I digress. What I really loved (you may have already guessed) about, “Adaptation,” is that it is one version of the countless routes this story could have taken. Kauffman himself acknowledges that there are many ways this could have gone—in the end he seems to take McKee’s advice and stick to tried and true methods—plot, climax, falling action, character arc...while my version does away with plot (potentially losing audience members). When I first watched “Adaptation” many years ago, the end lost me—it felt cheap. Having re-watched it, I appreciate it more because I see it was done with a lot of self-awareness. It is a beautiful form that this story took, but I think it would be so interesting to see response-screenplays (like the response poems we worked on in Intermediate poetry). I think Adaptation is nearly begging for it—Kauffman is asking for it—being so vocal about his struggle, it seemed like for him this story had to take a particular shape. What could it be in the hands of other writers? Kauffman didn’t write the story he set out to write, instead writing the story he had inside him. I think others should try with “The Orchid Thief” and make it a celebration of different viewpoints. Heck, if I have time, I might take a stab at it.   

After reading and watching everything, I now understand why Charlie took the path he did in terms of writing the movie. Like the director Jonze said, “there was not really a story there” (Zalewski), and so creating a screenplay of it while staying completely true to the book would have been nearly impossible. Although from Orlean’s original article, the descriptions of plant mutation as “’a great little hobby’” (Orlean) were a little more interesting to me because it reminded me of Dr. Rappaccini in “Rappaccini’s Daughter”. But still, I can appreciate the struggle Charlie went through as he was trying to stay true to the story while also staying true to his writing style, all while trying to create something original and not cliche – which I’m sure for any screenwriter is a balancing act in and of itself. 

            Taking this into consideration while watching Adaptation, I really focused on the details and meaning of the movie.  Something I loved right off the bat was the stream of consciousness monologue right in the beginning of the movie.  It was almost like being in the narrator’s head and what it was like to live in his brain and hear his thoughts, one after the other.  This approach  is one I have not seen in a movie before, though I have seen movies use monologues, I have not seen one (that I can remember) use this type of stream of consciousness.  This particular aspect of the movie seemed to be carried over from “Orchid Fever” as, when I first started reading, it seemed to be, not exactly a stream of consciousness, but a type of list as the reader is taken through Laroche’s physical appearance and background.  

            Something else I noticed while watching Adaptations was, toward the beginning, when Donald attempts to start writing and starts thinking about anything else.  For example, he says he is hungry and that he should get a snack, but he cannot get a snack until he starts writing in order to reward himself and so on.  Hearing him say this made me feel like I was looking in a mirror as this is something I always do when I cannot think of what to write or am trying to avoid an assignment.  My roommate and I both do this and usually come to an agreement on the weekends where we can go to Frederick Coffee Company but not until after all or nearly all of our homework is finished.  I also could relate to Donald as when he started writing and only got about a sentence finished, he said he needed a break.  I feel like this is something I also do often, especially when trying to do an assignment I have been avoiding.  Adaptations really shows how easy it is to get distracted by anything and everything when having writer’s block or (to relate it to my own life) avoiding an assignment.  

            Out of all of our material this week, I really loved the “FILM: The “I” Cure for Writer’s Block” article.  It was so interesting to read about why Charlie Kaufman chose to write the screenplay the way he did.  It seemed as if every choice was made to make a statement and, in turn, created a highly engaging movie about his own experience with writer’s block. I found this week’s literary approach to be interesting as well as it is one that is so different from the rest we have learned about!  Unlike the other theories, film theory seems to stand on its own a bit and therefore makes it all the more engaging.