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Actors: Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The World According to Garp |
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Based on John Irving's 1978 bestseller, this 1982 movie portrays the life of T.S. Garp (Williams, in an early role), and his mother Jenny Fields (Close). Jenny doesn't understand or feel lust, so she impregnates herself by a severely wounded and bedridden World War II tail gunner in order to birth a son. Garp grows up with a great lust for life and the ambition to be a serious writer. His book, The Magic Gloves, is overshadowed by Mom's feminist manifesto, A Sexual Suspect, however, which brings Jenny lots of attention and eventually makes her head of a halfway house for abused women and the "Ellen James cult" (named after an 11-year-old who was raped and had her tongue cut out).
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The World According to Garp |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Polit/Social/Race/Gender activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- girls fighting for rights
Family, loving
Yes
Special relationship with
- mother
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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