🌹The Rose & Skull ☠️ 

Response 3E

Topics: The film leaves out Vera and the James Bond theme. What difference does this make? ❧ Compare the treatment of Jill in the novel and the film. ❧ Creative option: create a scenario in which Hamilton stayed to watch the Wayang on the outskirts of Bandung, in which Kumar is not quite so loyal to Hamilton, or in which Hamilton is not quite so unaware, impetuous, or driven.

Creative Scenarios & the Wayang - Jill - Vera & the Bond Theme

Creative Scenarios & the Wayang

I rewrote the scene that takes place on p251 middle, Sukarno's speech and Kumar's warning: Kumar turned away; then turned back as though he remembered something. The usual sardonic glint was gone from his eyes as they narrowed in on Hamilton, they seemed somehow darker. He put out his hand as if to shake it, confused, Hamilton took his hand. Quickly, and with no pause, Kumar pulled him close, and whispered into his ‘You were on our death list.’ Then he turned and left as rapidly as he had approached. As Sukarno reappeared on the dais, no one in the crowd noticed as the journalist fell, blood pouring from his abdomen.

Kumar and I stayed to watch the wayang on the outskirts of Bandung one evening. We sat in a dimly lit room and spoke of personal matters as we sip our beers. “I need to go to the washroom,” Kumar says after checking his watch a few times and acting suspicious. I got up and followed without him noticing only to hear him speak badly of me to another agent of my crew's plans and places and times I were going to be in an area. What kind of friend would turn around and tell someone personal information to hurt someone?

On the outskirt of Bandung, Hamilton decides to stay the night to watch the local Wayang puppet show. While watching the show, Kumar gave Hamilton a coffee and invite him for dinner at his friend’s house later. Hamilton gladly received Kumar hospitality, and they start the journey after the show ended. However, little did he know, the coffee that he drank was poisoned with cyanide, and he was left dying in the dark forest. All along, Kumar has leaked the information of Hamilton's location to the communist party and helped them plan Hamilton's murder plot.

One of the many perils of travelling to distant lands is the conflict that arises from failing to properly understand your surroundings. Billy Kwan himself said that if you want to understand Java, you have to understand the Wayang. For Hamilton to take those words to heart and watch a local Wayang, it would mean he would be forced to witness the country from the position of those who live within it as opposed to as an outsider merely gazing at starvation and strife. His reports on the country would be significantly less condescending towards Indonesia and its people.

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Jill

In both the film and book, Jill is conflicted about engaging romantically with Hamilton, but for different reasons. In the film, she begins disinterested, mocking his “melodramatic” journalism, and when later tempted by his charm, she fears “complicating things” before moving away. In the book, she’s immediately impressed with Hamilton and his “brilliant” reporting, but her history of heartbreak feeds trepidation. Her internal conflict around love is voiced through concern for Billy’s attachment to Hamilton when she says, “[w]hen one person makes another the centre of his life he can sometimes be left out on a limb, can’t he?”

Jill let her guard down and told the man she’s in love with about the “ugly truth” of a Chinese ship on route with arms for the Indonesian communist and therefore why she is leaving Indonesia. As journalism seems to be more important to Hamilton than keeping a secret, Jill is quickly betrayed by her lover. Even though she told Hamilton this information in confidence, he leaked her secret and broke her trust. She is quick to forgive Hamilton after he deceived her and met him on the plane to start a life together. After all, most forgive for a love that will change their life. (105 words)

The characters of Jill are perceived as naive, although which much difference between one another. The movie on one hand, shows the discreetness and naive tendencies that Jill was made up of, leading characters to view her as minor or small,. The idea of relationship and the craving that Guy was meant for her, engulfed her emotions and thoughts and the lustful motives were drawn out. On the other hand, the novel creates the idea that Jills "lust" is seen as complex and important to Guy's sanity in the beginning, but as the story progresses the entanglement brings chaos.

In the novel, Jill is treated more as an object of sexual desire. Jill is taunted and treated poorly by most of the members of the “Wayang Club”, they thought of her as “easy” and a “good lay”. This treatment of Jill in the novel made her feel uncomfortable going into the Wayang up to Hamilton’s room as she didn’t want rumors to spread about them. In the film, they do not touch as much on the taunting Jill receives about her sexual choices and is presented more as a smart, respected woman who was treated not as poorly as the novel depicts. (103)

In both the novel and film The Year of Living Dangerously, the wayang “princess” Jill Bryant is a British diplomat who is desired by Hamilton and Kwan. The novel focuses more on the political environment of Indonesia in the 60’s, whereas the film is more heavily centered around Hamilton and Jill’s romance. She is desired in both the novel and film, however her role as an intelligence officer for the British embassy is more prevalent in the novel. In contrast, in the film, Jill serves primarily as the object of Hamilton’s romantic desire, as well as Kwan’s puppetry. (98 words)

The nature of Billy’s puppeteering is partially muted in the film “TYOLD” compared to the novel. One of the few insights regarding manipulation is Billy’s collection of information which Billy utilizes for attaining goals. The relative difference of manipulation is most apparent during the introduction of Jill. The novel has Billy lie about being Jill’s boyfriend, while in contrast, this same lie is not present in the film. Billy's lie acts as a means of manipulative protection for Jill. As consequence, Jill is more guarded – and perceptually distant – in the novel opposed to the film.

The movie portrays Jill as a simple, strong, working woman who gets into a romantic relationship with Hamilton, unlike the novel where the same relationship results into pregnancy and she considers an abortion of their child. She is introduced in the novel as a ‘nice little thing’ by Billy Kwan. The love and care of Billy, as portrayed in the movie, later transpires into him intruding on her intimate moments with Hamilton. Her nude photographs in Billy’s file in the novel, as opposed to the headshots in the movie, are a further representation of objectification of Jill. 

To compare the character, Jill Bryant would be to compare the treatment she received from Billy and Guy. In the movie, Jill is seen as an obsession to Billy. He orchestrates the meeting for Jill and Guy, which can be seen as a moving scene, but under, it is very manipulative on his behalf. She then proceeds to be betrayed by Guy for the information she told him. In the novel, it is much more seen as a friendship with Billy. And though Guy still betrays her. She has more respect in the novel.

In both the novel and film, Jill treats Hamilton with sincerity by revealing the secret about the shipment even though she is aware of the consequences if Hamilton uses it. However, the novel better emphasizes Jill’s strong feelings for Hamilton, which leads her to cautiously treat Hamilton whenever she hints about having a committed relationship with Hamilton instead of directly mentioning it. By contrast, in the film, Jill fearlessly treats Hamilton and his news report with mockery by calling it “melodramatic” during their second encounter, which contradicts Jill’s attitude in the novel where she treats Hamilton neutrally at the start.

In the novel, Jill’s character seems to only exist as a way to push the narrative of Guy Hamilton’s story once he had fallen in love with Jill and remains as a character with no significant importance other than being used like a puppet by Billy. Whereas in the movie, Jill fills a much larger and important role, having an undercover job as an intelligence officer on a mission. She is seen as a much more stronger character with her own story and her own morals rather than her original character in the novel, who remained irrelevant so to speak.

In the film version of The Year of Living Dangerously, Hamilton is smitten with the vivacious Jill.  He pursues her with vigor until she relents to her own desire to be with him.  In the novel, Hamilton is far more reserved regarding Jill, taking his time to warm up to her "crocked" eye and protruding teeth.  In the film and novel, Hamilton treats her poorly-- betraying her trust by taking her classified information for the benefit of his career. In the novel, Hamilton also possibly cheats on her with Vera and insinuates that the baby Jill is carrying isn’t his. (100) 

My Name is Bond. James Bond.

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Vera & the Bond Theme

A mysterious Russian beauty, who is taken ahold of Guy Hamilton’s already shaky affections, drawing Hamilton away from the girl whom he’d originally fallen for (Jill).  But that is not all this Russian beauty (Vera) has going for her. There is hidden danger to Vera, a suspected Russian spy.  Not to mention an unsaid ‘James Bond’ theme that permeates the novel, coinciding with Vera’s introduction, and the ‘James Bond’ narrative (the Russian spy stuff Vera is suspected of), Hamilton believes (the ‘leading hero,’ a beautiful/mysterious woman, political intrigue), a sort of escapism in this turbulent time.  But why are these things within the novel left out of the film?  And what difference does this make? Well, with the removal of Vera from the story, there is no alluring, ‘second woman’ dynamic within the story.  This adds stability to what would have been a more tempestuous relationship, making Guy’s affections towards Jill more singular.  Moreover, removing the ‘James Bond’ theme in the novel gives a more realistic tone, thus putting focus upon the turmoil within Indonesia instead of one man’s own delusions.  Ultimately, the removal of the Russian beauty grounds the novel in realism and negates the promise of a James Bond-esque narrative.

Leaving Vera and essentially the James Bond theme out of the film simplifies the many different background stories that occur in the novel so that it becomes more easily adaptable to become a film. The only reason that it works in the novel is because the story progresses much slower and the readers have the chance to really appreciate each of the character dynamics. But if this element was added into the film, it would be a pointless piece to include in the overall story and won’t impact it much. Vera made the storyline more complex for a film.

By the film leaving out Vera we are not so easily able to see the desperation that Hamilton holds within himself, that he will do anything to get ahead, even to sexually betray the woman he claims to love. We also do not see the ways in which a woman is used tactfully to get information out of a man who prides himself on his work and his country, only to be seduced by a foreign agent whom he knows within himself to be working against him, as well as his lover. 

In The Year of Living Dangerously film, Vera and the James Bond theme are left out to provide the audience with the opportunity to focus more on the relationship between Bryant and Hamilton but also the research that Hamilton is searching for. There are other relationships formed in the film which serve a purpose to the storyline, different from the relationships in the various James Bond films. The James Bond films are more heavily concentrated on gathering intelligence than on relationships in comparison to The Year of Living Dangerously. Without the difference of relationships, the films would be very similar. (100 words).

Without vera and the James bond theme in the film, the character plot is not as deep and is missing a key aspect from the book. Vera was a temptation for guy and made his love life more complicated as she was also a Russian spy who was just trying to use him. It made the novel more complex and added to the storyline which is lost in the film. (69 words)

The difference because the film leaves out Vera and James Bond theme is that Billy and Jill left Hamilton because of different reasons, from the novel they left because of relationship betrayal and from the film they left because of political betrayal. In the novel, Billy and Jill left Hamilton because Billy told Jill that Hamilton was having an affair with Vera. But in the film, they left Hamilton because after discovering that the Communist Chinese are arming the PKI, Jill passes this information to Hamilton to save his life, but he wants to cover the Communist rebellion. 

The film leaving out Vera highlighted Hamilton's desire to improve his career. In the novel, Hamilton and Jill end their relationship because Jill found out about Vera. In the movie Hamilton and Jill end their relationship because Hamilton ignores Jill when she tries to save his life but he chose to cover the communist rebellion anyway.

Kumar introduces Vera Chostiakov to Hamiltion during their car ride who is attached to the Soviet Embassy who Kumar states is looking for a ride back to her friends. Hamilton is surprised and unsatisfied with Kumar who has now just brought this unwelcome and stranger into their lives, curious as to why. Having Vera in the novel and not in the film was different because this created a love interest for Kumar. The James Bond theme and having Vera in the movie was different because Vera was a secret agent, giving the novel a James Bond feel.

In The Year of Living Dangerously film, the themes of James Bond and Vera are left out, while in the book those themes are present. I don't think this makes a very big difference, the director Peter Weir still managed to create a great movie out of the book, leaving this theme/information out. The extra detail that the James Bond and Vera theme could have added to the film might have given the viewers information too quickly, or the details were not interesting enough to be put in the film for viewing purposes.

The absence of the Vera storyline allows Hamilton to remain the movie’s hero, rather than the flawed character Kosh wrote him to be. After feeling insecure while Jill travels with Henderson, Guy leaves town out of spite and chases the intrigue of Vera as soon as Jill returns, even though he admitted to missing her deeply while she was gone. His actions undermine his relationship with Jill, leaving Guy to wonder if she will still return to England with him. However, in the movie, once the affair is started it is never doubted, and Hamilton remains the heroic romantic lead.

Due to the film leaving out the James Bond theme, the movie is more realistic. James Bond movies are typically known as having a comical genre that contains a fictional plot. Although, in the Year of Living Dangerously, the film was made upon real life events and it visualized many graphic scenes of poverty and the outcomes of war in 1960's Indonesia.

The omission of the character of Vera and the James Bond theme from the movie adaptation of “The Year of Living Dangerously” creates a vastly different atmosphere surrounding the characters and their motivations in the movie as opposed to the novel. In the novel the Vera character is used to create an aura of mystery, as Guy and others question her intentions as she is possibly just using him to get information. This theme of spies and espionage comes to a head when Guy believes she has drugged him in the hotel room in order to get the information, although doubt is left as to whether she actually did or not.

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