Of Mice and Men
(1992)
Watch the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I
7pyXEfRArE
Novel to film
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Of Mice and Men was written in 1937 by John
Steinbeck.
We are going to be watching the 1992 film
version of the book.
Gary Sinise helped with production, was the
director, as well as plays the character of
“George” in the film.
Screenplay by Horton Foote.
“Lennie” is played by John Malkovich
Running time: 110 minutes
Novels vs. Films
Novel
Film
Linguistic = words
Visual = images
Relies on the reader’s ability to
conceive what is being presented
through words that conjure up
ideas in the reader’s imagination.
Perceptual medium that relies on
the presentation of images to the
viewer that are perceived and
understood once they are visible
on screen.
Raw material: written words
Raw material: recorded images
and sounds
One author
collaborative
AFI – “A Novel Look at Film”
The People behind the production
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Producer – the person or group responsible for financing a film
and managing the production from start to finish.
Director – the individual primarily responsible for overseeing the
shooting and assembly of a film. He or she is most directly
responsible for a picture’s final appearance.
Screenwriter – although John Steinbeck created a play based on
his own novel, he did not write the screenplay. Screenwriter
Horton Foote combined elements from both Steinbeck’s novel
and play into a single screenplay or shooting script.
Production designer – the first artist to translate the script into
visual form (before the film is shot). He or she creates a series of
storyboards.
Art director – responsible for the film’s settings: the buildings,
landscapes and interiors that provide the physical context for the
characters.
AFI – “A Novel Look at Film”
The People behind the production
cont.
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Costume designer – costumes convey a great deal about the
film’s time period and the characters who wear them, their
economic status, occupation and attitude towards themselves.
Cinematographer – chooses the lighting, film stock and carefully
manipulates the camera. They are an expert in photographic
processes, lighting and the camera's technical capabilities.
Editor – organizes the footage and arranges individual shots into
one continuous sequence. Even in a single scene, dozens of
different shots have to be chosen and assembled from hundreds
of feet of film.
Actors – for the audience, actors are the most visible and tangible
part of the production.
Music – music and sound effects became essential tools for
enhancing a film’s visual qualities.
AFI – “A Novel Look at Film”
Anticipation Questions
Rate your answers on a scale of 1 (agree strongly) to 5 (disagree
strongly).
QUESTION
•
You don’t need money to be happy
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Everyone needs a piece of land to care for.
•
When you have a pet, you have a
responsibility to put him out of his misery if
he is old and sick.
•
It’s important to have someone to talk to –
even if he doesn’t really understand.
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“Mercy killings” are never justified.
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Feeling responsible for someone can be a
burden.
•
Of the many feelings that hurt – grief, anger,
resentment, jealousy, loneliness – loneliness
hurts the most.
YOUR ANSWER
ANSWER FROM THE
MOVIE
Background to Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
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John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in
1902.
His most famous books were written in the 1930s
and 1940s, and are set in California. They deal with
the lives and problems of working people.
Many of the characters in his books are immigrants
from Mexico or from other parts of the United States
who went to California looking for work or a better
life.
John Steinbeck 1902 - 1968
The Setting of Of Mice and Men
 Of Mice and Men is set in the farmland of the
Salinas valley, where John Steinbeck was born and
which he knew all his life.
 Steinbeck's father owned land in the area, and as a
young man Steinbeck had worked as a farm hand.
 The ranch in the story is near Soledad, which is
south-east of Salinas on the Salinas river. Weed is
nearby.
 The countryside described at the beginning of the
book, and the ranch itself, would have been very
familiar to John Steinbeck.
http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresources/workunits/ks4/f
iction/ofmicemen/llshort/factsheet.html
Map showing California south of San Francisco
Migrant Farm Workers
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By the time that Of Mice and Men was published almost half of America's
grain was harvested by huge combine harvesters.
Five men could do what would have taken 350 men a few years earlier.
George and Lennie are some of the last of the migrant farm workers.
Huge numbers of men traveled the countryside between the 1880s and the
early 1930s harvesting wheat.
They earned $2.50 or $3.00 a day, plus food and very basic
accommodation.
During the 1930s, when there was very bad unemployment in the United
States, agencies were set up under the New Deal to send farm workers to
where they were needed.
George and Lennie got their works cards from Murray and Ready's, one of
these agencies.
http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresourc
es/workunits/ks4/fiction/ofmicemen/lls
hort/factsheet.html
Farm workers getting work cards under a Government Scheme
Migrant farm workers cont.
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Added to the man-made financial problems were natural
ones. A series of droughts in southern mid-western states
like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas led to failed harvests and
dried-up land.
 Farmers were forced to move off their land: they couldn't
repay the bank-loans which had helped buy the farms and
had to sell what they owned to pay their debts.
 Many economic migrants headed west to 'Golden'
California, thinking there would be land going spare, but the
Californians turned many back, fearing they would be overrun.
 The refuges had nowhere to go back to, so they set up
home in huge camps in the California valleys - living in
shacks of cardboard and old metal - and sought work as
casual farmhands.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_liter
ature/prosemicemen/0prose_mice_men_contrev4.sht
ml
Ranch hands
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Against this
background, ranch
hands like George
and Lennie were
lucky to have work.
Ranch hands were
grateful for at least
a bunk-house to
live in and to have
food provided, even
though the pay was
low.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_l
iterature/prosemicemen/0prose_mice_men_contrev
5.shtml
Mental Retardation
The term "mental retardation" is often misunderstood and seen as
derogatory. Some think that retardation is diagnosed only on the
basis of below-normal intelligence (IQ), and that persons with
mental retardation are unable to learn or to care for themselves.
Actually, in order to be diagnosed as a person with mental
retardation, the person has to have both significantly low IQ and
considerable problems in everyday functioning. Most children with
mental retardation can learn a great deal, and as adults can lead
at least partially independent lives. Most individuals with mental
retardation have only the mild level of mental retardation. Mental
retardation may be complicated by several different physical and
emotional problems. The child may also have difficulty with
hearing, sight or speech.
In the past, parents were often advised to institutionalize a child with
significant mental retardation. Today, the goal is to help the child
with mental retardation stay in the family and take part in
community life. In most states, the law guarantees them
educational and other services at public expense.
http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Children+Who
+Are+Mentally+Retarded&section=Facts+for+F
amilies
Themes
A theme is an idea that runs through a
text. A text may have one theme or
many. Understanding the themes makes
the text more than 'just' a text - it
becomes something more significant,
because we're encouraged to think more
deeply about the text, to work out what
lies beneath its surface.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literatur
e/prosemicemen/3prose_mice_men_themerev3.shtml
The American Dream
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From the 17th Century, when the first settlers arrived, immigrants
dreamed of a better life in America.
People went there to escape from persecution or poverty, and to make a
new life for themselves or their families.
They dreamed of making their fortunes in the goldfields. For many the
dream became a nightmare.
The horrors of slavery, of the American Civil War, the growth of towns
with slums as bad as those in Europe, and the corruption of the
American political system led to many shattered hopes.
For the American society as a whole the dream ended with the Wall
Street crash of 1929. This was the start of the Great Depression that
would affect the whole world during the 1930s.
However the dream survived for individuals. Thousands made their way
west to California to escape from their farmlands in the mid-West.
George and Lennie dreamt of their 'little house and a couple of acres'.
The growing popularity of cinema was the last American Dream for
many, Curley's wife was one: 'Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice
clothes.'
http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresourc
es/workunits/ks4/fiction/ofmicemen/lls
hort/factsheet.html
Loneliness, dreams and inequality
The three main themes in 'Of Mice and Men' foreshadowed by the reference to Burns'
mouse - are loneliness, dreams, and
inequality. Loneliness and dreams interlock:
people who are lonely have most need of
dreams to help them through.
Fill in the table, showing the loneliness, dreams
and inequality of each of the main characters.
Themes chart (fill in your handout)
Loneliness
Dreams (the
American dream,
broken dreams)
George
Lennie
Curley's
wife
Candy
Crooks
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literatur
e/prosemicemen/3prose_mice_men_themerev3.shtml
Inequality (racial
prejudice, sexual
discrimination)
The title
The title of the book comes from a poem by the 18th century Scottish poet
Robbie Burns. It is about a mouse which carefully builds a winter nest in a
wheat field, only for it to be destroyed by a ploughman. It is written in Scots
dialect.
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy!
(The best laid schemes of mice and men
Often go wrong
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
Instead of promised joy!)
The mouse had dreamed of a safe, warm winter and is now faced with the
harsh reality of cold, loneliness and possible death. There is a parallel here
with George and Lennie's joyful fantasy of a farm of their own, and its alltoo-predictable destruction at the end of the story. Perhaps the is also
meant to suggest to us how unpredictable our lives are, and how vulnerable
to tragedy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize
/english_literature/prosemicemen/3prose_
mice_men_themerev2.shtml
The author’s techniques
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Structure
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Called a “Play-novelette” form – Of Mice and Men was an attempt to write a
novel that could be played from the lines, or a play that could be read.
6 scenes
The novel begins and ends at the same location, giving it a cyclical form.
“Before this time, literature had usually reflected the lives of genteel people.
Now there emerged a new Realism – when an author shows ordinary,
everyday details, and makes characters speak and behave as they might in
real life.” (Literature Made Easy)
Time and place – 1030’s in California
Language
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Simple language
Lennie speaks in short, simply constructed sentences – childlike. Lennie
uses double negative “I ain’t got no people” (Literature Made Easy)
Use slang in their everyday speech.
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/prose/ofmiceandmen.htm
Steinbeck’s use of light
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Light is used to create atmosphere
The poor light inside the bunkhouse and Crooks’ room
reflect the miserable, drab lives of ranch hands.
On the first appearance of Curley’s wife, both George
and Lennie look up to see that the rectangle of
sunshine in the doorway was cut off.
Look for light or dark at these scenes:
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Just before Curley’s wife dies
As Curley’s wife dies
As Lennie’s captors look for him
Irony
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Irony is used as a device in language when the
opposite of what is really meant is said, or when
something turns out in the opposite way than intended.
An examples of irony is when Curley’s wife says of her
husband, “Swell guy, ain’t he?” What she actually
means is that he is not a swell guy at all, although she
appears to suggest that he is. (Literature Made Easy)
What does Crooks say about his room that is ironic?
Think of the time when Curley’s wife and Lennie
discuss their dreams in the barn, shortly before they
both die.
Foreshadowing & conflicts
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Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author drops
subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story. An
example of foreshadowing might be when a character displays a
gun or knife early in the story. Merely the appearance of a deadly
weapon, even though it is used for an innocuous purpose — such
as being cleaned or whittling wood — suggests terrible
consequences later on
List 2 examples of foreshadowing in this movie
Conflict – list the conflicts (characters involved in) that occur in
this film
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Person vs. self
Person vs. person
Person vs. society
Person vs. nature
Person vs. supernatural
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreshadowing
Metaphors
A metaphor is a description of a thing as if it were
something essentially different but also in some way
similar; for example, A silent head and a beak lanced
down (the heron’s beak is sharp and fast-moving, like
a lance). (Literature Made Easy)
With reference to the film, explain what each of these
metaphors mean.
 Candy’s dog
 Crippled characters
 Solitaire
 The dead mouse and the dead puppy