Bree Hubbard
Laura Cline
ENG102
22 April, 2012
Airworld
There
are a number of books that are being portrayed in the movie industry. Some of these books are taken and later made
into a movie. A majority of the time
there are some changes made from the book when being made into a movie. Sometimes
because the director and author don’t see eye to eye or maybe because between
the times the book was written and the movie is made many things in society can
change. One book called Up in the Air was recently made into a
movie. This movie portrayed some of the
text and ideas from the book but there was a lot that was changed. When the book came out in the year of 2001,
things were good economically. After
many years passed, the movie had come out in 2009. The movie was brought up in
a different time, 9/11 had passed and things weren’t looking good for our
economy. Many people thought the country
was going to go through another great depression. Another thing about movies is
that they have to be watchable by a mass audience, the director has to put on a
twist to make the watchers excited to watch it.
Keeping this in mind, the movie focuses on a girl. Romance is key to
movies, and normally by using this theme, movies are able to appeal to a much
larger audience. The book concentrates
on Ryan Bingham’s job a little more and about how he goes about it. When movies
are made based on a book there are normally many differences, and these
differences tend to depend on what has happened in between the too, what social
issues have happened, and what the viewer has experienced between this time
change.
Ryan
Bingham, is the main character in the book. The book focuses on his job;
whereas the movie is more about his love life.
The movie shows Ryan more as a guy who wants a friend with
benefits. Ryan has no interest in being tied
down to a woman, he actually doesn’t want to be tied down to anything; a house,
family, girl. When he finally finds this
friend with benefits, he slowly begins to find himself falling in love but it
takes Ryan’s assistant and his sister’s fiancée help him realize that being
alone isn’t something to live for. Being
in love and being able to share those moments with someone is what living is
about. The book took it towards a
different path, Ryan talks about how a family and someone to settle down with
may be in his future. Also, about how he got a divorce in the book and the
movie implies that he was never married. The divorce wasn’t his happiest
moments; he had still cared about her.
In
the plot of Up in the Air, Ryan
Bingham was a business man who lived in “Airworld.” This is where he lives and breathes, he states
“planes and airports are where I feel at home… I even enjoy the suite hotels
built within sight of the runways on the ring road” (Kirn 4). His job was to
fly around and fire people and help them cope with it a little bit. These ideas were both in the book and
movie. When Ryan fired people in the
movie, they took it more devastating than in the book. The unemployment was so
high. They didn’t know how they were
going to be able to get another job and support their family. What are they
going to tell their wife or husband, their kids? Unemployment back in 2001 was at 4.9%, said
Money MSN (Miley). Back then, it wasn’t as hard to find a job but it wasn’t
nice to lose your job. The fact that in October of 2009, Money MSN stated that
unemployment rate had reach 10.1% people knew it would be harder (Miley). Losing their job, in that kind of economy
had people worried. These people were devastated, and even in the end an
employee actually jumped off the bridge.
Ryan always hears about suicides but never think people are willing to
do such a thing. In today’s time losing
your job is a much more serious thing then it used to be. Some may not find a job, and some may have to
settle with a minimum wage job rather than the large salary and benefits they
once had. The economy crisis was a huge
deal to most Americans and affected many people’s lives. CEO’s of companies
were now working at fast food restaurants, some are in jail, and some are
homeless. This idea is very catching to
a viewer and if it wasn’t portrayed in the movie, the movie wouldn’t have
appealed to the viewers of 2009.
Economic issues have caused society to change from 2001 to 2009 and this
aspect had to be shown in the movie or it wouldn’t have related to the viewer
as well.
The
movie shows a selfish older man who is just trying to keep his life in
order. He is never there for his family;
he doesn’t have very strong ties with them.
When his sister asks if he will be willing to take pictures of her and
her fiancée in different places, he dislikes the idea. He likes being alone. When his boss said he had to train a new
person in what he does, he at first rejected the idea. He didn’t think that a woman who makes
websites could help the company in any way. He only likes doing things that will benefit
him and will allow him to prosper. While, in the book he likes to talk about
how he is close with both his sister. Their relationship in the book shows that
he actually cares and wants to hear from them.
Another
economic issue in the movie was that the company was trying to reduce the
amount of flying. Ryan was coming close to 10 million miles. Flying was very expensive; the insurance, the
fuel cost, ect. The company hired a girl
who made a way that they could fire people over the webcam. This would help the
business cut down on travel cost, helping the business economically. Also,
allowing the people to be home for holidays and be with their families. This wasn’t an issue back in 2001; they
weren’t looking at how costly it was to fly.
Now, when the movie came out in 2009, businesses are close to
bankruptcy. Gas prices are on the rise and because of 9/11 and the fear of
terrorism flying didn’t seem so appealing anymore. The companies just can’t
spend money like it is nothing; they have to preserve it in any way possible.
Airport
security is a lot stricter these days compared the beginning of 2001. Due to the terrorist attack, airports want to
make sure that it is more safe and secured. Flying is also another issue for
these businessmen. Back in 2001, the
airports were easy and fast. Since the
terrorist attack, they make it more difficult to go through the airport. Flying
is not the most desired form of transportation anymore. 9/11 was a catastrophic event and it scared
everyone, and it continues to dictate people’s lives. In the movie, Ryan has
gone through security many times before.
He knows to stay out of the line where there are old people and
Arabians. He states to Natalie “never
get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they
never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They
pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta
love 'em” (Reitman). Ryan has very stereotypical ideas about who to get behind,
but he has experienced it all and knows the more time he saves, the less time
he wastes. He has a small bag that he
can carry on rather then check on the plane, and he knows exactly what he is
doing at all times.
The book and the movie are very similar, yet also very
different. When one makes a movie based
on the book there are always differences.
Some people like one more than the other, however, the author normally
have no say in how the movie is made.
They write books for a reason, and movie producers do the same. The point of a movie is to get the largest
possible audience to pay to see the movie in a pretty short period of
time. In order to do this they must
spark interest anyway they can, and most of the time this means changing the
original story into something that will appeal to a larger audience. Another thing is that the times change;
different things are going on in the world.
People can relate to the most present events because they are currently
affecting the way they live. Up in the Air is a great book that is showing how thing were
back in 2001 and the movie shows how things have become.
Work Cited
Kirn,
Walter. Up in the Air. New
York: Anchor Novels, 2001. Print.
Miley, John.
"The economy before and after 9/11." Money MSN. n. page. Web.
22 Apr. 2012.
<http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/article.aspx?post=7be1200a-e79a-4b35-a974-031570ce1a28>.
Reitman, Jason, dir. Up
in the Air. Perf. George Clooney, and Vera Farmiga. Paramount Pictures,
2009. Film.
