I liked Cunningham's idea behind the movie and the story, its placement in that timeline is kind of unique in a way for contemporary writers and the characters are different from the conventional characters in modern literature but i really don't like the love triangles. I find them not really confusing, but it jumbles the reader's mind and makes them wonder what is going on. This may be a good technique to keep the reader interested but im not really into that kind of thing. I think there should be more meaning to it than a relationship that obviously leads to Claire leaving them and the other guy dying. The relationship seemed, to put it simply, stupid as in we all knew what would happen and it didn't really do anything for me.
"A Home at the End of the World," is entirely different from "The Hours". Cunningham looks at a two different perspectives of homosexuality in both of these novels. In "The Hours," as a result of the time period being gay or lesbian wasn't exactly accepted. However, in the time period of "A Home at the End of the World," homosexuality was openly accepted by society, which allowed the characters to develop in completely different way. The approach that Cunningham took in "The Hours," was one that suggested those who were secretly unhappy found happiness in sexual relationships with those of the same gender, or something along those lines. The two main male characters in "A Home at the End of the World," were very open with their sexual orientation and experienced life in a different way. Overall both movies had a great perspective on homosexuality in different time periods. I think that reading "A Home at the End of the World," would really help to understand Cunningham's writing a lot better.
By Alicia Green The Film was very interesting... between the homosexual and free thoughts in the film. Cunningham seems to show an obsession with his characters having the same sex interest. The ironic thing I noticed in the film is when Bobby and Claire talks he discusses that he is scared t be alone and at the end Clarie and the baby leaves and Jonathan dies of aids so basically at the end of the film Bobby is left alone on his own.
Alright, so here's the deal: the movie was "wild" (for lack of a better term). I assume that Michael Cunningham has had some minage-a-toi issues in his life because he's used the scenario in both The Hours and A Home at the End of The World. The film touched bases on several key subjects or motifs that seem to be the essence of Michael Cunningham. Besides the threes, gay love and finding yourself through the turmoil of the world. Though there were points in the movie that were completely un-human to me, I thought that the characters were their own little universes themselves. I just don't see how people can be like that together, nothing was really solid. I couldn't be in a relationship like that, especially raising a child (which now leads me to understand why she left.) When they were kids and “exploring their sexuality”, I thought that was a great aspect because they both seemed like sort of misfit kids, who needed some way to…survive. I liked it.
i personally enjoyed the film, A Home at the End of the World. It was both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. It was predictable in that it had a motif: death. However the love triangle within the film created suspense, and kept me interested in what was going to happen next. I also like how Michael Cunningham represents his sexuality in the film by showing the intimacy between the two guys.
"A Home at the End of the World" and "The Hours" seemed extremely similar. The Johnny-Bobby-Claire love triangle in the former was much like the triangle between Richard, Clarissa, and Louis in the latter. They both deal with the complications that arise from such an unusual arrangement--the desire to be loved, the inevitable jealousy, the sexually transmitted diseases. I found "A Home at the End of the World" to be filmed in much the same mood as "The Hours." It was very brooding, moody, and seemed to end unexpectedly, leaving the future unpredictable. At times "A Home at the End of the World" was too sentimental. Bobby's brother's death was a tragedy, but the rapid succession of deaths that follow--Bobby's mother, Bobby's father, Jonathan's father--lessen the impact of these events, making death seem insignificant or trivial. The film was beautiful and poignant, but indulged too much in coincidental tragedies and moping.
Cunningham has very creative and developed stories focused on his characters. This film was, besides VERY ADULT, another perfect example of Cunningham's trademark storytelling.
My problem with his style is that, although he ends up with a good point, the rest of the general plot and characters can be a bit distracting. It's almost as if there's a loss of focus. That's somewhat confusing.
For example, in The Hours, Cunningham tried to draw a parallel between three different characters (each living in a different time period). He also seems to be writing about issues to which most audiences can relate, including social issues such as HIV, etc. His main characters are abnormal, which not only affects how the audience can relate to them, but also pulls what seems to be Cunningham's ultimate message out of focus.
In A Home at the End of the World, Cunningham crafts the atypical story of a love triangle, in which two of the partners grew up together years ago. Providing no backstory, whether intentional or unintentional, for the third main character, Cunningham writes in depth about the other two friends as teenagers. He goes even further when he tells the story of Bobby as a nine-year-old, creating a sort of prequel within a prequel. However, the story does not seem to focus on Bobby throughout the rest of the story, which, I find, is confusing.
There is one part to Cunningham’s writing that makes it feel more real once you’ve gotten over the hard-to-relate story itself: his stories can cover (presumably) the most significant moments in his characters’ life. This gives you the sense that you understand the characters as people, however odd they may be, and anything but stock characters (even if, like Virginia Wolfe, they are actually people). By writing in this way, you can track the characters’ lives to a certain extent. Instead of trying to pull away an obvious message, like other stories might offer at the resolution, Cunningham’s stories allow you to think more like the character- This progression of events could happen in real life. This is a bit hard to explain, but it really has to do with how his atypical characters have a certain realistic quality to them: as in our own lives, we do not have massive climaxes and clashes of good and evil.
HOWEVER, this is somewhat undermined by at the end of his stories. If I remember correctly, this is the second Cunningham story, of the two I’ve heard, that seems to trail off. Maybe by doing that, Cunningham makes a point that life goes on long after the story has to end, but I’m not sure if that works with entertainment…
I really enjoyed this movie and I liked how the movie and the book "The Hours" had this love triangle. There's these elements of feeling lost and wanting to be loved or loving someone else. I don't really like the end I felt it ended to quickly but other then that I liked the movie
I liked Cunningham's idea behind the movie and the story, its placement in that timeline is kind of unique in a way for contemporary writers and the characters are different from the conventional characters in modern literature but i really don't like the love triangles. I find them not really confusing, but it jumbles the reader's mind and makes them wonder what is going on. This may be a good technique to keep the reader interested but im not really into that kind of thing. I think there should be more meaning to it than a relationship that obviously leads to Claire leaving them and the other guy dying. The relationship seemed, to put it simply, stupid as in we all knew what would happen and it didn't really do anything for me.
ReplyDelete"A Home at the End of the World," is entirely different from "The Hours". Cunningham looks at a two different perspectives of homosexuality in both of these novels. In "The Hours," as a result of the time period being gay or lesbian wasn't exactly accepted. However, in the time period of "A Home at the End of the World," homosexuality was openly accepted by society, which allowed the characters to develop in completely different way. The approach that Cunningham took in "The Hours," was one that suggested those who were secretly unhappy found happiness in sexual relationships with those of the same gender, or something along those lines. The two main male characters in "A Home at the End of the World," were very open with their sexual orientation and experienced life in a different way. Overall both movies had a great perspective on homosexuality in different time periods. I think that reading "A Home at the End of the World," would really help to understand Cunningham's writing a lot better.
ReplyDeleteBy Alicia Green
ReplyDeleteThe Film was very interesting... between the homosexual and free thoughts in the film. Cunningham seems to show an obsession with his characters having the same sex interest. The ironic thing I noticed in the film is when Bobby and Claire talks he discusses that he is scared t be alone and at the end Clarie and the baby leaves and Jonathan dies of aids so basically at the end of the film Bobby is left alone on his own.
Alright, so here's the deal: the movie was "wild" (for lack of a better term). I assume that Michael Cunningham has had some minage-a-toi issues in his life because he's used the scenario in both The Hours and A Home at the End of The World. The film touched bases on several key subjects or motifs that seem to be the essence of Michael Cunningham. Besides the threes, gay love and finding yourself through the turmoil of the world.
ReplyDeleteThough there were points in the movie that were completely un-human to me, I thought that the characters were their own little universes themselves. I just don't see how people can be like that together, nothing was really solid. I couldn't be in a relationship like that, especially raising a child (which now leads me to understand why she left.) When they were kids and “exploring their sexuality”, I thought that was a great aspect because they both seemed like sort of misfit kids, who needed some way to…survive. I liked it.
- Love, Savannah Goole.
i personally enjoyed the film, A Home at the End of the World. It was both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. It was predictable in that it had a motif: death. However the love triangle within the film created suspense, and kept me interested in what was going to happen next. I also like how Michael Cunningham represents his sexuality in the film by showing the intimacy between the two guys.
ReplyDelete"A Home at the End of the World" and "The Hours" seemed extremely similar. The Johnny-Bobby-Claire love triangle in the former was much like the triangle between Richard, Clarissa, and Louis in the latter. They both deal with the complications that arise from such an unusual arrangement--the desire to be loved, the inevitable jealousy, the sexually transmitted diseases. I found "A Home at the End of the World" to be filmed in much the same mood as "The Hours." It was very brooding, moody, and seemed to end unexpectedly, leaving the future unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteAt times "A Home at the End of the World" was too sentimental. Bobby's brother's death was a tragedy, but the rapid succession of deaths that follow--Bobby's mother, Bobby's father, Jonathan's father--lessen the impact of these events, making death seem insignificant or trivial. The film was beautiful and poignant, but indulged too much in coincidental tragedies and moping.
Cunningham has very creative and developed stories focused on his characters. This film was, besides VERY ADULT, another perfect example of Cunningham's trademark storytelling.
ReplyDeleteMy problem with his style is that, although he ends up with a good point, the rest of the general plot and characters can be a bit distracting. It's almost as if there's a loss of focus. That's somewhat confusing.
For example, in The Hours, Cunningham tried to draw a parallel between three different characters (each living in a different time period). He also seems to be writing about issues to which most audiences can relate, including social issues such as HIV, etc. His main characters are abnormal, which not only affects how the audience can relate to them, but also pulls what seems to be Cunningham's ultimate message out of focus.
In A Home at the End of the World, Cunningham crafts the atypical story of a love triangle, in which two of the partners grew up together years ago. Providing no backstory, whether intentional or unintentional, for the third main character, Cunningham writes in depth about the other two friends as teenagers. He goes even further when he tells the story of Bobby as a nine-year-old, creating a sort of prequel within a prequel. However, the story does not seem to focus on Bobby throughout the rest of the story, which, I find, is confusing.
There is one part to Cunningham’s writing that makes it feel more real once you’ve gotten over the hard-to-relate story itself: his stories can cover (presumably) the most significant moments in his characters’ life. This gives you the sense that you understand the characters as people, however odd they may be, and anything but stock characters (even if, like Virginia Wolfe, they are actually people). By writing in this way, you can track the characters’ lives to a certain extent. Instead of trying to pull away an obvious message, like other stories might offer at the resolution, Cunningham’s stories allow you to think more like the character- This progression of events could happen in real life. This is a bit hard to explain, but it really has to do with how his atypical characters have a certain realistic quality to them: as in our own lives, we do not have massive climaxes and clashes of good and evil.
HOWEVER, this is somewhat undermined by at the end of his stories. If I remember correctly, this is the second Cunningham story, of the two I’ve heard, that seems to trail off. Maybe by doing that, Cunningham makes a point that life goes on long after the story has to end, but I’m not sure if that works with entertainment…
I really enjoyed this movie and I liked how the movie and the book "The Hours" had this love triangle. There's these elements of feeling lost and wanting to be loved or loving someone else. I don't really like the end I felt it ended to quickly but other then that I liked the movie
ReplyDelete