rillifinoros

Jessie Waite MKT 5520

rillifinoros

rillifinoros

It’s interesting to note that Alexandre Dumas’s father was a revolutionist. This concept

of struggling to overcoming oppression took many years of patience and resilience by the

revolutionists, and is also reflected with a pro- Bonaparte stance in the novel. Parallels can

be drawn between Edmonds struggles to overcome incarceration, to the struggles of the

revolutionists. Remembering that nothing came easy, patience was a virtue for both, in which

tedious planning and sacrifice were the underlining idealisms for success. The novel depicts

been improved along with the opportunities to increase ones social class and standard of living,

especially in first world countries. The film represents this with its resolution having Edmond

marrying Mercedes, and by having Edmond actually be the birth father of her only son.

Surrounded by his friends and family, Edmond lives out his new found happy life. This new

interpretation yields two possibilities as to why this would change. The first being, that the

happy ending to an extent reflects our current societies’ views on hope. In our modern culture,

it’s not only common place for a movie to end with a positive note, but it is expected and

anticipated. The film makers set out to make a profit by entertaining, and society wanted to see a

non-tragic, light, happy ending. The second possibility is that Kevin Reynolds changed the initial

target audience of the story. In 1844, literacy was not common place among the working classes.

Only the upper classes received education, and normally included intellectuals, scholars, and

those of nobility, making them the novels original target audience. It is in this sense that the

original theme of tragedy would be expected to reflect realities of life in the 1800’s.

Comparatively, in modern culture, film can be enjoyed by the masses, thus opening up the once

limited target audience of upper social classes to all. It is these differences in culture that yield

changes in the original novel compared to the film.

rillifinoros

Rillifinoros

Jessie Waite MKT 5520

My position:

What exactly is it that makes a good story, one that can be enjoyed by many generations

for centuries? Is it an in-depth character development, maybe an unanticipated twist in the plot

line? Or, is it a story that conveys all of the basic human emotions in such a package that lets

the reader relate to them? The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre Dumas in 1844

is perceived by many scholars to be a classic of the time. Seventeen movie adaptations, most

recently in 2002, and seven television series later, it would appear as though they were right.

Over the years, as idealisms of values and of cultures have changed, each individual society

has interpreted the story slightly differently. In the most recent movie adaptation directed by

Kevin Reynolds, the original theme and message have been seemingly altered into a different

interpretation, which is most apparent in the characters, and what they represent in his film. This

is mainly depicted in idealisms such as religion, politics, tragedy, and of what entertainment

should be.