"Where Are You Going?" and "Smooth Talk"

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, was primarily inspired by two sources. First, the serial killer, Charles Schmid of Tuscon Arizona, and second, Bob Dylan's song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." It then analyzes how Oates' short story was brought to life when Joyce Chopra directed the film named "Smooth Talk" in 1986 and how, although the film is inspired by Oates' short story, it greatly compromised her original vision.

From the Paper:

"First, Charles Schmid's killings in the 1960's were a primary source of inspiration for Oates' short story. He was notoriously famous for his "youthful magnetism". Schmid persuaded young girls to fall in love with him and later strangled them to death. He is very similar to one of the main characters in Oates' short story named Arnold Friend.
According to Hanna Miller of the Arizona Daily Star, "Charles Schmid, who's killings brought Tucson national attention in the '60s, was an unlikely teen idol who painted a mole on his powdered face and stuffed tin cans into his cowboy boots to add a few inches to his tiny frame." In comparison, Arnold Friend also stuffed his boots to appear taller for he too had a small frame and very persistent with persuasion. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dylan, Bob. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." By Bob Dylan. Bringing It All Back Home. Sony Music, 1965.
• Miller, Hanna. "Killer put Tucson in spotlight Charles Schmid story was one of brutality, youthful magnetism." Arizona Daily Star [Tucson, Ariz.] 5 Dec. 1999, 9A. ProQuest Newsstand. ProQuest. Glendale Community College Library, Glendale, CA. 30 Sep. 2007 http://www.proquest.com/
• Oates, Joyce-Carol. "When Characters From the Page Are Made Flesh On the Screen :When Fiction Becomes Film. " New York Times (1857-Current file) [New York, N.Y.] 23 Mar.1986,H1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004). ProQuest. Glendale Community College Library, Glendale,
• Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?." Legacies. Ed.
• Schmidt, Jan Zlotnik and Carley Rees Bograd. 3rd Ed. Boston: Thompson, 2006. 45-55.

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