CCBC-Net Archives
Monster
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Helene Charmillon-Pohl <hlcharmillon>
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 18:52:01 -0500
Monster challenges received notions about film making as a means to rise above subjective voices by making Steve the film maker and letting him take charge of what we'll discover of prison life and circumstantial evidence. Steve holds the camera, but cannot direct events as they unfold inexorably according to scripts too well-known to the general audience. The stark photographs also disrupt our understanding of fiction: how can Steve, a fictional character, be photographed?
Since my reading of Monster is somewhat at variance with others', I am sharing it for further discussion: Steve claims innocence only as that of a young person unaware of the ramifications of his actions and not yet fully developed as an ethical being. When a prisoner asks him why he should be set free, his answer is "because I'm a human being. I want a life too!" All of a sudden, he has come to the realization that his participation in the robbery could cost him a sentence of a minimum of 21 years and 3 months. We may argue that Osvaldo implicates him twice only out of a thirst for revenge, but Steve's refusal to meet his mother's glance is telling. In the end, he eagerly seizes the perch his legalistic lawyer provides him and lies after having been coached to testify. His character no less inspires compassion and anger because he is guilty of having been the lookout for the robbery. He stands to pay an extremely harsh price for a mere crime against property inspired by his desire to belong and prove his toughness.
Helene Charmillon-Pohl Kaukauna High School Librarian Kaukauna, Wisconsin
Received on Mon 19 Jul 1999 06:52:01 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 18:52:01 -0500
Monster challenges received notions about film making as a means to rise above subjective voices by making Steve the film maker and letting him take charge of what we'll discover of prison life and circumstantial evidence. Steve holds the camera, but cannot direct events as they unfold inexorably according to scripts too well-known to the general audience. The stark photographs also disrupt our understanding of fiction: how can Steve, a fictional character, be photographed?
Since my reading of Monster is somewhat at variance with others', I am sharing it for further discussion: Steve claims innocence only as that of a young person unaware of the ramifications of his actions and not yet fully developed as an ethical being. When a prisoner asks him why he should be set free, his answer is "because I'm a human being. I want a life too!" All of a sudden, he has come to the realization that his participation in the robbery could cost him a sentence of a minimum of 21 years and 3 months. We may argue that Osvaldo implicates him twice only out of a thirst for revenge, but Steve's refusal to meet his mother's glance is telling. In the end, he eagerly seizes the perch his legalistic lawyer provides him and lies after having been coached to testify. His character no less inspires compassion and anger because he is guilty of having been the lookout for the robbery. He stands to pay an extremely harsh price for a mere crime against property inspired by his desire to belong and prove his toughness.
Helene Charmillon-Pohl Kaukauna High School Librarian Kaukauna, Wisconsin
Received on Mon 19 Jul 1999 06:52:01 PM CDT
