When I first started The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, I was surprised to learn there was no audiobook version of the novel. In fact, there are no other media forms of The Catcher in the Rye, as Salinger was opposed to any adaptations being made. This includes The Catcher in the Rye being made into a movie. Seeing as this would have made Salinger a lot of money and popularized the story even further, one can assume it's incredibly significant to the nature of the story that there is no movie adaptation.
I found it interesting how this preference of Salinger's is actually shown in the story, especially through the lens of Holden viewing his older brother. Within the first pages of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden mentions his older brother D.B., who was a writer but sold himself to Hollywood, basically meaning he is writing movies now. For some reason Holden seems to have a certain distaste for films, often referring to the producers and actors as phonies and calling movies lousy.
Holden only ever goes to movies when he is bored and has nothing to do. I noticed that he seems to hold a sort of superiority complex over people who enjoy watching movies. When Holden sits in a bar with the middle aged women from Seattle (Bernice, Marty, and Laverne), he repeatedly makes fun of them for looking for movie stars as if it makes them silly and stupid. The only time he mentions movies in a positive light is when he is talking about Phoebe and her love for the movie The 39 Steps and how she can always tell a good movie from a bad movie. I would guess his problem with other people is that they like any type of movie and don’t have specific taste.
From this, I would guess his problem with movies is that he is unable to identify deep themes of feelings as easily as in a book. He thinks of people who enjoy movies as unable to have more complicated thoughts. He sees most movies as superficial and silly and unable to translate ideas as effectively as literature would. I think this may also be J.D. Salinger’s reason for opposing a movie. Holden’s inner thoughts are very different from his outward actions as he is much more cynical and depressed-seeming in his head, but his actions show him desperate to connect with other people. I think in a movie it would be really difficult to properly show Holden’s inner voice in The Catcher in the Rye, and since it’s so integral to the story, a movie could never fully do the book justice.
Great points! While I think that this book could make a pretty good movie, I do not think that one should ever be made. First, I agree that it could never capture Holden's voice right, and thus I do not think that it could ever do true justice to the book. In addition, Holden (and supposedly JD Salinger) both hates movies, and loves sticking to their guns. I think that a movie would go against their opinion, and thus their philosophy of sticking to their word. Furthermore, Holden (and supposedly JD Salinger) both hate when people who do things for fame or money. If this were a movie, I feel like JD Salinger would come to a point where he may not know whether he would want the movie to be shown to share his story or so that he could become rich and famous.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post, especially how you tied in D.B.'s characterization. I think that alongside the fact that Salinger would consider movies an inferior medium for the transmission of the themes, he may also have believed that a movie, being of a medium which requires a great deal of money to propagate, would fundamentally weaken the themes he wrote about by transmitting them in an expensive and "phony" manner.
ReplyDeleteYeah, movies often miss some of the finer points of books. For Catcher in the Rye, a movie would entirely change it, and obscure the actual purpose of it. I can think of a lot of books that would be totally ruined if they were made into movies, so I can relate to J.D. Salinger on this one.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree I think some of J.D. Salinger's thoughts come out in the book about movies'. He thinks that movies wouldn't allow for the full experience you get in the book with Holden's inner thoughts. In the book when Holden talks about movies it is usually always negative thoughts towards movies. I think if the book were also a movie it would have to change most of the plot to incorporate both Holden's inner and outer thoughts and actions. I feel like some books can be made into movies but not all which is where I think this book falls. I really like your post!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be interesting to see Catcher in the Rye as a movie. I am sure someone could do it well but I agree the odds of something portraying themes as deeply as the book does are low.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you connect Holden's attitude around movies to JD Salinger's is really cool. This kind of meta connection between author and main character in The Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye is really interesting, and there is a lot of substance about Holden's take on movies to draw from.
Much of the appeal of Catcher in the Rye comes from the snarky internal monologue that's happening at the same time as all of the events. Having a movie adaptation would seriously disrupt that monologue, taking away a lot of the appeal of the novel. Even with a TV series format (which could grant more time to explore compelling themes), it wouldn't work, simply because the most important parts of the novel aren't compatible with on-screen viewing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, from a practical standpoint, it would be silly to have a movie in which the main character absolutely despises the movies, bringing on critiques of the movie industry and consumerist society...
Nice post! I definitely agree that Holden's sporadic and semi-fourth wall breaking stream of consciousness storytelling would be pretty hard to adapt into a movie. Just think of the train scene where Holden has an external conversation with a mother of his classmate contrasted with Holden's internal monologue where he admits to lying about everything. Maybe Salinger's dislike of movies also extends to Holden disliking his brother's decision to go out to Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteI really love your connection between Holden's view towards movies and DB's career and how Catcher in the Rye doesn't have a movie adaptation. Honestly, I actually like that we don't have an audible/visual adaptation of the book. I read in another blog post (perhaps Lili's?) that the author's view of Holden changed as they read the book multiple times at different parts of their life. I think not confining the person Holden to a concrete form makes him more of an idea/personality than a physical person and allows us to easily see parts of ourselves in him.
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