True Grit
Hayleigh Steinfeld stars as Mattie Ross.
Nominated for 10 Oscars:
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bridges), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Steinfeld), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design,Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.
True Grit portrays a tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father's murderer.
True Grit. IMDb. IMDB.com, Inc., 1990-2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
Charles Portis
born: El Dorado, AR, USA
December 28, 1933
Charles McColl Portis was born in 1933, in El Dorado Arkansas and was raised in various towns in southern Arkansas. He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean war and after his discharge in 1955 attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He graduated with a degree in journalism in 1958.
His journalistic career included work at the Arkansas Gazette before he moved to New York to work for The New York Herald Tribune. After serving as the London bureau chief for the The New York Herald Tribune, he left journalism in 1964 and returned to Arkansas to write novels.
He currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.
"Charles Portis." Goodreads. Good Reads, Inc., 2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
born: El Dorado, AR, USA
December 28, 1933
Charles McColl Portis was born in 1933, in El Dorado Arkansas and was raised in various towns in southern Arkansas. He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean war and after his discharge in 1955 attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He graduated with a degree in journalism in 1958.
His journalistic career included work at the Arkansas Gazette before he moved to New York to work for The New York Herald Tribune. After serving as the London bureau chief for the The New York Herald Tribune, he left journalism in 1964 and returned to Arkansas to write novels.
He currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.
"Charles Portis." Goodreads. Good Reads, Inc., 2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
The Coen Brothers (click here for a great slide show about the brothers)
Two of the most inventive filmmakers working today, Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured on the set of "Raising Arizona") mix a winning, oddball sense of humor with their stories of characters trapped by circumstance in worlds that are daunting, unforgiving, and tinged with an absurdist's view of the universe.
Since their debut in 1984 with "Blood Simple," the Coen Brothers have received 13 Academy Award nominations for writing, producing, directing, and (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) editing. They've won 4 Oscars, for "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men."
Their latest film is "Inside Llewyn Davis," an evocative story of a singer struggling to define success in the folk music scene of the early 1960s.
Morgan, David. "The Coen Brothers." Sunday Morning. CBS News, 2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
Two of the most inventive filmmakers working today, Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured on the set of "Raising Arizona") mix a winning, oddball sense of humor with their stories of characters trapped by circumstance in worlds that are daunting, unforgiving, and tinged with an absurdist's view of the universe.
Since their debut in 1984 with "Blood Simple," the Coen Brothers have received 13 Academy Award nominations for writing, producing, directing, and (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) editing. They've won 4 Oscars, for "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men."
Their latest film is "Inside Llewyn Davis," an evocative story of a singer struggling to define success in the folk music scene of the early 1960s.
Morgan, David. "The Coen Brothers." Sunday Morning. CBS News, 2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
Unit Essential Questions:
The Quest Story
A quest is a journey towards a goal. It is a plot device used frequently in literature. Dorothy was on a quest to get back to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz, as is Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The objects of quests require tremendous effort to achieve; the hero must overcome many obstacles and travel long distances through exotic locations that involves great danger. Watch this brilliant video explaining the formula of a hero story. Note the stages of the journey that the hero takes. You will look at True Grit as an example of a hero story.
Unit Essential Questions:
- In what way is True Grit an example of a quest story?
- How do authors create complex characters?
- What are the characteristics of a true hero?
- Why do film directors make the decisions they do when adapting the novel to a movie?
The Quest Story
A quest is a journey towards a goal. It is a plot device used frequently in literature. Dorothy was on a quest to get back to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz, as is Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The objects of quests require tremendous effort to achieve; the hero must overcome many obstacles and travel long distances through exotic locations that involves great danger. Watch this brilliant video explaining the formula of a hero story. Note the stages of the journey that the hero takes. You will look at True Grit as an example of a hero story.