Journal 3

One of my favorite books, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, was created into a movie. The movie kept the main parts of the movie, where John enlisted in the army after having no dreams of doing anything else. He then meets a girl, Savannah, who inspires him to do something with his life. They have to write letters to each other in order to stay in contact.

However, the producers did change the ending. In the book, Savannah ends up marrying her best friend who overcomes cancer through the graciousness of John's donation. In the movie, Savannah marries the same person, but he ends up dying and her and John have another chance to reunite. This shows how our society expects to see a good ending in a movie. Customers tend to wish for the happy ending in a movie, no matter how predictable it is.

The main issue towards the end was who Savannah should choose: her former lover or her best friend. This kind of drama attracts viewers today. There is nothing more exciting than a love triangle and we live for this type of "reality" entertainment. It is part of our culture to choose the one you love and create a future together.

It is important to read a text with its context in mind because a book does not hide or sugar-coat anything. Texts express raw material and really make you feel what the characters are feeling. There is always a theme or message to a text, and by keeping its context in mind you will discover the true meaning.