Hana Yori Dango, which translates to Boys Over Flowers, is something of an East Asian pop culture phenomena. It started as a manga which ran from 1992 to 2003 and spawned an anime, a Taiwanese drama (2001, called "Meteor Garden), a Japanese drama (2005), and finally a Korean drama(2009). Of the many interpretations I have seen the first episodes of both the Taiwanese and Japanese versions, the whole 25 hours of the Korean version, and read more than half of the manga (so about 6 years worth). I'm going to be considering the Korean drama and then manga, since I've seen more of them and more recently.
Now I have been a fan of the film A Walk to Remember since it came out in theaters in 2002, starring Mandy Moore and Shane West. I am a sucker for a good love story. I recently ran across the novel in my public library and took it home. Sometimes I pick up a book from the library and don't ever bother reading it, returning it when it is due back. But one night I couldn't sleep so I started reading A Walk to Remember, it was the closest book I could reach without getting out of bed. It's a pretty short read. It's one of those books where if you sat in your house and did nothing else for a day, you would be done by dinner time. I read it over a couple of days at radom times of boredom.
I have to say that I was not a fan of the novel. My sister thinks it is because I am attached to the film. This may be true. I usually do prefer to read a novel and then watch the film. It usually put the film in a better light for me. I can forgive certain inconsistencies because I can see the connections through the novel. Instead I found myself annoyed with the main character, Landon Carter, through the entire novel. He reminded me somewhat of the character Pip from Great Expectations in the sense that I kept expecting more from both characters but those moments never arrived. Don't get me started on the character of Jamie Sullivan who might as well have been an angel in disguise in this novel. The entire novel was just too sugary and had way more characters bursting into tears than I was comfortable with. I have to say that this has put me off reading another Nicholas Sparks novel for a while. But I started reading this novel with a lot of expectations and prejudices, so whatch the film and read the novel and form your own opinions.
*****Spoiler Alert*****
So as I was reading the novel I started jotting down the differences and similarities between the novel and the film. First one that hit me like a brick. The novel was written in 1999 but set in 1958. The film was made in 2002 and set in 1998. All of a sudden Jamie Sullivan goes from getting chemo therapy in the film, to there being nothing the doctors could do for her in 1958 but ease her pain with medication. The type of cancer is the same though. In both the novel and film she has an incurable form of Leukemia. I would show you my list of difference but it is kind of long and I doubt anyone would actually read it. I will give you the highlights instead.
The play that is put on in the film by the school and written by one of the students, in the novel, is actually written by Jamie Sullivans dad as an anti Christmas Carol story that the high school puts on every year. Jamie's dad created an anti Christmas Carol story because he didn't like that Scrooge spoke to ghosts. He thought ghosts where too morally ambiguous and that speaking to an angel sent a better message. He also didn't like how Scrooge was forgiven for all the wrong he did in one fell swoop. He believed redemption had to be earned and that's what the play is about. That and the play incorporates how much Jamie's father missed Jamie's mother. In my opinion the play is much more screwed up than I originally realized from watching the film. In the novel the kiss never happened in the play. Great job screen writers because that is one of my favorite scenes.
Obviously because this book was set in the fifties Landon's best friend is not that obnoxious black kid but I appreciate the introduction of other ethnicities in the film even if they are token. Landon may be a jerk in both the film and novel but in the novel he was applying to the University of North Carolina as opposed to not thinking about his education at all until he realizes that Jamie is dying. In the film this makes him want to be a doctor. In the novel Jamie actually tells Landon that he should become a pastor. At this moment I was like WHAT? Who do you think you are telling a seventeen year old boy that you would like it if he became a pastor. Pushy much? Low blow Jamie Sullivan. Low blow.
I should stop now but I've got so much more to say. Landon does the play in the novel as a favor to Jamie, she basically guilts him into it. That whole plot line in the film about the boy who really wanted to be a part of Landon's group of friends never happened in the novel. In the novel Landon asks Jamie to prom as a last resort because he can't find anyone else who hasn't got a date already. Landon's parents are still together in the novel. And also Landon is the one who hangs out in cemeteries not Jamie in the novel. Last but not least Jamie doesn't have that cute bucket list that made for great scenes in the film, in the novel. The one thing that defiantly stays the same though is that they get married at the age of 17 because it was her dying wish to get married by her father before she died, actually in the same church as her parent in the film but close enough. OK I'm done. Whew. Here's the film trailer
Music Tidbit: Only Hope, the song Jamie Sullivan sings in the play and everyone remembers from this movie is actually an original Switchfoot song that Mandy Moore did a cover of and put out a single.
For those who don’t know (which is probably most people) birchbox is company that, in addition to having an online store, sells a subscription to a monthly cosmetics sample kit, called a birchbox. This is pretty much all my hopes and dreams (samples! mail order! cosmetics!) so I’ve been wanting one forever. So I was beyond thrilled when one of my friends got me a subscription for my birthday.
SardonicQueen: In the 2008 movie The Women,
the vault is the metaphorical place where the women place their
secrets. Even in the movie their secrets don’t stay sealed in the
metaphorical “vault”.
TeaInACan: No secrets tend to coming flying out of the vault at light speed... as secrets tend to do in small groups of friends.
SardonicQueen: As time progressed after watching this movie we began to use the phrase “the vault” in the most in appropriate fashion.
TeaInACan:
And the most random. Just in casual conversation: “oh this goes in the
vault” or “put it in the vault.” Not because anything had to be secret;
just because it’s fun to say.
SardonicQueen:
Here is the place for our thoughts and “secrets”, for our musings about
the world, and most of all for the things that make us laugh. Like our
weird inside jokes.
TeaInACan: And the things we're passionate/ridiculously obsessed with: music, food, cosmetics, tv-shows, movies, and books.
TeaInACan is on the left. SardonicQueen is on the right. Mystery friend is in the middle.
Why the URL you and me and everything we like?
-Well there is a movie directed by Miranda July called Me and You and Everyone We Know. It is a supper cute movie from 2005 staring Miranda July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff, Natasha Slayton, Najarra Townsend, Carlie Westerman, and JoNell Kennedy. It tells the story of two people attempting to figure out their lives. Which is perfect for Teainacan and I since we just graduated from our undergraduate college and are forming the next stages in our lives.
The trailer for The Women (2008)
The trailer for Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
We solemnly swear to abuse phrases from movies. ;)
