East of Eden

East of Eden, 1955
East of Eden (Two-Disc Special Edition)



Oh dear. John Steinbeck always makes me a little antsy and I tend to hold my breath and brace myself until I have a better idea of what to expect. I'm a little upset that I won't have the opportunity to first read the book before I watch the movie, as I was able to with both Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. However, if East of Eden turns out to be anything like The Grapes of Wrath, then perhaps this will actually work out in my favor. Overall, I like a lot of the Steinbeck's work, and I'm anxious to watch my first James Dean movie.

I'd like to point out that I read every-single-sentence from The Grapes of Wrath. Unlike some of my classmates that year, and the book was awful. I think they pretended to like it just as they pretended to read it - just to irritate me.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

I felt as though I held my breath the entire time I was watching this movie, waiting for something bad to happen. It does eventually, but I think watching the movie this way is a bit of a mistake. There is always a lot of talk about how important it is to be able to connect with the characters and the importance of building a bond so that as the story unfolds you care about these people, I think by holding my breath I was also holding myself back from really connecting with any of the characters. It's kind of a scary moment, but from this point on with any other Steinbeck media (books or books turned movies) I'm going to take a deep breath, close my eyes and jump right into whatever story he has to tell.

Almost exactly a year ago, I decided to start watching the entire series of 90210 since I had never seen it before. I loved Donna Martin, but just couldn't buy into Luke Perry's, Dylan McKay. He seemed too troubled and bothered by life, which was the same way James Dean's, Cal in East of Eden. I know James Dean died young and is remembered for his role in Rebel Without a Cause, I just hope there is another movie or role where he didn't have to play a troubled and bothered by life teenager.

If Luke Perry was the James Dean of the 1990's, then I think it's fair to say the two leads in the Twilight cast Robert Pattinson, who is in the middle of a neck-to-neck race with Kristen Stewart would be considered the James Dean of today. And just wait one minute before you start rolling your eyes, because "James Dean is a much better actor than any of the people in Twilight... blah, blah, blah." This is strictly from the medias "too bothered by life teenager/young adult" portrayal of youth.
For the record, I can't stand Bella from the Twilight series and frankly I think the whole series is considerably over-rated. I read the books after I turned twenty-one. Had I read them when I was sixteen or seventeen I am sure I would treat them as if they were the holy grail.

Final thoughts: If you can work your way past James Dean playing the "bad son" and his character reminding the audience of his bad boy status throughout the movie, it really is a great story and movie. Overall I really enjoy Steinbeck, but you shouldn't watch this movie if you're looking for something that will cheer you up.

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