Blog #1: A Boy's Life

My experience reading Samantha Mathison’s 1980 screenplay A Boy’s Life was similar to that of a rollercoaster ride with twists and turns, uncertainty and fear, ups and downs. This is the first screenplay that I have ever read, so I went into the experience with a great amount of anxiety and intimidation. My feelings of anxiety worsened during the reading aloud in class as I found it very hard to visualize what I was reading and hearing. Luckily, after I started reading the script on my own I was delightfully surprised by the vivid images that filled my head. After about twenty pages of reading, I noticed that it was getting easier and easier for me to visualize the scenes and make sense out of the mental constructions born out of the images and action. I think the ease of visualization was a direct result of the way that Mathison’s descriptions resembled that of literary work, and since I am a writer, I was very comfortable with her style. However, I did find it difficult to keep up with everything that was happening in the scenes, especially in those scenes with little or no dialogue and mostly action. I kept having to flip back and scan the pages to reconcile what I was reading with what I had already read so that everything made sense to me. Whenever I got confused, I stopped and flipped back, which in turn made the reading of the screenplay more time-consuming than it was intended to be. At times, I could almost see a movie in my head, especially when camera movement took place, but there were also times when I saw what I see when I read a story.
I think that non-professionals who are interested in film would find reading a screenplay very interesting, but they would have to have a genuine interest in film and the patience to hash through it. On the other hand, there seems to be a plethora of different production issues between the lines of a screenplay that would completely go over the non-professional’s head.

Discussion Questions

1. (Assuming that you have seen E.T.) Compare the experience of watching E.T. to the experience of reading the screenplay. Did your emotional reaction to reading the screenplay differ from the emotional reaction you experienced when watching the film. If so, please explain how. If there was no difference, please explain why you think that is.
2. In A Boy’s Life, what transition from one scene to the next did you admire the most and why?