Line #17 YMMV/EastOfEden


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: As Creator/JamesDean has gone down as a pop culture icon, the movie tends to be more remembered than the book. Fans are surprised that the movie only deals with the fourth and final part of the book - and the entire story spans a generation.
2	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
3	** With regards to how 'good' Aron is at the start of the film. He's well behaved yes, but there are hints that he's something of a BitchInSheepsClothing. In the Ferris Wheel scene, Abra talks about how Aron says they're in love and tells her what their lives are going to be like. She also implies that she feels she has to suppress her own personality in order to live up to Aron's ridiculously high standards of what 'good' is - implying that he's every bit as controlling as his father. Then again, in early scenes at least he does seem to have affection for Cal when no one else does. But how much of that is down to Cal being TheUnfavourite? A wedge only starts coming between the two brothers when Cal starts being proactive - does Aron feel threatened that Cal might replace him as the favourite son?
4	** A DeletedScene included on the DVD between the two brothers gives the suggestion that Aron is far more manipulative than he seems - and that his status as the 'good' son comes from him essentially performing and imitating his father.
5	** Kate in the film is treated with a more sympathetic edge than in the book, leaving it possible that she regrets running out on her two sons. The first conversation between her and Cal starts off very affectionately, but her walls go up as soon as he tells her he's there to talk money. So it's possible she may have wanted to reach out to them, but didn't out of fear they would reject her. Or perhaps shame that she's the madam of a brothel now.
6	* AwardSnub:
7	** Some feel that Creator/JulieHarris deserved a Best Actress or Supporting Actress UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination. These days, some viewers claim she comes close to stealing the movie from Creator/JamesDean.
8	** The film received four Academy Award nominations, but it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.
9	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDnUxj_19YA theme music]] composed by Lee Holdridge for the 1981 TV miniseries adaptation has been repurposed by David Copperfield for his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvV3G5WQgwg Flying illusion]], by Michelle Kwan for a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuHu9rwqdrw figure skating routine]], and by Placido Domingo as the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2eiJKKPs5c "An American Hymn"]].
10	* CantUnHearIt: When Creator/JohnSteinbeck saw Creator/JamesDean, he said, "Jesus Christ, he IS Cal".
11	* CompleteMonster: Mr. Edwards is a ruthless whoremaster who manages to upstage [[TheSociopath Cathy Ames]] herself in depravity. Running a variety of prostitution rings across the country that he keeps in line by [[WouldHitAGirl routinely beating his workers bloody]] and threatening them with homelessness or jail time to force them into servitude, Edwards forbids his women from becoming pregnant under penalty of being kicked out or having haphazard, oftentimes lethal abortions performed on them. Edwards also hides the fact that most of his workers carry sexual diseases, constantly shuffling them around so that the hapless men to whom they transmit the infections can never find the guilty parties. When he falls under Cathy's seductive spell, Edwards comes to begrudge the woman for making him feel genuine love, and plans to {{blackmail}} her into servitude as his personal whore to overcome his emotions towards her; instead, he ends up [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown viciously beating her to within an inch of her life]] and leaving her for dead, Edwards [[LoveIsAWeakness rebuking love as a weakness]] and promising to never feel it towards anyone again.
12	* CriticalDissonance: At the time, many critics scoffed at the film. Creator/JamesDean was called a poor man's Creator/MarlonBrando. Nonetheless the film was a hit with audiences and Dean became a star overnight.
13	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Kate in the film is a very memorable character, despite having about 10 minutes of screen time. The Academy agreed, apparently, giving Jo Van Fleet an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
14	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
15	** Abra and Cal's first big conversation, where she tells the story of how she once threw a $3000 diamond ring in the river (which is about $90,000 by today's standards). She casually says it made her father "terribly angry", and Cal giggles "I reckon it ''would''". He then does a DoubleTake as Abra says that [[InsaneTrollLogic she then forgave her father.]] After hearing her reasoning, he asks if they ever found the ring, she says "never" and the two collapse laughing.
16	** When Kate and Cal have their first talk, she asks about Aron and if he's like her too. Cal says "no, he's ''good''" and Kate [[ActuallyPrettyFunny cackles with laughter]].
17	* HarsherInHindsight:
18	** The film adaption opens with the exposition "In northern California, the Santa Lucia Mountains, dark and brooding, stand like a wall between the peaceful agricultural town of Salinas and the rough and tumble fishing port of Monterey, fifteen miles away." Since the late 20th Century this has been flipped around as Salinas has become dangerously violent with gang related crime while Monterey has become a quiet, successful, tourist city partially because of the works of Creator/JohnSteinbeck.
19	** The film also has James Dean playing the brother [[spoiler: who outlives his other one, since Aron enlists in World War I and is confirmed to die in the book]]. In real life, Richard Davalos would outlive his on-screen brother by several decades.
20	* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Abra and Cal's growing connection is this with the knowledge that Julie Harris was essentially the same on set with everyone. Creator/EliaKazan called her "one of the most beautiful people I ever met".
21	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
22	** Abra and Cal's growing friendship. She realises that he's not a creepy delinquent, but a similarly angry and love starved young adult just like her. Reaching out to him is a great comfort, and also provides her with a partner who understands her, rather than how Aron puts her on a pedestal.
23	** The ending of the film actually. [[spoiler: Adam shows signs of recovering from his stroke, and whispers to Cal to stay with him, giving his son the love he'd been denied. Cal delivers this information to a delighted Abra, and they share a beautiful, passionate kiss]].
24	** Behind the scenes, Julie Harris spoke about James Dean and said that, despite his tempestuous behaviour, she "loved him so much" and counted herself as lucky to be one of the two women to have kissed him on film.
25	* HilariousInHindsight: Modern readers may be amused by the pairing of Aron and Abra, now that both of them share a name with a species of {{Franchise/Pokemon}}.
26	* HoYay: Not necessarily in the film, but present in one screen test between Creator/JamesDean and Richard Davalos. In the scene, Cal takes his shirt off in front of Aron and the two wrestle on the floor. The scene isn't in the film, possibly to avoid any IncestSubtext.
27	* {{Moe}}: Although Cal is TroubledButCute, there are several moments of child-like whimsy that make him very endearing; most notably his little dance through the bean field.
28	* NarmCharm: Some of Cal's mannerisms in the movie are genuinely bizarre. But James Dean imbues him with such sincere emotion, it doesn't detract from the power of the scenes. At least not to a degree that ruins the film.
29	* NightmareFuel:
30	** There's something subtly terrifying about Aron's ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Cal. Aron had previously appeared to be a kind and courteous sort. But here the gloves come off and he chews Cal out - telling him how horrible and worthless he is. Remember that this is coming from the one person who at the start of the film had loved and defended Cal. The focus is on Abra's reaction to this as she listens - and it's strongly implied she's just had her image of Aron shattered.
31	** To say nothing of Aron [[spoiler: after he finds out the truth about Kate. Adam last sees him on the train heading off to enlist in the army. He's LaughingMad and even smashes his head through a window when he sees his father]].
32	* OneSceneWonder: In the film, there's Kate's maid Anne. She has a lengthy sequence where Cal tries to coax Kate's whereabouts out of her, after which she's not seen again. She's still very memorable and has quite a lot of chemistry with Creator/JamesDean.
33	* SpecialEffectFailure:
34	** Early in the film when Cal rides on top of the train, it's a very obvious blue screen effect.
35	** Throughout the film, it's very obvious which scenes have been dubbed. In some cases, the characters' mouths don't even move.
36	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: For some, Cal crosses the MoralEventHorizon when [[spoiler: he tells Aron the truth about their mother and takes him to the brothel. He does so with the full intention of hurting him. This results in Aron completely going off the deep end and running off to enlist in the war]]. The fact that this plot point is dropped and left unresolved makes it a little hard to sympathise with Cal.
37	* ValuesDissonance:
38	** In the novel the two 14-year-olds who try to have sex with Cathy, age 10, defend themselves by saying Cathy initiated things and charged them money. They are telling the truth, but regardless of this many modern readers will still see the boys' behavior with Cathy as child rape, no matter how manipulative and willing she was.
39	** Modern readers may feel the same way about her 28-year-old Latin teacher's attempt to seduce her when she was 14.
40	** The narrator describes the Native Americans who first inhabited Salinas Valley as a "an inferior breed without energy, inventiveness, or culture" who were too lazy to work the land and thus deserved to lose it. Later, when describing Adam's participation in the Indian Wars, the narrator claims that their extermination was sad but unavoidable.
41	* ValuesResonance:
42	** The film's portrayal of Cal as a misunderstood loner has endured heavily over the years; he's not a perfect victim but rather a fully rounded character with a lot of depth. The portrayal of how parental abuse can be done non-maliciously and of prejudice towards children who aren't perfect angels is extremely resonant today. Cal also deconstructs toxic masculinity, with the sense that all he wants is love, and that's shown as a perfectly valid thing for a man to want that doesn't detract from his worth.
43	** Abra's story likewise is a big parable on not putting women on pedestals. Aron idolizes her and treats her like a saint - and the result is that she feels she's almost performing for him and can't be herself. She falls for Cal because he sees her as a person, and she's allowed to be her flawed self around him. It's very refreshing to see Abra still treated as a virtuous character even with her flaws.
44	* VindicatedByHistory:
45	** Both the book and the film got mixed reviews when they were released, although both have gained a lot of admiration in the decades since.
46	** At the time, James Dean's sudden death caused him to [[PosthumousPopularityPotential overshadow nearly everyone else in the cast]]. Richard Davalos was hit especially hard, getting completely forgotten. As the years have gone on, however, his performance as Aron has been held in higher regard.
47	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The epic religious symbolism is the entire point of the book.

Context YMMV / EastOfEden