Blog #3 Whitney Mayer

The Apartment was a much easier read than A Boy’s Life. It read more like a novel than a screenplay, and I’m not sure whether that is good or bad. I think it’s probably just a matter of opinion. The characters in The Apartment were strong and distinct. Even as Bud and Fran change and are finally able to say, ”no”, they do not lose who they were throughout the rest of the script. The basic story was familiar, but the unique characters and circumstances of this screenplay kept it from becoming boring.

One thing that I found didn’t work well in the screenplay was the story of Bud’s suicide attempt. It came out of nowhere, and it wasn’t very plausible. Bud is supposedly a young man; the second youngest to become an executive at the company he works for. Yet he has had the time to fall in love with his best friend’s wife, shoot himself in the knee, and heal from both traumas enough to laugh at it later and walk without a limp. However, I do not think that this should have been cut out. It does too much to connect Bud to Fran, and it creates suspense in the final scene(s). Bud’s suicide attempt should either have been alluded to earlier or Bud should have attained a lesser injury when he shot himself.

Discussion Questions:

1) 1) Do prefer the style of A Boy’s Life or that of The Apartment?

2) 2) Did you think that Bud was lying when you read his account of his suicide attempt?/Did you find it believable?