a couple ideas

Howdy everyone, this is Drew, the Texan.

So, in trying to find a work to base my rewrite on, I’ve become quite stuck. I dilemma is not so very different from most everyone else in this class. So I started mentally scanning through all the books and movies I’ve ever read or watched for something that would work. My first realization is that I don’t read enough books or watch enough movies with deep meanings and class conflict. Unfortunately, this only makes the process harder. I did eventually stumble upon a few possibilities.

The Last Samurai

A movie about a civil war soldier going to Japan during its reform period to help tame the samurai. Eventually, he comes to understand and appreciate their culture, and even becomes one of them, which is great. But the movie ends with one last glorious charge in which everyone except the white guy dies in a hail of bullets. To me, this seems pretty worthless. Why is it that only he survives. Furthermore, why do all the samurai, who came up with cunning plans to devastate the vast amount of foot soldiers, suddenly draw a blank in tactics for fighting stationary guns? Pretty dumb, if you ask me. Plus, what is the point of the movies ending, in the Emperor coming to grips with his nation’s roots, if everyone who lived that realization is now dead? No, a new ending seems in order.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Unfortunately, I have not finished this book yet, so there’d be some pretty serious extra reading. Fantastic. However, from what I remember of this book, a Martian comes to Earth, where everyone tries to gain control of him, as they want his territory. At the point where I left off, he had begun to understand Earth’s culture, and was trying to keep himself sovereign from them. I’m thinking either I could read the rest of the book and find out how it ends (obvious), or I could simply write the ending from where I am to make sure that it ends right (i.e., the Martian keeps his world). This one is a bit more of a work in progress…

Animal House

This is more of a reach. This is more of an American movie, so perhaps not too many of you have seen it. The premise is that a Fraternity House at an American University is on probation for being too rowdy. They keep on with their antics, and are eventually disbanded, at which point they strike out at “the man”. My idea was to take a colonial look at the story. The frat house is sort of like a group of modern day “uncivilized people”. The school administration could be seen as the colonizers, trying to civilize and culture the students. I would want to rewrite the story so that the students keep their personalities, while still finishing school instead of all ultimately getting kicked out of university. Like a said, a reach.