The Lu Family

Theme

Book

Movie

Racism

The Lu Family: Being the only Asian family in Corrigan, Jeffrey and his family is a victim of the towns sickening racism. For example:

• The incident with Sue Findlay: at the town gathering she intentionally poured hot water on Jeffreys mother.
• The towns negligence of the Lu family’s loss in the Vietnam war: Jeffreys mother had lost her family in the Vietnam war and tribute was made for them by them by the town.
• Constant name calling by the townspeople: Jeffrey is often called “Cong” and The Lu family  is called the red rats, both of which slandering them due to their Vietnamese background.

Jasper Jones: Jasper is used in the narrative to portray the issue of prejudice. His aboriginal background is detested by the Corrigan community causing them view him with malice.

The Lu Family: Like the book, the movie is able to address the issue of racism in Corrigan. Incidences with Ms Lu and Sue Findlay; and Mr Lu is shown in the movie.

• Although most of the key events in the book regarding racism appears int he movie, the impact of the Vietnam war on the Lu family was not shown.

Jasper Jones: He is, specifically, used to address the issue of prejudice, his aboriginal background was mentioned only once when he was talking to Charlie about his mother. He said

“She (Jasper’s Mother) is who I get my colour from”

Prejudice

Jack Lionel: In both the movie and book Mad Jack Lionel is perfectly depicted. Due to Corrigan’s small town mentality he has been the target of the towns prejudice. The public had taken advantage of his misery by manipulating his story for their small talk and gossips, creating a bad image of him.

Jasper Jones: being the main target of prejudice, we are shown how brutally and mercilessly he is treated

• Being blamed for almost all crimes, including being accused for Laura’s disappearance
• Being stamped as a rotten model by the townspeople

Coming-of-age

Charlie: Charlies character development and story arc was exceptionally illustrated in the book.

• His transition from youth to adulthood is shown through the use of internal monologues and dialogues.
• Throughout the novel we see Charlie, unlike his peers Jeffrey, Eliza and Jasper, is able to see Corrigan’s toxic outlook and attitude towards people like: Jack Lionel, Jasper Jones and Jefferey Lu.
• He is able to:
• Take responsibilities of his own actions
• Keep secrets and maintain his privacy
• Have opinions about issues
• View the world from a mature perspective Example:
• His thoughts on the apologies and the word “sorry” and how they can be both noble and dishonourable
• His disgust towards war and sympathy towards people who lose their lives in wars.
• His opinion on growing up

Jasper: His passage to adulthood is also well portrayed. He learns what it means to be an adult: Being able to maintain yourself in difficult circumstances. He is able to do this competently in Corrigan with Laura Wishart’s disappearance and the towns false accusations. He says growing up is about how you act and handle yourself when you’re out of your comfort zone.

Charlie: Charlie with his limited usage of internal monologues in the movie makes the theme of “coming-of-age” difficult understand from the viewers perspective.

• Although our knowledge about Charlie’s thoughts are limited in the movie, we still see the event where he learns that he is a good liar. This was when he was confronted by the town police.
• This was his first step towards adulthood.
• We also see this transition when he decides to meet Mad Jack Lionel. He shows extreme courage and sense of responsibility, due to the promise he made to Jasper.
• This also shows that he values the promises he keeps, indicating his development as a person.

Jasper: Since most of his development is also narrated by Charlie and some of the events in the book where we see more of Jasper’s growth, for example under the tree in Jasper’s glade, when he and Charlie had a long conversation about becoming a man, are not shown in the movie, it makes the viewers perception and understanding of Jasper’s character development hard to cope with and therefore causing the Coming-of-age element of the story difficult to portray.