression in America was hurled towards the already hopeless and destitute situation of African-Americans (Perry 686). But even though Easy was well-aware of the hard reality that was given to their color, he preserved the pureness and righteousness of his heart and mind. Comparably, the thematic issue of dominance in the story was evidently the consequence of racial discrimination which can be traced back from Africa’s long history of servitude to the wealthy white landowners. Advocates of slavery strongly believed that individuals from Africa were destined to bondage and do not possess a privileged birthright. For them, these colored people were only valuable for their culpability and were naturally deprived of rationality. This disheartening human endeavor created a deep rift along races and became embedded in the colonial American culture which sadly persisted in the technological period (Perry 425). In the story, Albright cautiously assigned the detective assignment to Easy because he had a conscious purpose of exacting his authority over the black man whom he thought was inferior to him. The relationship between Albright and Easy was a resembling picture of slavery in which the black man accepted the mission for the sole purpose of obtaining money while the white man took advantage of the impoverished situation of the former; a clear manifestation of a master-and-slave relationship. By accepting the offer, Easy subjected himself to alienation in which he was not able to confirm his true self-identity because of the incompletely disclosed assigned mission to him. Also, the motives of the two were in direct contrast because Easy was chiefly concerned in maintaining his much-loved home while Albright ordered the assignment to take possession of a huge amount of money that will certainly buy his materialistic wants. Moreover, Mouse voiced that both Easy and Daphne were actors playing by the white men’s rules. This noteworthy passage that Mouse articulated pointed to the reality that African-Americans were merely puppets of the white puppeteers, nothing more and nothing less. Nonetheless, the central character’s good nature was never changed by the dirty politics, selfish motives, and narcissistic spirit of the white people. Walter Mosley, being an African-American himself represented his perspective about the black people’s situation in America. He movingly placed a jobless war veteran at the center of his novel to imprint on the readers’ thoughts that African-Americans have always been on the losing bargain of a trade that was supposed to be impartial. The setting was in Los Angeles in the year 1948 which was a period still characterized by large tracts of farmlands located at the border of Los Angeles and Santa Monica. These huge acreages were tilled by immigrants such as the Japanese who grew delicious crops alongside of the road. Mosley not only delineated racial prejudice towards the African-Americans but also to the non-American immigrants alike. The extent of racial tensions embedded in the American nation was badly deepened by the repercussions of the World War II. Easy Rawlins experienced his very first encounter of the elusive innate human equality across color lines by wearing the uniform and bleeding just like anyone else during his involvement in the infantry wars in Europe. Furthermore, Mosley defined the black standpoint on the activities of chronic corruption that pestered the streets and domains of power. On the other hand, the manner of explanation employed by the verbal and visual forms was expectedly divergent. The written version delved encouragingly on the off-putting stereotypes or stigmas in a society which in actuality was a melting pot of diverse races. It used rich symbols such as Easy’s cozy house which was his only pride to illustrate that people like him were contented and satisfied despite their heartbreaking situation; and the blue dress which Daphne wore at the pinnacle of the story to prove that a half-creole woman like her deserves peace and serenity. The approach that Mosley followed in rendering his master work was skillful since he introduced a variety of characters in the novel to further establish his point that humanity’s predicaments regarding race, equality, and compassion are unsolvable if there are only a few individuals acting upon it. Mosley wants to suggest to the readers that these societal legacies from humanity’s long history will eventually reached its rightful destination through the necessary completion of the thematic issues explicated in the novel; it is akin to the chaos theory which states that there will always be “order out of all the disorders”. Alternatively, the movie which was directed by Carl Franklin provided the Mosley readers an opportunity to witness the unveiling of the exhilarating events in the novel through utilizing mixtures of suspense, comedy, and eroticism. The motion picture, despite its substantial deviation from the book was prizewinning in its revival of the past through entertainment and its preservation of the original plot of the novel which was the relevance of social history in our search for self-identity. Works Cited Books Bluestone, Barry. The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books, 1982. Grenville, J.A.S. A History of the World in the 20th Century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000. Mosley, Walter. The Devil In A Blue Dress. London: W.W. Norton & Company, Ltd., 1990. Perry, Marvin. A History of the World. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988. Schaefer, Richard T. Sociology. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1995. Websites Turan, Kenneth. Devil in a Blue Dress. 29 Sept. 1995 http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie960406-103,0,7981406.story Fox, Judith. Devil in a Blue Dress. 30 Jul. 2002 http://thecelebritycafe.com/movies/full_review/47.html Book Rags. Devil in a Blue Dress. http://www.bookrags.com/Devil_in_a_Blue_Dress Maslin, Janet. Film Review: A Black Gumshoe Who’s Also Noir. 29 Sept. 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DD1230F93AA1575AC0A963958260&scp=1&sq=devil+in+a+blue+dress&st=nyt Mitgang, Herbert. New Black Detective and a Familiar Navajo One. 15 Aug. 1990 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DC133BF936A2575BC0A966958260&scp=9&sq=devil+in+a+blue+dress&st=nyt Read More