"Must we always kill the people?"
"Oh, certainly. It's best. Some authorities think different, but mostly it's considered best to kill them - except some that you bring to the cave here, and keep them till they're ransomed."
"Ransomed? What's that?"
"I don't know. But that's what they do. I've seen it in books; and so of course that's what we've got to do."
"But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?"
"Why, blame it all, we've GOT to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?"
These are easily my favorite lines from the book so far. Tom has no idea what Random is, but he assumes it is the thing they have to do because it is what he has read in the books. They can be taken in many ways, and likely have more than just one meaning, but it seems to me that Twain is poking fun at the idea of "the way things are supposed to be done" and the idea that books, perhaps especially old books, contain the "right" way to go about things.
I think this fits the over all theme of the novel, as Twain put it "...a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat". Clearly Twain had objections to the "conscience" of the day. A code that supposedly told right from wrong yet allowed and defended slavery.
While it may be a bit off-topic from the direct context of the quote, it got me thinking about books and their place in society. Books can teach us a lot about the time, places, and the attitudes of those who wrote them and their culture. Surely, because there are so many books, they contain many different opinions, what may actually be a better representation of a society is its movies. Because of the investment necessary in making a movie, they usually must be engineered to appeal to the largest possible audience and therefore turn the most profit. In choosing what is, or what seems desirable to the mass populace, light is shed on what a culture values and what it objects to.
In the case of Huckleberry Finn, 23 major productions have been made with him as a main character. (List) These range from as early as 1917, with at least one every 10 years or so after that.
The 1920 film, which was silent, was quite faithful to Twain's story, they even cast George H. Reed as Jim, who was actually black, in a time when black-face was still acceptable in film. The film Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was ironically anti-slavery, used all white actors in black-face for the black parts. George H. Reed Blackface in film
The 1920 film, which was silent, was quite faithful to Twain's story, they even cast George H. Reed as Jim, who was actually black, in a time when black-face was still acceptable in film. The film Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was ironically anti-slavery, used all white actors in black-face for the black parts. George H. Reed Blackface in film
This video, which was shown in class Daily Show - Huck Finn (comment around 4:15) pointed out that in the 1954/55 production they completely removed Jim as a character. Its hard to imagine that what may be the central point of the book was removed because it made people uncomfortable, but that was largely what happened.
Another strange and interesting Huck Finn adaptation, bizarrely, comes from The USSR in 1973, called Hopelessly Lost, or more accurately, Совсем пропащий. Link
Similar to "Osterns" (Wild-West style films made in the USSR) it was packed with propaganda. These Soviet films based in historic America "includes a disdain for the business class, organised religion and Christianity and the idea of the "American Dream" and its related ethic." Link The past faults of the United States, especially slavery, could be used as ideological weapons against the US during the Cold War.
However, Hopelessly Lost was not just a stab at America, it was an adventure/comedy that was popular in the USSR, which speaks to Twain's genius as an author. His story is enjoyable even by those with little context in the setting as well as a different world-view and culture.
Movies can tell us a lot about a society, just as books - like Twain's, can tell us a lot about his time and surroundings, as well as the attitudes of those that inhabited them. I think that Twain would want us to challenge the ideas that are taken for granted and assumed in books, movies, and other media. I also think we should be aware of what entertainment says about the groups that produce it. Just as Twain's stories convey a strong message, examining the popular works of a time produces a strong message about the context in which it was made, whether the creators meant to or not.
However, Hopelessly Lost was not just a stab at America, it was an adventure/comedy that was popular in the USSR, which speaks to Twain's genius as an author. His story is enjoyable even by those with little context in the setting as well as a different world-view and culture.
Movies can tell us a lot about a society, just as books - like Twain's, can tell us a lot about his time and surroundings, as well as the attitudes of those that inhabited them. I think that Twain would want us to challenge the ideas that are taken for granted and assumed in books, movies, and other media. I also think we should be aware of what entertainment says about the groups that produce it. Just as Twain's stories convey a strong message, examining the popular works of a time produces a strong message about the context in which it was made, whether the creators meant to or not.
I agree that popular movies are a good judge of what values a society holds near and dear. And I was thinking of a possible parallel to make to the fact that you mentioned about Jim's part in Huckleberry Finn being altered or removed in order to appeal to a wider audience. The issue was one of comfortability, so Jim may have been seen as a hindrance to the profit the movies might make. Is that why intense exploitation films like "Hostel" or "The Hills Have Eyes" are not as popular as films like "The Lego Movie" or "the hobbit"? I mean, those crazy slasher movies give me the fan-tods, but is it just the gore and rape that make these movies less monumental in the hearts of Americans everywhere? It very well might be those things that also make other people uncomfortable, which is completely reasonable. But now I am curious as to how well exploitation films do compared to brighter flicks, and how many gory and uncomfortable films make it into tops spots in the box office. Will research and report back within the week.
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about Uncle Tom's Cabin and the black face that they used for that film. I think that is something Twain was trying to show us in all of his novels, in that he was showing how society believes they accept individuals but they don't.
ReplyDeleteIt was also really interesting to hear of the different adaptations of the book into movies, something that I thought of right away is how the movies reflect society at the time. The use of black face and when they used an actual African-American actor.
"society believes they accept individuals but they don't." Thats a great point, and I agree Uncle Tom's Cabin is a good example, they made a movie condemning slavery but didn't feel comfortable using black actors. What I was sort of surprised to see was how it was not a direct progression of liberalization, one could almost argue that the 1920 version was more progressive than the one made 35 years later in 1955.
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