My problem with The Hours

So admittedly this is coming pretty late, but the reason being is at least somewhat related to this post. In a nutshell I suppose this is about why I didn't like the movie The Hours. Really though, this is an oversimplification of how I feel. In all honesty I found the movie extremely depressing, which to its credit is something I think the movie was going for. It seemed to me at least that it did an exceedingly accurate job of painting all the ways in which one could become frustrated with life and how you might just find the whole ordeal pointless. This may not be an entirely fair review, I've only watched the movie once and as a result haven't given it intensive critical review, but the fact still stands I found the movie extremely difficult to watch.

Perhaps part of my problem was that when we started the movie I was expecting something more akin to a pastiche of Mrs. Dalloway set in a more modern style. This wasn't entirely inaccurate, the movie was obviously hugely impacted by the book, but they weren't simply different copies of the same story. This is poignant because I feel as though there were major themes in Mrs. Dalloway that were not touched upon in The Hours, but the movie was not necessarily trying to mimic the book and as a result I don't think my complaint can be one about the quality of the movie. Really I think I could summarize my feelings towards the movie by saying that I was disappointed at the lack of life affirming material in the The Hours, where there is certainly such material in Woolf's book.

If you look at Mrs. Dalloway it may come off on the surface as being a similarly depressing story, Clarissa the main character has deep existential doubts, and Septimus ends up committing suicide. Both of these aspects of the novel were pretty deeply unsettling for anyone who could immerse themselves in the novel, but despite this I somehow managed to thoroughly enjoy Mrs. Dalloway, and it stands as a very influential novel for me. When it came time to write a paper about it I was actually somewhat confused by the fact that I had enjoyed it so much, since I for a while held the belief that Woolf was a bit of a nihilist. Further contemplation has changed my view on that though. My thoughts are thus: while there is definitely material in the novel that could prove shaking for many readers, there are also some extremely affirming words stored within. Even on the eve of his suicide Septimus himself concedes that life is good, and this is a view held by Clarissa Dalloway as well I believe. While she may have a lot of doubts about her life she still seems to find a great deal that she loves. Honestly I'm extremely glad that Woolf decided in the end that Clarissa would not commit suicide, but instead would go on living.

This is perhaps what I mean when I say I didn't enjoy The Hours. It wasn't that I think it was a poorly done movie, quite the opposite, but I did feel that it lacked some of the more positive spin on life that Mrs. Dalloway had. Perhaps this was intentional, but for me it had the effect of presenting all the existential problems we as humans face, and lacked the more more encouraging material that was at least present in Woolf's novel.

Jake the stoic

Now a straightforward writing style is what made Ernest Hemingway so well known, but even amongst the various characters in The Sun Also Rises Jake seems especially simply spoken. He really doesn't say very much, and when he does it seems to be very straight to the point. I don't just point this out to emphasize that he's not long winded though. In comparison to the other characters in the novel Jake seems to almost take things more seriously. This isn't exactly correct, but I see his attitude as being in comparison to Bill or Brett who take remarkably ironic tones towards life.

It had been pointed out in class I believe that irony seemed to be a way for the characters to shield themselves from true emotion. It really does give off this vibe of being so far removed from any kind of emotional attachment that you're able to crack jokes about anything. In this way people are able to cast off the illusion of ever being hurt by anything, whether this is actually true or not. I think more generally than Jake, this is an important statement of how Hemingway feels people are changing going into the 1920's. It's not longer suitable to act in a more open manner, such as the way Robert Cohn does. Cohn served in many ways I think as an example of an "old-fashioned" person, such as the way he treated Brett and wasn't able to accept her sexual promiscuity like the other guys supposedly do. All this ties into a more universal theme that people now need to start to cover up their emotions, and Bill claims irony is becoming the norm.

As pointed out also by Bill, Jake doesn't fall under the category of an ironic person. He's decidedly not ironic for the most part, and as a result you might read his emotions an actions as being more sincere than the other characters. I'm not sure this is exactly accurate though. Despite his straightforward manner I still see Jake as a somewhat shielded individual. He's entangled in an ordeal with the woman he loves, which surely must be gut wrenchingly painful for him on some level. It can't be at all easy to see someone you love in that way going of with other people. We get some indication that Jake is torn up about it, but really not as much as we could. For the most part he seems to just report on what he says, as a true newspaper writer would. But really, I don't think Jake could be as removed from this as he seems to be. This is why I don't see Jake as being a less shielded (or more sincere) character than the others. Honestly I read Jakes pointedly stoic manner as his own way of guising his emotions. If he only just tells us about the direct actions of those around him then emotions don't ever even factor into the equation. I believe that Jake uses his own stoicism as a means by which he can hide his own damaged emotional state.