All The Tropes

The Green Mile: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

The Green Mile (view source)

Revision as of 17:38, 10 April 2023

2,992 bytes removed ,  1 year ago
no edit summary
VisualWikitext
(YMMV)
No edit summary
 
(13 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{work|wppage=The Green Mile (novel)}}
{{Infobox book
| title = The Green Mile
| image =
| caption =
| author = Stephen King
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Dark Fantasy, Southern Gothic, Magic Realism
| publication date = March–August 1996
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''"This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain. And the electric chair was there too, of course."''|'''Paul Edgecombe'''}}
 
'''''The Green Mile''''' is a 1996 dramatic novel by [[Stephen King]]., Originallyoriginally released as a [[Serial Novel]] in six installmentsinstalments.
 
The year was 1932 (1935 in the movie). John Coffey, a [[Gentle Giant]] black man, has been condemned to die by the electric chair for the raping and killing of two young girls. What follows is a supernatural journey that not only reveals Coffey's wondrous powers and proves he didn't do the crime: but [[Downer Ending|still does the time]], but changes the lead guard's life forever.
 
Eventually made into [[The Green Mile (film)|a movie]] in 1999, directed by Frank Darabont, who also directed ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'', and starring [[Tom Hanks]]. And like Shawshank, it was an Oscar charmer, if not a winner.
 
----
 
=== The book provides examples of: ===
{{tropelist}}
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Neither ''Allen's Alley'' nor ''Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge'' had premiered in 1932. King acknowledges this in the afterword.
** Though a ''[[Popeye]]'' Tijuana Bible was plausible, and the mouse could've been named Steamboat Willy after either the Mickey Mouse short or the [[Buster Keaton]] film it parodied.
Line 23 ⟶ 37:
* [[Blessed with Suck]]: Coffey. "It's like pieces of glass in my head. All the time."
** Edgecombe's long life. "Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation."
* [[Book and Switch]]: Percy Wetmore was reading a Tijuana Bible (a pornographic comic that's from the 1930s') and its hiding bebhind the mental hospital regulations book. What's funny was that this scene was also in the book, where he's reading a [[Popeye]] Tijuana Bible.
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Wharton. When Coffey calls him "a bad man" he responds: "That's right, [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|nigger]]. Bad as you'd want."
** But you also have to remember that this was the South in the '30s, where the N-word was thrown about like it was nothing. However, none of the good guys say it without filtering it through another voice or shaming someone else.
* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: Delacroix's botched execution. ItsIt's not called "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix" for nothing.
* [[Deadly Distant Finale]]: In each character's last appearance, Paul describes their eventual fate. Pretty much every major character in the book is covered.
* [[Death by Woman Scorned]]: Paul mentions that during his time, there was only one woman in the death row, who put up with years of her husband beating her, but when she found out that he's having an affair, she killed him right away.
Line 87 ⟶ 102:
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Literally; King's wife asked the question and it led to the [[Framing Device]].
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: {{spoiler|Paul Edgecombe, at the end, wishes for death.}}
** Also, {{spoiler|John Coffey, when Edgecombe offers to let him escape. "I'm tired, Boss."}}
* [[Younger Than They Look]]: By the time {{spoiler|Coffey's execution rolls around}}, the 30-something parents of the two dead girls turned basically into an elderly couple from grief.
----
=== The movie provides examples of: ===
* [[Big No]]: Del when Percy steps on Mr Jingles.
** Also Paul and the other guards when Percy shoots Wild Bill.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: The book keeps the state that Cold Mountain is in a secret; the movie makes it Louisiana. The problem? The book specifically mentions the state uses counties as subdivisions; Louisiana uses parishes.
** Also, during the movie's timeframe Louisiana conducted executions at parish courthouses, not at the state penitentiary.
* [[Large Ham]]: Wild Bill, who would be pretty entertaining if he weren't such a disgusting, monstrous character.
* [[Last Request]]: {{spoiler|Coffey receives his choice of dinner on the day of his execution as is standard, and Paul begs him to ask for other things, including a chance of escape to which he and the other guards would gladly turn the other way. John assures them that he is ready to die. Even earlier in the film, John tells them that he's never seen a "flicker show", so a projector is set up and he is allowed to watch the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film ''Top Hat''.}}
{{quote|{{spoiler|'''John:''' <''watching, entranced''> "They's angels... Angels, just like up in heaven..!"}}}}
** {{spoiler|Seeing ''Top Hat'' in his old age is enough to spook Edgecomb into telling his story to Elaine.}}
* [[Oscar Bait]]
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Some of the more rational explanations in the book are turned into supernatural explanations in the movie. {{spoiler|Instead of Paul figuring out who the actual killer was on his own, John Coffey gave him the information through his touch.}}
* [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]]: After {{spoiler|John [[Mind Rape|MindRapes]] Percy into killing William}}, the good guys say they understand why he did it to Percy, but ask why he did that to William. They understand fully after [[The Reveal]], but why did it take that long? William was pretty much established as a [[Complete Monster]] who was already on death row for murder. They knew he'd done worse than Percy, just not on-screen.
** They're specifically asking why {{spoiler|''John''}} did it to Wharton. And they'd probably be right to ask: In the book it was mentioned that the two men didn't pass more than two dozen words past each other their entire time on the Mile, and half of those were when Wharton grabbed him.
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Wharton has an 8-year-old's sense of humor, but can be quite cunning, {{spoiler|and is a rapist pedophile}}.
* [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]]: Which is why Delacroix's crime was not mentioned in the film.
* [[Retirony]]: Percy ending up a patient at the Briar Ridge Mental Institution, after being 'encouraged' to get a transfer there.
* [[Soul Fragment]]: John gives a "part of himself" to Paul.
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: Mr. Jingles. In the novel, he finally dies of old age in the end. In the film, he's last shown sleeping.
* [[Survival Mantra]]: "Heaven... Heaven... I'm in heaven..."
* [[Take Five]]: Early in the movie;
{{quote|'''Paul Edgecombe''': Percy, they're moving house in the infirmary. Why don't you go see if they could use some help?
'''Percy Whetmore''': They got all the men they need.
'''Paul Edgecombe''': Why don't you go make sure?
''(A pause) ''
'''Paul Edgecombe''': I don't care where you go, as long as it's not here at this moment.}}
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: Paul taking the most epic piss anyone has ever taken after his urinary infection is cured.
* [[Working on the Chain Gang]]: Seen right at the beginning of the movie.
 
{{The Big Read}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Nineties{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Works By Stephen King]]
[[Category:Academy Award]]▼
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Matte World Digital]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]
[[Category:SmallSouthern Genres and Unclassified LiteratureGothic]]
[[Category:TheLiterature Greenof Milethe 1990s]]
▲[[Category:AcademySerial AwardNovel]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Mile, The}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1235040...2008585"