¶ … Good Man Hard Find," short film, "Black Hearts Bleed Red." http://www.
Flannery O'Conner's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Jari Cain Rossi's motion picture "Black Hearts Bleed Red" both address an account involving a dysfunctional American family traveling through a rural scenery and falling victim to a band of ruthless escaped convicts. Rossi's film is an adaptation of the short story, but fails to provide the same intensity that the story provides. This is also probable to be a result of the director's choice to provide viewers with a different perspective on the storyline.
The two storylines appear to be very similar when considering matters from a general point-of-view. One of the most intriguing aspects about both works is that they succeed in influencing readers, and, respectively, viewers, to experience feelings related to grotesque as they struggle to find a meaning for each character's attitude toward the others. All of these characters seemed to be self-centered as they constantly focus on influencing the others in sharing their point-of-view (Friedman & Lawson 115).
Even with the fact that the writer and the director present people with an image regarding a dysfunctional family, it is difficult for readers and viewers to refrain from associating stereotypes with most of the characters. It actually seems that the characters are typical Americans who take on their roles seriously, as the grandmother reads tabloids, Bailey reads the sports section, and the children read the amusing parts. The overall structure of the short story and the film are horribly farcical, taking into account that the family's future is actually related to tabloid stories involving cruel criminals and innocent victims.
Rossi presents the divergence between Bailey's wife and his mother...
Instead of portraying it as a simple mother-in-law -- daughter-in-law relationship, the director emphasizes the tension between them and the fact that the wife is actually jealous as a result of the influence Bailey's mother has on the man.
While O'Conner seems concerned about providing readers with a sad account, Rossi takes things further and introduces dark ideas that are likely meant to confuse viewers by making it difficult and almost impossible to decide whether they should sympathize with the killers or the victims. O'Conner is more humane at this stage, taking into account that even though the characters in her story are egotistical, they also induce feelings related to pity. Many readers are probable to feel sorry for the family's
death in spite of the fact that all of its members seem arrogant at first.
O'Conner adopts a more classical approach at dealing with the story and she introduces a series of elements that make it seem that the story was inspired from Ancient Greek tragedies. It is intriguing to consider how the grandmother reads headlines that present stories similar to the one involving her family at the point when they come across the escaped convicts. Irony dominates most of the story as readers can anticipate the fact that the characters are going to come across serious problems from the very first moment when the story emphasizes the news story concerning the convicts.
Even with the fact that Rossi puts across a much more vivid
portrayal of the experiences the characters go through, O'Conner also manages to paint a vibrant picture of the events the family experiences. The short story can practically be read as a comic strip, taking into account that it almost seems that it imitates a comic strip layout. "The best way for us to appreciate "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," therefore, is to bring to it the same expectations that we bring to a good comic book."…
