I think this is a topic we all probably understood before we read this chapter--we just may not have recognized it.
The weather in a story or poem (or movie) definitely helps set the mood. When we read Macbeth, you will see how much the weather plays a role in the plot. It acts more as a reflection of what the characters are feeling. So what about what you've read before? Can you think of any stories where the weather was a factor? What about in the novels you've read? I am reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It takes place in a very dry part of California, and the quest for water is very important. The characters can't wait for the rain. It reminds me of their lives--for the most part they are very dry--but every once in a while something major happens (a rain storm???) and things get very interesting.
So now it's your turn. Think of a story, poem, or movie where rain or snow is factor and/or a reflection of what's going on.
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I read the Jodi Picoult book last year, The Pact. It had to do with 2 young lovers, and the girl wanted to die, so the boy killed her. After he shot her, he had to go home and the whole way home it rained and rained like never before. It help set the scene for how he felt and it also effects the readers mood. You wouldn't want to read a story where someone dies and its bright and sunny outside because that just doesn't fit. Thats why usually if someone is murdered in a movie or novel it happens either at night or while it is storming/raining. Picoult uses this technique in many of her books. I can recall another one i read last year where there was a huge ice storm right after this girl was raped. So, the weather does affect your mood.
ReplyDeleteWhethering Heights comes to mind because through most of the book there is cold snowy and gloomy days. This sets a grim mood but it suits the story because with bad weather bad things happen and as the weather gets worse the characters start to die off. this bad weather foreshadows the death and turmoil ahead.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the lines, "It was a dark and stormy night," I automatically started thinking about Edgar Allen Poe's story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." When the main character is going over to the house he crosses the bridge and it's completely dark except for the reflection in the lake. It is also raining and stormy. This automatically sets the visual of the story, when Poe described the house I automatically thought of it being scary and mysterious. Then into the story lightning plays a huge part in the entire plot, lightning strikes the house right down the middle catching the entire house on fire, and it burns to the ground. I definitely think that rain and bad weather help describe the story and help you understand the setting.
ReplyDeleteA movie that comes to mind where the weather reflects one's mood in in the movie "Men In Black II". In the movie, every time one of the characters Laura, is sad, it always rains. Another example is 'The Ring' movies. The weather in the movie is always cloudy and gloomy, r]which relates to how the characters feel, especially when they are visited by the freaky girl who kills them. It gives you that sad, depressed feeling when you see dark, cold, gloomy clouds and no sunshine.
ReplyDeleteWhat comes to mind to me first is the movie, Garden State. I think in this case, the weather plays a part in a different way. It didn’t necessarily set the mood through out the whole movie, but there was a part of the film when it started raining and that completely changed everything. The mood, your feeling about what was going on, the character’s attitude. It all changed. In this setting, all characters were down searching for something, as the main character is doing through out the whole movie. It’s kind of subliminal, but I’ve noticed that he spends the movie trying to find out who he is. But when it rains, you watch the characters transform from being extremely uptight and skeptical about what is going on at the moment to letting go of all their problems and just enjoying the rain. So, with this movie, instead of the rain bringing drowsiness, something dark, or negative, it enlightens the film.
ReplyDeleteOne good example I can think of is "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". At the climax of the movie when the house has completely taken over the husbands mind, and he's trying to kill everyone in the house it starts starts storming and raining really hard. I think this is one of those perfect examples of the cleansing effect rain has on the characters, and I'm glad that the author brought that to my attention. Whenever they take him away from the house and it quits raining, it's like whatever was taking over him just completely left and he was "cleansed" from it. I always kind of knew that weather had a huge part in literature and films, but I never really thought about it on this level.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I can think of is the sixth Harry Potter movie, when Dumbledore dies. The sky is completely black, and it is raining. With the way the weather was, you could almost predict that something bad was going to happen. I believe that the weather of a particular situation, will set the mood for that situation. Black is usually the symbol of death, raining can symbolize sorrow, sunshine can symbolize happiness, and there are many more.
ReplyDeleteWhen i read this chapter it made me think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or any other scary movie. In most scary movies when something bad is about to happen it usually starts lightning and thundering really loud. That is usually when someone dies or gets hurt. I think that it helps set the mood by building suspense. I have never really thought about how important the weather is on setting the mood in a story or movie. For instance in a scar movie if the sun was shining and it was nice outside that doesn't really set the suspense for anything bad. It would honestly be kind of weird if something bad were to happen.
ReplyDeleteIn the story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe, the weather plays a big role. The story starts out and the narrator is going to visit his friend who is sick and desperately needs his help. He comes out of the woods and sees decaying trees and a murky pond which the house surrounds. The environment is a rainy stormy one, and it adds to the overall feeling of the story, in which the house and environment has its inhabitants (the Ushers) held captive. The weather determines how you feel about the story, and helps you paint a picture of what's going on
ReplyDeleteA movie that I have recently watched where snow reflected what was happening is The Phantom of the Opera. In one of the scenes, the main character Christine, is walking through a graveyard to visit her father's grave. She is singing and saying that she wished her father was somehow still with her. In the scene, it is snowing and there is snow on the ground. This symbolizes the fact that Christine is mourning her father's death. When someone is mourning a death, it is usually rainy of snowy outside. I really liked this chapter. Everything the author said made a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that in every scary movie i always watch, there seems to be some type of storm, weather its just a little rain shower or a full fledge thunderstorm. Im not really sure why there is alway rain but i assume it help the movie o seem a littler scarier as apposed to it being bight and sunny outside. I assume that the rain is trying to reflect the scary situation which takes already scary forms of nature and adding them to a very tense situation makes for a great horror flick.
ReplyDeleteI agree with corey. In alot of scary movies some sort of storms or weather related event signifies that something significant is going to happen. In the movie, The Shining there is a giant snow storm while the main character is dragging his limp leg through the snow trying to kill everybody. Adding a bad weather scene adds to the mood of the scene.
ReplyDeleteA story I can think of where weather is a factor is the "Chronicles of Narnia". In this movie snow is represented as evil and the witch uses the snow and frost as her weapon. Sunlight is represented as good and whenever the witch is defeated the sun comes out and all the snow disapears. The snow causes a sad dreary mood while the sun creates an optimistic feeling. The weather can play a big role in a story or movie.
ReplyDeleteWeather, I agree, has a very important role in the the moods and settings of many books. Often I refer to Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald-Mage because it is such a great book that it has many of the elements that have come up in this book. In that book, Vanyel ran away from his family and friends, frantic because he thought they only cared about what he could go, rather than caring about just him. It was snowing thickly and washed away his footprints by the time he woke up and realized that they do care for him, he just wasn't thinking clearly. The snow plays a big part in all that happens in that part of the book, giving him a hard ship to find his way, and dampening his emotions so he could think clearly.
ReplyDeleteWell i don't recall very many scary movies that take place on a hillside with the sun out and maybe a few clouds here and there. Usually its very dark and gloomy, or a fog, or storm or anything that would lower the mood and make things more gloomy. Its kind of hard to scare someone in the broad daylight.
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