Posts:
- This introductory posts
- Nicole's Thoughts On The Movie
- Nicole's Thoughts On The Book
- Julia's Information On Amanda Seyfried & Corsets
- Comments On The Comments
- Katherine's Thoughts On The Details
- The Conclusion
Welcome to WORD for Teen's first ever experiment.
Because it was necessary after reading the atrocity that was the following paragraph on page 56 of Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright.
Valerie bit into the biggest chicken leg, her second. Prudence enviously measured Valerie's tiny waist with her two hands, her fingers touching. "It's not fair," she said.
Let's assume that Red Riding Hood is exactly what it claims to be: a book based on the movie. The book is based off the script, the casting, etc. There are major differences - and those differences don't work well - but the basic plot and characters are still the same. (I'll be writing a semi-review sometime later when I explain this.) When I picture Valerie, I picture Amanda Seyfried.
And we'll ignore how much this book fails at keeping consistency - Sarah, you were on set every day. Surely you could notice stuff that I remember just from seeing the movie once a few weeks ago? - but Amanda Seyfried is Valerie. It would explain the complete lack of description for Valerie as a character and make the following point so much more emphasized.
You cannot fit your hands around somebody's waist and have your fingers touch, especially when you are roughly the same age and size.
Perhaps if Prudence was a six foot three male with exceptionally large hands, and Valerie was the size of four foot eleven Kristin Chenoweth, this wouldn't be a problem. Perhaps if you're wearing a tightly fitted corset - which, in the movie, she's not. In the book, it's never described. Perhaps if you haven't eaten, say, two exceptionally large chicken wings. Perhaps if you're naturally anorexic - which, though Amanda Seyfried is small, she is not.
But I don't think it's possible. My roommate Julia, who is co-conducting this experiment with me (perhaps you've seen her on Twitter; her username is @HPJediKnight), can't fit her hands around her own waist. I can't fit my hands around her waist. She's five foot two and weighs about 110 pounds, give or take. Now that's tiny.
So here's the deal.
We're conducting an experiment.
In a few weeks, you'll see the final product - I have to go home and get my corset - but here's the basics. What we'll be doing is attempting to fit our hands around Julia's waist. Not just Julia and I, but several of our friends, all with different hand sizes and heights. And we will be doing it while Julia is in three different forms: her normal self, without a corset on; with an Elizabethan corset on; with a Victorian corset on. Unfortunatley, we won't be eating chicken legs at the time, for the sake of keeping our corsets clean.
Now, Julia will be around in about a week or so to explain to you the differences in all of the corsets and why it's so important to try with all of these, especially considering what is worn in the movie.
But this is one of the details in the book that was so unrealistic, so unnecessary, that it completely jarred me out of my reading experience. And why not prove that you can't do it - or if you can, that it's rather difficult?
What do you think? Is this experiment worth doing?
... and even if you don't think it is, we're doing it anyway. This looks to be FUN.
What say you, oh lovely readers?
