Hedda Gabler Assignment 1 (Abdulla)

The introduction of the film is pretty similar to the introduction of the book because it has to do with the maid being anxious that the new mistress would not like the way that she does things and it’s accurate, because she’s very picky. Although to me the aunt seems much more optimistic or even happy about Hedda in the movie than it seemed in the book. It is a shame though that Hedda didn’t like the Hat because the aunt seemed very excited that she bought it because she was going to see her. Especially when you see it in the movie, you just feel really bad for her. Furthermore, when Hedda first enters in the film you see that she is just looking at everything in the background while the aunt and Tesman talk in the foreground. You really get a sense how picky and observant she is about everything. You don’t get that sense when you’re reading the book. For the most part though the film and the book are very similar. They are both able to capture the concept that the aunt and Tesman are both doing their best to please Hedda.  In both, you get the sense that she’s a person that it’s very hard to please. The filmmaker doesn’t stray that far from the writing, in fact they add much more context to the characters in the introduction. Due to the way that Hedda acts in the book, your disagreement with her behavior grows more and more. On the other hand, in the film you get the sense of who Hedda is very early on. She’s not a very likable person and it is shown through how easily she discounts the effort that people put towards keeping her happy. In addition, in the film right before Mrs. Elvsted enters, you get the sense that Hedda feels like she’s missing something. To me, it seems like the way that she’s acting might have to do with some kind of emptiness that is within her. This may have to do with the fact that she married a man because she thought it was time to get married, instead of marrying one she genuinely cared for. This situation might be worsened by the fact that her current husband cares for her so deeply. This makes her feel like should be happy, but she isn’t.