Teddi Driver
“Wow. That’s Original”
Repetition.
Literature is filled with repetition. The themes, plots, characters, underlying
historical allusions, etc. are the major aspect of repetition in literature. To
a trained eye these repetitive aspects may seem very obvious, but to those with
no literary backgrounds, it may not be evident unless otherwise stated.
One must attain knowledge of literature in order to
understand these references. Once we learn them we start to see patterns and
references in everything we read.
Nothing new is original. In the past 10 years almost every movie
that has come out is a recreation of a past story, which is also a recreation
or a spin-off of another story. No one creates anymore; they just alter and
steal. Some writers take bits and pieces of the story; some take the characters
or the whole plot entirely. However, no one creates new stories that don’t have
allusions to some older story.
A prime example of an adaptation of a well-known story is
that of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the story of Christ’s crucifixion. As
mentioned earlier, writers often shape their characters after those of
well-known literature. For example, the character of Aslan is shaped after
Jesus Christ. His character gives his own life to the white witch in return for
pardoning the Pevensie children’s deal with the white witch. This is an
allusion to Jesus giving his life for our sins.
Another example of an adaptation of a classic story turned
new is Twelfth Night by William
Shakespeare. In 2006, the movie She’s the
Man, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s story was released. Many didn’t realize that this classic story
was turned into what was thought of as a new storyline. Many of the characters’
names were kept the same as in the play. It is interesting to see that
self-proclaimed Shakespeare critics and those who claim to “not understand the
tough language” were able to understand and even praised the movie without any
knowledge that the story was a Shakespeare spin off.
The
newly popular superhero movie Thor is
derived from ancient Norwegian mythology. Although life has definitely changed
over the thousands of years this story has been passed down through, it hasn’t
lost its enticing thrill and ability to enthrall audiences. Stories like Thor
keep their excitement, and ability to keep the attention of their readers, and
now the action movie infatuated decade.
Nowadays we receive a history lesson every time we go to the
movies because of the classic storylines adapted into modern day scenarios.
However, the sad part is that if we have no current knowledge of the stories
and concepts put in our movies, we never would’ve known that these stories have
survived all of these centuries and are still relevant today.
Despite the wars, and separations/organizations of new
countries and civilizations, it is imperative that we are able to enjoy and
understand the allusions that are made in present media because time is likely
to repeat itself again and again. I believe that the more we know the backstory
and the history, the more we can enjoy these patterns in life. It draws us in
and connects us with people we never met, nor lived in the same century as,
with the repetition of words and feelings. We must know how issues and hardships
were faced in the past can teach us what to do and not to do in similar, or
even identical situations. We must first understand the past in order to
understand the future.
