girl with a pearl earring
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Uses and Gratifications Analysis
Among the uses and gratifications that a viewer might exercise during a movie are three key categories: Personal, Interpersonal, and Group. Personal uses are not involved with any other people; Interpersonal uses are gained by utilizing media in an exchange with other people communicatively; Group uses contain all collective exposures to a film that people receive through the media.
Personal growth is an example of a minor use of the film. This may be adapted by people using it as a means to learn about the period and place in which the movie is set, much like a history lesson. The backgrounds and props of the movie were portrayed using some of Johannes Vermeer's very own paintings of the time, basing every building and canal on the environment in which he lived, resulting in a very accurate representation of 17th century Holland.
Another group of people may apply a minor usage by studying the adaptation of the novel into a filmic medium. All great novels that eventually become major motion pictures will have something about them changed, as it is impossible to transfer every element from its original written form. Narration of the story becomes the actors and actresses duty; where a paragraph describing a person's emotion is simple to understand leaving little to imagination, a facial gesture is often more subtle and difficult to convey. This is evident in much of the film, as most of the story and emotions are depicted without words. Also, in adapting the novel to film, scenes are often changed to better suit the director's vision; for example, the large banquet scene in the movie is actually two separate scenes in the book...