Of Mice and Men
I first saw the 1992 version of John Steinbeck’s classic at the neighborhood movie theater. I hadn’t yet been exposed to the book, but I did love the story. When I was earning my Master’s Degree in English/Secondary Education, I designed a friendship-based unit on the book. Such a theme seemed quite obvious to me. I was stoked when I learned I’d have an opportunity to teach it to two groups of 10th graders at Newburgh Free Academy as part of my student teaching experience. It was just such a lovely book.
The day after back-to-back Childfree Singles Meetups, I was aching for a solo day (and how fitting, since it was 11/11, Singles Day). So I turned on Amazon Prime and saw that 90s version. I thought, Friendship! A piece for the blog!
And it didn’t disappoint; from what I vaguely remember about the book, the film is quite faithful to it. The movie highlighted the dynamics of Lenny and George’s friendship. A few standout exchanges (other than the talk of rabbits):
Educators and literary scholars have discussed many themes related to Of Mice and Men: the historical context, racism, homosexuality. But when I presented the Friendship theme to my Methods class, the professor indicated “sometimes the best themes are simple.”
If only friendship were that simple. But it’s worth portraying on the same level as romance. I hope filmmakers continue to go in that direction.
The day after back-to-back Childfree Singles Meetups, I was aching for a solo day (and how fitting, since it was 11/11, Singles Day). So I turned on Amazon Prime and saw that 90s version. I thought, Friendship! A piece for the blog!
And it didn’t disappoint; from what I vaguely remember about the book, the film is quite faithful to it. The movie highlighted the dynamics of Lenny and George’s friendship. A few standout exchanges (other than the talk of rabbits):
- After Lenny’s want of touch leads to a young girl running from him, and subsequently, he and George having to run from a mob, Lenny vents his frustration at how he suffers from the innocent Lenny’s repeated mistakes. “It’d be so much easier if I were alone!” he says. But, out of loyalty and caring, he stays with him.
- George comments about how a lot of fellow traveling ranch hands “have no family…but we’ve got each other.” This is a comment about the nature of a deep friendship, which ties into arguments made by Rhaina Cohen and Marisa Franco that friendship be placed on the same plane as romance (of which there is none in the film, at least not reciprocated romance). Slim, the lead hand, remarks about that type of dynamic being “funny.” I imagine that, at the time, he implied to imply homosexuality, which conveys the type of perception of deep male friendship that exists among the mainstream today.
- George and Lennie dream of buying a farm. Candy, an elderly ranch hand, offers them the money to purchase if they’ll let him live there. I dream of this type of living situation when I get older. Unconventional living spaces are a frequent topic of discussion in CoSP. My friend Christina has talked about putting together such a space, a la Golden Girls. I’ve been invited, so it would be like “Golden People.”
- The one married person on the ranch is the villain, the racist Curley. When his never-named wife comes on screen to flirt with Lennie, it’s easy to view her as a siren. But as she opens up, she reveals herself as a person with dreams, which were subjugated in favor of marriage. Sadly, this is common today, especially among women.
Educators and literary scholars have discussed many themes related to Of Mice and Men: the historical context, racism, homosexuality. But when I presented the Friendship theme to my Methods class, the professor indicated “sometimes the best themes are simple.”
If only friendship were that simple. But it’s worth portraying on the same level as romance. I hope filmmakers continue to go in that direction.
