Memento by Christopher Nolan, Fly by David Cronenberg and A Streetcar Named Desire - Movie Review Example

The paper "Memento by Christopher Nolan, Fly by David Cronenberg and A Streetcar Named Desire" is a wonderful example of an assignment on visual arts and film studies. Memento is an American thriller movie which was directed by Christopher Nolan. This movie was based on Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan Nolan’s popular short story called Memento Mori. In the beginning, these two pieces are different as in the short story, Earl is the main character and he awakens in a mysterious institution.

On the other hand, the film presents Leonard is the main character and at the start, he is seen flashing back on the events which had occurred leading him to where he is at the moment. Earl’s lifestyles are different as Leonard’s lifestyle is depicted as being marked with luxurious living (Dir. Nola, Memento 2000). Another notable difference between the film and the story is that tattoo issue in that Earl had a tattoo of a man on his chest while Leonard did not have a tattoo but rather some writing across his chest.

In the same manner, the significance and details of the tattoo were also different in the films and story. In the film, clues about the tattoo are given while in the story about three tattoos have been given. Further to that, there is a difference between the two pieces based on the ending of the works. The story version shows Earl feels after killing a person he thought was the killer but wasn’t. Thus the story offers an important point in which the writer offers the audience numerous choices over what they would like to see occur.

According to Nolan (2001), Earl is desperate and his only mission is to find his wife’s killers at all cost. The story marks the better and more refined version as opposed to the movie adaptation of the same. The Fly short story by Katherine Mansfield was published in 1922 and includes a number of themes. The film version of Fly contains two different versions the 1958 and the 1968 adaptation. Both of the Fly versions revolve around two important facts, science fiction, and love. The combination of these two aspects makes the film enjoyable to watch from both the film and the short story perspectives.

In the story version, the Fly is told through the eyes of the boss who is also the protagonist of the story. In the film version, a genius scientist called Brundle has made immense breakthroughs in the teleportation phenomena (Dir. Cronenberg, 1986). Following this, the scientist decides to try his own theory on himself; an action that leads him to become a mutant made of half-human and half fly (Mansfield, 1922). Not many science fiction movies can be able to entail romantic relationships at the center of the theme story.

The romantic aspects of the film are brought out by a journalist named Davis who witnesses the whole experiments on the scientist that turn out horrible and unstoppable. The Fly presents conflicting aspects in relation to the movie’s plot and themes in both of the versions. However, the film version is much more inviting than the story one based on the complexities of the events and proper character exposure. In addition to that, most science fiction is usually based on big ideas and subsequent special effects that end up having poor coherence and character development, unlike this movie that embraces love and science fiction articulately.

David Cronenberg the director of the Fly film was able to convert simple ideas from the story and advances them through special effects that end up producing the ideal horrific climax marked with love. The movie and the written version of A Streetcar Named Desire contain numerous differences in the development of their themes, plot and character building. Initially, the film showcases Stanley as a good-looking man but as the film progresses, Stanley’s character transforms to the worst (Dir.

Kazan, Streetcar Named Desire film, 1951). One of the significant differences in the movie is the setting of A Streetcar Named Desire that would make its capture on the stage quite difficult. Here, the movie depicts the surrounding of the film and the story as being in an apartment, however, the written version further indicates the existence of the bowling alley in its context. In terms of the characters, Blanche and Stanley have both been showcased quite different in the two versions. In the movie version, Blanche has been seen to have an intense mental complexity in relation to the written version of A Streetcar Named Desire.

In an overall outlook, the two versions provide two different experiences to the reader and viewer. However, in this case, the book version provides more up-close information in relation to the movie. The main reason for this was the immense stage directions and details in the books that everything was portrayed as wanted by the author (Williams, 1947). In most case, the movie/films versions are simply screenplay adaptations of the books and can undergo both positive and negative changes brought out by the directors.

However, the books, in this case, offer the best insights and meaning towards the written works as opposed to the films which tend to lose meaning, characterization, and specificity as intended by the original author.