Anyone here read or see "The World According to Garp"?

[Taverner]

Just watched this again on our supersecret movie jukebox...damn I love this movie!

Any thoughts on what you felt the meaning of this movie was? I have my ideas - but I'd like to hear yours first...

[Archae]

1. Garp

I enjoyed the movie, a lot.

Didn't get the point, but I still enjoyed it.

And that one line by John Lithgow, after that...car accident...is absolutely hilarious.

[Parrcrow]

2. I thought the movie was okay

It is considerably different from the book.
I love John Irving's books. He appears in the movie as a wrestling referee.

Oddly enough every time I've read Garp (four times now) a close family member dies. Not reading it again.:scared:

[liberalhistorian]

3. The book was far, far better

than the movie; it was much more detailed and substantive. I thought the movie did a fairly decent job of it, though.

[MuseRider]

4. I loved the movie

but the book was a thousand times better. It was one of my favorites for a long time. I should read it again. I have no idea what it really all means. What is your idea?

[Taverner]

5. Well my thoughts

And this came to me after watching the movie first, reading the book, then watching the movie again...

Garp is sort of the male everyman baby boomer facing the times around him. Through every movmement that comes up, no matter how noble, there is a dark extreme side.

The feminism of his mother, however liberating, also led to the Ellen Jamesians for example.

[MuseRider]

6. I wish I could

discuss this with you! It has been far too long since I have read the book but I see what you are saying and that is absolutely a good part of it. The dying of Garp leaving Jenny with the "new" Garp. The goodness of Roberta with the positives of the male still left in her. Hmmm, I have to locate my copy. Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful book. Garp...arp

[Gothic Sponge]

7. Great Book and Movie

I remember in the early 90's there was a punk band called The Ellen James Society.

[mac56]

8. Loved the book.

Mildly disappointed by the movie. I didn't think Robin Williams was a good casting choice.

[KT2000]

9. Watch out for the undertoad!

but of course you really can't because it is always the unexpected that gets you.
The only way through it then is with love - even when it doesn't come easy.

That's what I think its about.

[jobycom]

10. Meaning?

The main meaning I got was that every action has unpredictable results, and often the outcome was the reverse of what was intended. The feminism of his mother led to a group of women enslaving and mutilating themselves, for instance.

The mother's feminism emerged almost as an afterthought and yet created and ended Garp's life. His seeming half-hearted crush on his future wife chose his career for him. The effects on Ellen (? Poo? It's been a while) were almost incidental to Garp's life, and yet kept intersecting it. Every major event in his life was begun by a minor event somewhere earlier in his life, when a small decision charted his future course, and often the courses of others.

That's on the movie. I've never read the book.

[soothsayer]

11. I think I'm the only one who hates this book and movie

Gads. I think it was just porn for 'nice people'---back in the day. Useless drivel as far as I'm concerned.

[SarahB]

12. Porbably one of my favorite books and movies

I read the book once when I was quite young (maybe 14 or 15) and have seen the movie many times. What it means, it's hard to know totally, but what I got out of it at 18 was different than 25 or 30 ("dirty 30?"). There's many things that are larger concepts or ideals that overshadow this book (rather militant feminism, transgendered issues), but really what it was about was the personal relationships between the characters and Garp, in particular's, place in the world. You begin to understand their actions and know that however usual they can be, they are there in some way for each other and life keeps going on.