MovieChat Forums > Finding Forrester (2001) Discussion > Forrester was quite a SOB toward Crawfor...

Forrester was quite a SOB toward Crawford in his own right


OK, let's go back in time to 1950 or whenever 'Avalon Landing' came out.

Forrester stuns the world and writes one of the great 20th Century novels right out of the box. He wins the Pulitzer Prize.

Virtually every literary critic and reviewer in the world writes a review of "Avalon." The vast majority are glowing, a few are negative.

So here comes Robert Crawford, at the time a newly-graduated professor of English or literature at some university. He writes a book, focusing on four great authors, all dead except Forrester.

What does Pulitzer Prize winner Forrester do? He bluffs virtually all the leading publishers out of publishing Crawford's book, saying (falsely) he is working on a new book and publishers need to drop Crawford's book if they want to bid on HIS.

Why would Forrester get so cranked up over an (unpublished) book by an obscure English professor? He had been reviewed in every paper in the world (sometimes badly). What gives Forrester the right to squash unpublished books by obscure nobody writers??

If Crawford's book panned 'Avalon,' what the hell did Forrester care? It was already a worldwide hit; one bad review by some dude nobody never heard of wasn't going to change anybody's mind about it.


It would have been a nice touch if somewhere in the movie Forrester said, "you know, I really acted like a jackass 50 years ago."






================

4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

reply

Writers can be quirky, eccentric people. There really is no rhyme or reason for the whys of what they do.

While Crawford is clearly a jack@ss, I did feel sorry for him that Forrester quashed Crawford's book as he did.

However, while some writers take criticism in hand, and can deal well with it, others can't. Further, while writers might be able to take criticism to a point, they may at some time reach the breaking point, and perhaps that is what happened in this story. Perhaps there was something about HOW Crawford went about his book/criticism/whatever, that really irked Forrester, and made him decide that he didn't want the book printed (not that he really had that right, but he took it upon himself anyway).

And yes, I'm a writer. And while I would like to think I've grown enough as a writer to be able to deal objectively with criticism, sometimes I still can't. When in those situations, I find that the best course of action for me, is to walk away from the words for a day or two, breathe, calm down, and then go back and reread the criticism in a more objective manner. It helps me from wrongly flying off the handle. However, not everyone can do this, or chooses to this.

Also, as to why Forrester may not have apologized? One, his ego may not have let him, and two (and I think this is the real reason), it is possible that Crawford never knew WHY his book was suddenly dropped, only that it was. Publishers may not always give a reason, even when pressed, why they're not publishing something that they previously were planning to. All Crawford may have been told was that, "Circumstancs have changed, and we are no longer going in this direction. Our apologies," or something like that.

reply

Nowadays, if a hypothetical "Forrester" were to try to quash "Crawford's" book it would just generate publicity and end up making Crawford a fortune. It's not a great plot point, but the movie works anyway. Dead Poet's Society is another example of a movie that just barely holds together--yet it does.

reply

I don't know if you have to go any further than Forrester wanted to disappear, both literally and figuratively, and that is why he killed Crawford's book. As we learn, it all likely came from his story about his brother's death (the ER nurse mentioning his book). He said he didn't want to hear any more about what other people thought his book meant.

You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design

reply