To Think : To Create
Most, if not all book lovers that are also movie goers, will always agree on one thing – the book was better. Nothing beats the book, all film adaptation are just that: adaptations, they’re not originals, they will always have that one thing that they can be compared to – the book. There is nothing in this world, and in the next, that can invalidate that fact, save for one thing, one godsend – having not read the book.
Movies are watched not because of who the actors and actresses are, though Twilight was watched by many simply due to Robert Pattinson, but that’s beside the point. Movies are watched due to their entertainment value, they are one of the escape from reality experiences that people enjoy when the world, the real one, becomes too much for them. Movies, film, have been around grabbing at the attention of millions for countless – fine countable – years. They have even been used to propagate, and diseminate information, life lesson, morals, and the like to the unwitting masses.
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is not such a movie. It is not an escape from reality, it simply gives another outlook on reality. It is propaganda against what most people have come to believe – life sucks and there’s nothing you can do about it. The movie tells the story of a woman who no matter what life dealt her was, at the end of the day, stood up on top of the world, at the very least the world that was made up of her life. Through thick and thin she was able to not just make do, but battle against the norms, and go so far as do a man’s job, which is saying something in itself.
She fought against the odds, coming out on top, and doing so in one of the most irritatingly enviable ways possible, by winning contests during the “contest era” of the 1950′s and 1960′s. She can be likened to the life of Helene Hadsell also known as the woman who won every contest she entered. Where Hadsell believes that luck can be manipulated, Evelyn Ryan believed that miracles occur on a daily basis – in some way that can be seen as manipulation of luck. To think is to create, and not only did she create, but she won too.
The movie is an inspiration, but not enough to make a lot more people move, and go about reflecting on their lives. There was not enough of a real vibe to it, as compared to the tone of voice that reading a book can bring. But nonetheless it is a movie worth watching, its movie poster may make it look like a chick flick, but it is anything but.
If nothing else, by watching this movie, you are sure to be inspired to enter at least one sweepstake or contest in the coming weeks. And lets face it, you’ve got to be in it to win it, so if you don’t try, then you never stand a chance at winning and unlike Evelyn, you’ll never understand that addictive high that comes from the buzz of a prizewinning moment! Watch the movie, read the book and above all else, enter, enter, enter – until finally you will win.
