Feeling Curious

Don't buy it, just order a cup of fancy coffee at the bookstore and read the whole thing before they finish putting the whipped cream on your peppermint mocha.

No theatrical release this Christmas season has intrigued or excited me more than "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Although it was released on Christmas Day, I haven't yet had the opportunity to see it. Among the seemingly endless rave reviews that I've read, at least one reviewer described it as "possibly one of the greatest films ever made." And I have to admit, the previews make it look pretty fantastic. It just looks like the kind of movie I'd really enjoy, and I am completely enamored with the premise... or at least, what I know of the premise.

Not being nearly as sophisticated or well-read as I would like people to think that I am, I rarely have an actual opportunity to utter (any version of) the following sentence while exiting a movie theater: "Well, I thought it was a decent adaptation, but the book was definitely better/worse/longer/more confusing/less cheesy/composed primarily of paper, ink, and glue/etc." Therefore, when I discovered that "Button" was actually based/inspired by a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I decided to take the opportunity to familiarize myself with the original story before seeing the movie. Like a real-live smart person.

Being only 24 pages long, the story did not represent a gigantic time commitment on my part. I'm a pretty slow reader, but it still took me far less time to read the short story than it will require to absorb the entire 2 hour and 47 minute film version.

Basically, the story is about a man who is born old, and becomes younger throughout his life. My understanding from the previews was that the title character was born with an old body, but with the intellectual and emotional capacity of an infant. Until I see it, I won't know for sure if the film version conforms to my pre-conceptions ... but the original short story absolutely did not. In Fitzgerald's tale, Benjamin is born as a full-sized, 80-year-old man ... 5 1/2 feet tall, with advanced language skills, a clear understanding of contemporary (19th century) culture, and a cantakerous personality. (needless to say, the book never once mentions his mother, or acknowledges the catastrophic physical ramifications that such a birth would likely wreak upon the average hip-possessing woman)

At first, I was horribly disappointed by this... feeling like it took the "suspension of disbelief" a couple steps too far. As if the basic premise of the story isn't fanciful enough, it was very unpleasant for me to imagine a literal elderly, white-bearded man lying in a hospital nursery crib, shouting at nurses, complaining of itchy blankets, and refusing to drink from a bottle. I thought for sure that the film version must correct this element of the story, especially since the previews clearly show a small, crying, yet physically elderly "baby" ...

However, as the story went on, I realized it still worked. In fact, it very quickly seemed essential to Fitzgerald's parable that Benjamin regressed in terms of his personality as well as his physical attributes. It made for a fascinating story, as Benjamin relates to and interacts with his parents, his friends, his wife, and eventually, his children.

Anyway, I ultimately really enjoyed the story. Fitzgerald could have included MUCH more detail, and easily expanded this story into a full novel ... but since he didn't, I'm all the more eager to see how the film version fills in the enormous gaps in Benjamin's life that F. Scott simply skips over. Perhaps once I've finally seen the movie (hopefully in the next several days), I'll come back and write a comparative analysis. On second thought, thinking about doing that makes me tired, so perhaps I won't. We'll see.

Has anybody seen it yet? Do tell...

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I found Fitzgerald's writing style to be delightful and engaging. My favorite sentence from the book:

"One day [Benjamin's father] brought home a rattle and, giving it to Benjamin, insisted in no uncertain terms that he should "play with it," whereupon the old man took it with a weary expression and could be heard jingling it obediently at intervals throughout the day."

In this particular volume, there are dozens of other short stories published by Fitzgerald throughout the 20's and 30's. If I come across any other gems, I'll be sure to mention them in a future post.

Toro Es, Out.