martes, 24 de mayo de 2011

Differences between the film and the book

Many people have precipitated to criticize the film made by 20th Century Fox of Gulliver’s Travels starring Jack Black. However, there are others who have loved this new version of the classical masterpiece published in the XVII century.

In one hand, we are going to take a look at the book and its style. It is a writing style which belongs to the time in which it appeared, and it includes smart, smooth and rogue characteristics.
On the other hand, we can say that the film is not a reflection of the book at all. It includes modern elements and characters of our times such as Luke Skywalker or the classic rock band Kiss. Those elements change completely the development of the plot.

Lemuel Gulliver vs. “Black” Gulliver

In matter of the analysis of the main character, the Lemuel Gulliver of the book is a naval surgeon who embarks in Bristol. The Lemuel Gulliver of the film is an employee who works in a newspaper office in New York. Those are two different social positions.
The first Lemuel is a mature man with economic stability and strength. He concerns about the greatest philosophic ideas and practices some kind of philanthropy. Besides, his reasons to board the ship are closely related to his job. The second Lemuel is a loser immature man who seems not to be interested in other person apart from himself. He is interested in the objects he collects and in a hazy romance with a colleague. The real motifs of his boarding are not completely clear, but it seems to be a touristic report.  
In both cases it is possible to enjoy the story of Gulliver and his travel though they are very different.


http://www.leergratis.com/clasicos/los-viajes-de-gulliver-%C2%BFel-libro-o-la-pelicula.html

lunes, 23 de mayo de 2011

Analysis of Gulliver´s Travels Film

Lemuel Gulliver is the boss of newcomer Dan in the mail room of a New York City newspaper, but soon, Dan is promoted to a boss. Deeply depressed at his dead-end job, Gulliver decides to talk to journalist Darcy Silverman. He convinces her he could write a report about his (false) extensive world "travels" saying his dream is to become a writer. After suffering writer's block, he plagiarises a report from other publications on the Internet. The next day, Darcy, impressed by his writing, presents Gulliver with a new task – to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and write an article confirming that the legend of ships mysteriously disappearing in the area being caused by extraterrestrials is not true.


Upon arrival in Bermuda, Gulliver rents a boat and travels into the triangle. After falling asleep at the helm of his ship, he's caught in a freak storm and the boat is overwhelmed by a waterspout. He washes up unconscious on the shore of Lilliput, where he is immediately confirmed as a "beast" by the town's tiny people. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave, citizens claiming him to be dangerous because of his huge size. Here, he meets another prisoner named Horatio who was jailed by General Edward because he likes Princess Mary of Lilliput, whereas Edward wants her for himself. After the island across from Lilliput, Blefuscu, infiltrates commandos to kidnap Princess Mary, Gulliver manages to break free of the plough-machine he is forced to work and then rescues the princess from being kidnapped. Gulliver also saves her father, King Benjamin from a fire by peeing on it.


Gulliver is declared a hero by Lilliput's citizens and makes up a deal of lies saying he is the President of the United States, says Yoda is his Vice-President and a living legend in his homeland. Edward, however, becomes enraged due to the luxurious accommodations that have been built for him, and even being presented as an honorary general of the Lilliputian Army complete with uniform. When the townspeople find Gulliver's boat and is things, Gulliver gets angry voice mail messages from Darcy, angrily saying she has to take his place and travel to Bermuda now, and also found out about his plagiarism and she no longer wishes to be friends with him. The next day, chaos ensues as the Blefuscian Navy lay siege on the city when Edward shuts down its defense system as an act of revenge for Gulliver's treatment. Gulliver defeats the armada, invulnerable to the cannonballs being fired at him (although he receives numerous welts on his stomach). Embarrassed once more, and with Mary no longer wanting to do anything with him, Edward defects to the Blefuscians and brings with him blueprints of a robot coming from one of Gulliver's sci-fi magazines. The Blefuscians secretly build the robot based on Gulliver's magazine, with Edward as the pilot.


The Blefuscians invade Liliput and the robot-wielding Edward makes Gulliver admit to the people that he is "just the guy from the mail-room" and nothing more. Edward banishes Gulliver on the shores of Brobdingnag ("the island where we dare not go"), where he is captured by Glumdalclitch, a giant girl who is to Gulliver as Gulliver is to the people of Lilliput, and forced to become her doll complete with wig and dress. Darcy is then imprisoned by the Lilliputians when she is lost in the Bermuda Triangle in the same manner as Gulliver. Horatio, who has gone to Brobdingnag after being spurned by Mary, reveals to Gulliver that Darcy is imprisoned. Gulliver narrowly escapes with him, using a parachute that he took from a dead U.S. Air Force pilot sitting in the dollhouse (a crashed F-104 Starfighter is seen in the girl's yard).

Once again accepting a duel from Edward, Gulliver ultimately defeats him with the assistance of Horatio, who disables the machine's electrocuting weapon. Horatio is hailed a hero and gets King Benjamin's permission to court the princess. Edward, reaching the point of insanity, threatens to kill the princess, but the princess, finally having enough of Edward, beats the traitor up in frustration. Gulliver then helps to make peace between the rival island-nations by reciting Edwin Starr's "War" and he, along with Darcy, return to New York on their repaired boat. It's revealed they later became a couple and successful fiction writers in New York, writing about their experiences on Lilliput.



Analysis of Gulliver´s Travels Book

Gulliver arrives to Lilliput


Lemuel Gulliver is a married surgeon from Nottinghamshire, England, who has a taste for traveling. He heads out on a fateful voyage to the South Seas when he gets caught in a storm and washed up on an island. This island, Lilliput, has a population of tiny people about 6 inches tall. They capture Gulliver as he sleeps and carry him to their capital city, where they keep him chained inside a large abandoned temple outside the city walls.

Gulliver becomes a great friend of the Emperor of Lilliput, who introduces Gulliver to many of their customs. For example, instead of staffing his cabinet with capable administrators, the Emperor chooses guys who perform best at a dangerous kind of rope dancing. The Emperor asks Gulliver to help him in his war against Blefuscu, a similarly tiny kingdom across a channel of water. Gulliver agrees and uses his huge size to capture all of Blefuscu's navy.

In spite of the great service that Gulliver has done for the Lilliputians, he has two terrible enemies, who seem to be jealous of his strength and favor with the Emperor: the admiral Skyresh Bolgolam and the treasurer Flimnap. These two men conspire to influence the Emperor to have Gulliver executed. They serve Gulliver with a series of Articles of Impeachment, with the final sentence that Gulliver is going to be blinded. (The ministers also decide, in secret, that they are going to starve Gulliver to save money on the enormous amount of food he eats.) Gulliver is informed of this plot against him by a friend at the Lilliputian court. He manages to escape to the island of Blefuscu. Fortunately for him, a human-sized boat washes ashore on Blefuscu. Gulliver rows to nearby Australia and finds a boat to take him back to England.


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