Media studies coursework for John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

We are doing a study of the opening sequence on the novel “Of Mice and Men”, and the subsequent two films (1995 version, and the 1989 version) on the Novel. The author of the novel is John Ernst Steinbeck, who shares the exact same name as his father. His father was an observer of nature and the natural world, and taught the young Steinbeck to respect and to be a part of nature. This love of nature from his father is incorporated in Steinbeck’s opening sequence of the book, where he describes in great detail the opening beside the Salinas River, this causes a calm and tranquil feeling for the reader and draw him straight into the book. Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas in California and bases his book around both that area and in the time he was writing it, which was during the American depression in the 1930’s.

The opening sequence of the book is set a few miles south of Soldad, in the Salinas river. The Salinas river is a peace full and tranquil place with lots of vegetation and wildlife and gives a very slow and calm start to the book. Steinbeck indicates that it is a spring evening of a hot day, and judging by the two men’s clothes it is sometime in the early 1900’s but he does not indicate exactly what period in the early 1900’s they are in. We can tell they are in this period from the second paragraph when he mentions that there are “boys coming down from the ranches”. From this and the clothes they are wearing we can also tell that the two men (George and Lennie) are working class and are most likely looking for a job on the ranch near by. We can tell they are working class because before the 1940’s only poor people amd workers would wear that type of clothes, “denim trousers and denim coat”. This is because they are easy to work in, are not very hot clothes to wear, and also are very durable so they are ideal for workers. The upper class would never wear this type of clothing exactly because the workers wear it and it is not descent clothing for a respectable gentleman to be wearing.

The mood set in the book is very tranquil and quiet with great detail paid on the countryside and the animals in it. This is to try and give the reader an exact picture of the scene. Some examples of this are; “the water is lined with trees-willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool”. Another example of this is “Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand-banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little grey, sculpture stones.”

In the first paragraph Steinbeck describes the noises and the imprints that have been left in the opening from the animals over many years, “On the sandy bank under the trees the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering noise as he runs through them”. And with “the damp flats are covered with the night tracks of ‘coons, and with the spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and with the split-wedged tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark ”.

The second paragraph describes how the pool is a popular place for many people and the path has been worn down by human use: “path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranch to swim in the deep pool”. The path is also popular with Tramps who want to “jungle-up near water”.

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The Characters involved in the opening sequence are called Lennie and George. Lennie seems to be rather dumb and not very observant by the fact that wen his partner (George) stopped right in front of him Lennie carried on walking and “nearly ran him over”. Lennie does not think of his own safety and needs George to guide him so he can say out of trouble and in good health. He proves this by drinking out of the filthy water from the pool witch is described as being green, witch shows it is not running water. He drank “with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse”. Lennie listens to George obediently like a little child, and follows his every command and movement. He again shows his child like behaviour and naivety when he moves his fingers in the water and makes little rings, he immediately shares his excitement with George as he wants him to look, because he is proud of what he has done; “look George look what I done” he calls to him. We also have the picture of Lennie not being very bright from his physical appearance and the way that he walks. Lennie is described to have a “shapeless face” witch show lack of emotions and thought witch in turn is linked his lack of intelligence. The way it he walks also show either tiredness or again lack of intelligence “dragging his feet a little” and the way his arms move like pendulums. Steinbeck relates how he walks he walks to a bear meaning, this because he is saying he is big and strong, or because he has very little intelligence and does not think at all or he might be relating the bear to both his strength and his intelligence.

George on the other hand is more intelligent than Lennie and seems to be the leader out of the two them. We get the idea that George is the leader by the fact that they are walking in single file and George is leading, this also gives us at first glance the impression that they might not be friends because usually friends walk next to each other not behind one another. We see a bit later on that this is not true and that George was probably just looking out for Lennie from the fact that he tries to stop Lennie drinking from the dirty pool “’Lennie!’ he said sharply. ‘Lennie for God’s sakes don’t drink so much” this shows that he cares for him and doesn’t want Lennie to get sick. George’s appearance is more defined than Lennie’s with “small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin bony nose.” He is also described as being quick, this could probably means that he is more intelligent but it could also mean that his movement is quick.

The genre of the novel is a real life drama. I have come to this conclusion because all the facts in opening sequence are all possible in real life, all the scenery is realistic the animals and the people are all realistic.

There are only a few clues to what the story will be like. The clues that we have are that the clearing that George and Lennie are in is near to a ranch because it says in the book that boys come down from it to swim in the pool. We also think that George and Lennie are workers from the cloths they are wearing, so it is perfectly feasible that they are two travelling men looking for work on a nearby ranch. If this is true it would also account for the theme of the book.

The 1995 film of “Of Mice and Men” opens with white credits on a black background and slow starting music. The music repeats itself over and over in a pattern while increasing in volume, this gives the effect that something dramatic or scary is going to happen and this makes the reader feel anticipation of what is going to happen next. After a while the music dies down and gives way to the sound effects of a train moving. The background also changes from totally black to black with white strips of light shining through, this gives the effect of a carriage door on a train. We are now sure that this scene is set on a moving train, but we still have no indication of where it is going or where it has come from. So far there is only a slight indication of the period of time we are in at this point of the film. This is the train because it is a steam train witch indicate to us that this is most likely before the 1970’s and after the 1880’s because this is around about the time that steam trains were used.

The first glimpse we get of any of the character is when the camera slowly fades into a close-up shot of George lit only from the tiny beams of light coming from the slits in the carriage door. George is not moving at all and his face seems contorted and morose, showing us that he is in deep thought about something bad that has happened in the past, we can also assume now that he is on the train because he is running away from whatever has happened.

The next scene strikes you very strongly because it is set in the middle of the day in a lush field witch looks like America. Running towards the camera there is a woman in a bright red dress with tears running down her eyes and obvious signs of distress on her face, her dress has also been ripped as though she has been attacked. This scene has been shot at a slower frame rate to indicate that it is actually George reliving previous events that have happened. The girl running towards the camera showing that she is running away from something, and towards safety. As the Woman runs closer to the camera the shot pans out across the field showing some men working in a field near by. As the women runs towards the men she starts waving and pointing to the direction she has just come from, The men drop their tools and run towards her. All this indicates that something very serious has happened to the Girl. The Men workings in the field have no machinery witch is also an indication of the period we are in.

There are three main atmospheres established in the opening sequence of this film these (in order of happening) are; anxiety, fear, and peacefulness. The anxiety is felt at the beginning when you hear the music getting louder and louder and the white on black background, and when you see George for the first time. The first time you feel fear is when you see the girl running through the field towards the workers with the tears running down her face and the rips in her dress. Then there is a small moment of heightened suspense when we see the two friends George and Lennie running away. We feel this way because the music has suddenly stopped and there is only the slight sound of their feet hitting the ground as they run. We go back to the emotion of utter fear and anxiety as we fear for the two men’s lives as they are running away from huge packs of dogs and a posy of men on horse back with guns. Suddenly everything goes quiet as George and Lennie hide in an irrigation ditch while they wait for the chasing posy to pass by. This jump for the loud roaring of feet, horse shoes, and loud barking from the dogs to the quiet gives a feeling of fear and anxiety but it also gives a sense of peace, as you can hear the wind rustling in the wind, the grasshoppers croaking in the distance, and the shallow breathing of the men in the water.

The sub characters in the video are workers on a ranch we can tell this from the clothes they are wearing and the fact that they are working on the field when we see them. We can also assume that the main characters George and Lennie are also workers because they were wearing the same clothes as the workers. George seems to be the leader out of the two as he keeps giving instructions to Lennie as they are running away from the workers such as “keep moving” and “get down”. He also says it in a reasonably friendly tone showing that he is looking after both himself and Lennie. He doesn’t not sound like he is just trying to save himself and he is stuck with Lennie. Lennie on the other hand doesn’t seem to be that worried because he doesn’t realise in what danger they are in. This is shown when Lennie stops running at one point and comments on the dogs that are chasing him. Lennie does not seem that clever either mainly because he doesn’t realise what danger he is in, he also seems to be dragging his feet and his speech seems impaired.

The clues we have to the story line of the film are the men working on the field, the clothes the men are wearing and their accents, and also the chase seen when George and Lennie are being chased. The story could be about two working men trying to find work while being chased by the law because of some crime they committed and that is why they were running away. This will also be the theme of the film if it is true.

The genre of the film so far looks like a western real life drama because of the accents of the men, the time in which this is set in and the fact that everything that has happened could happen in real life in that era.

The 1989 video at first glance just looks like another low budget spin of a great book and actually seems like it holds no information at first glance. But if you look at it again you see it does actually hold a lot of information just like the other film did even though the budget was obviously not as big and it was shot 6 years earlier. There is though a large area of the end of the sequence of this video, which is actually totally made up, this includes adding Aunt Clara to the story which in actual fact has died many years ago in the book and in the other film. I feel adding this character holds no relevance to the book and there is no meaning to add her. The 1995 video on the other hand even though the director had rearranged the order in which the scenes appear he did not add any other characters to the story line.

By the clothes George and Lennie, what appears to be the sheriff, and Aunt Clara are wearing, and also the style of housing you can tell they are in America in the early 1900’s. There is also Gospel music playing in the background when George and Lennie enter Aunt Clara’s house and there is also a gramophone in the room near the doorway.

The clues given as to what the story will be like is George and Lennie running away from the law, George helping Lennie get away and keeping him quiet when they are in the field by coping his hand over Lennie’s mouth. Other clues to what the story will be like is Aunt Clara’s house and herself, George and Lennie could be running away from the law for some reason and going to live with Aunt Clara to lay low for a bit. Another main clue to the story is the music witch is very much like the music in western films with cowboys and Indians this and the contrasting clothes that the pursuers are wearing makes us think this is going to be a western film. From all this we cam also say that the theme of this video will be that of a western with two men on the run from the law.

There is very little tension in this film and everything is taken very lightly and almost like a game. This is because the music is very happy with a jumpy rhythm and also a more cowboy style tune, the pursuers have no guns drawn and they seem to be in hurry to catch them and seem to give up very easily. George and Lennie also don’t seem to be in a great hurry to get away and there is no sense of fear in their face when we see the close-up shots, because of this it seems almost like they are playing a game in the fields with a couple of friends, like little kids do.

The Genre of this video seems to be a real life western drama. I have come to this conclusion because of everything that has happened could happen in real life and because the pursuers seem to be wearing western type clothes and because of the very strong western music.

This time both Lennie and George do no seem that bright both from their appearance and from the way they acted and behaved. Both of them look very scruffy instead of just Lennie and they both have this very deep western accent that is associated with intellectually challenged people. George even though his appearance and his voice is the definite leader out of the two, we are shown this when he tells Lennie what to do and when he cups his hand over Lennie’s mouth to keep him quiet. Another sign that George is the leader is that when they are in Aunt Clara’s house Lennie repeats every word they say.

In resent years we have seen the decline of book reading because there has been a vast increase in the standard of T.V quality. The person being entertained does not have to think any more, to picture the scene in his head and so doesn’t have to concentrate so hard. This is why many people just watch T.V these days instead of reading a book. They find it more relaxing, they are almost sleeping there mind and body are asleep this is also why you get addicted to the T.V because your body finds another way to replenish it energy without sleeping. T.V lowers your imagination though, and your concentration span because your brain doesn’t think while watching T.V but while it is reading a book it is constantly thinking and imagining possibilities of what the scene will look like and the characters. I honestly prefer after a had days work to sit in front of the television and just relax a bit. But if I am just bored and I want some entertainment I will open my book and read for couple of hours.

My preferred sequence is that of the books because it gives you an exact idea of the scenery and the people while also giving you room to imagine for yourself what they look like. I also enjoyed a lot the 1995 version because it brings a lot of tension and anxiety into the film witch is the opposite to what you feel in the book. This tension and anxiety raises your adrenaline and gives you a enjoyable and on the edge of you seat experience.