Talk:The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story)

WTF?
What the hell language is this article in, because it sure ain't English! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.194.196.196 (talk) 17:40, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

This afternoon, my husband and I went to see the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I have taught English Literature, and somehow missed this short story...originating with Fitzgerald. How, I really can't explain, however, I loved the movie, and in this age of "techno-plegarism" this idea is not unique to any one author. I have heard very old people discuss the ideaology of one digressing young to old, old to young and most of them if they were alive now would be 100 years plus... I truly was impressed by the quality of the acting (Brad Pitt), the directing,the screen writing, the make-up and artistic period-correctness of the film were EXCELLENT! I have not been touched in a long time with a film's basic plot, and for the first time in a very long time there was a sequence, plot, and closure that I haven't seen or read in a long time. Now, I am a girl from the sixties, and it is time to give credit regardless of per se tabloid accusations of theft or not. But who has, as I have told my students through the years, ever had an absolute original idea...possibly Abram and the Sumerians? Go see the movie, it is long, and you will love it. It's like Gone With The Wind, not absolutely true to the book, Scarlet in the original book she was much different than in the book. As you mature you will realize that it s AWESOME to find positive messages in life, literature and yes newly interpreted movies.

I will not go see this movie because the idea for this film was stolen from "The confessions of Max Tivoli" without the author's permission. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.14.216.254 (talk) 12:22, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * First of all, this article is not about the movie but about the short story on which it was based. Second of all, the movie is based on a short story in the 1920s, about 50 years before the author of "The Confessions of Max Tivoli was even born. Lynn25 (talk) Lynn25 (talk) 00:22, 30 July 2023 (UTC)

Awesome! this dimwit who doesnt know a damn thing really believes that a "stolen" movie wouldnt be splashed over every webpage and paper in the world. God i hate this generation, self centered stupid and unthinking.. all the while "knowing" more than anyone before them, the only good thing about you is that (with a bit of luck) ill live to see you all drown in the filth of this poluted planet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.57.82.148 (talk) 11:07, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a 1922 short story,it would be much more likely that the author of "The confessions of Max Tivoli",which I think was written in 2004,took the idea from Fitzgerald.Also even if they only made the movie because of "The confessions of Max Tivoli" it doesnt matter they are following the story by Fitzgerald.Im sure there have been other stories that involve aging backwards,and Im sure there will be more,so dont come on here and complain.--D3t3ctiv3 (talk) 23:03, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Very similar premise to a book called "The Confessions of Max Tivoli".Wikifried (talk) 08:29, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Andrew Sour is the writer but is now gay he is in webdesign. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.144.60.175 (talk) 15:48, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

i think we need a movie like this to help everyone understand how important life is the way we live it and how important are the ppl around us even old ppl that other ppl forgot abt and they loose interst in hem bcz they think they r old well i am in my 20s and i fo=ind talking with an old man is like opening a treasure of adventures life is short and life must be lived forward bcz we move forward love the movie and everything

Origins, Mark Twain
I'm having trouble finding it: somebody should find the Mark Twain quote that inspired Fitzgerald to write the story. It's important for understanding the story. I only found out about the Twain quote in print edition of the Fitzgerald story-- he wrote a short italicized preface quoting Twain and explaining that he decided to write a story based on it. (The quote is something like "it is a curious and unfortunate fact that we begin our lives young and have to end them while old" or "that the best parts of life are at the beginning, and the worst at the end" or something.) Furthermore Fitzgerald (or possibly the editor, but I forget) made acknowledgment that Fitzgerald only later learned that a work "The Notebooks" [or something] by a different author had been earlier to explore the same idea of reverse-aging. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.15.230.16 (talk) 03:21, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Martin Amis and other authors
The narrative device of reverse chronology is certainly not new. In addition to F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, Martin Amis wrote a novel titled Time's Arrow: or The Nature of the Offence (1991). The novel deals with the moral and social implications of interpreting events in reverse chronological order. (Imagine doctors wounding patients who eventually get well enough to sit around waiting rooms for hours before they leave to go home and get better!)

Homage also to Kurt Vonnegut for Slaughterhouse 5 for living events not in reverse order, but random order. Jongwinsell (talk) 14:42, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

There is also a 2005 novel entitled "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" by Andrew Sean Greer. --2601:586:4600:A980:805D:A242:E21F:D5C4 (talk) 16:30, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Move to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story)
I am moving this article to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story) and redirecting The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film) for the following reasons:

While I fully acknowledge that the story came first, the article bears no indication that the story itself was particularly notable, more so than any other story by Fitzgerald, for any reason at any time before the film adaptation was announced. The film, on the other hand, has received extremely wide coverage for a variety of reasons, and has been nominated for many of the most prestigious awards that can be bestowed upon an American film.

A look at the incoming links to the title The Curious Case of Benjamin Button indicates that the vast majority of the links are for the film, and a Google search on the title yields similar results.

When this article was created in July 2006, it was about the film (there was no existing article about the story); it was changed to an article about the short story in November 2006 with, as far as I can tell, absolutely no discussion. In the absence of any apparent discussion since then, in light of the reasons above, and in the interest of the many users who will inevitably be looking for the film's article following this morning's Oscar nominations, I'm being bold and instituting the move. Propaniac (talk) 15:24, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

-- There are no links to get to this. The links to the story page from the movie page and from the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald all link to the movie page. I had to google search and go to cashed files just to find this page. please adjust the links. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.53.110.141 (talk) 15:43, 22 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry about that, I had to leave my computer for a few minutes right before I could add the hatnote to the film article. It's there now. Propaniac (talk) 15:47, 22 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Disambiguation pages with two entries are fucking pointless. Pick one, move it to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and add a hatnote in that article linking to the other one. WP:2DAB. Skomorokh  02:28, 11 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I did pick one; someone else chose to make this a disambig, apparently with no interest in discussion or consensus, and I didn't bother to protest, but it is stupid to put the story at the main title just because it was written first. IF you want to put the speedy delete back up so that the film article can be moved back to this title, I certainly won't object. Propaniac (talk) 02:30, 11 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Just for the record, I hate disambig pages with only two entries. I agree, they're pointless. I just don't want the entry that nobody wants to look at to be the primary one. Propaniac (talk) 02:34, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

film synopsis?
Why does the article about short story contain the synopsis of the movie and not of the short story? I think that in current version, the "Film adaptation" section should end just after the first paragraph, which summarizes the differences between the book and the film and that's should be it... - Blueshade (talk) 05:40, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm a teacher trying to figure out what the plot of the story is. Is it the same as the movie? I really don't know and would have loved to discuss it. Now I am not confident and I thought Wikipedia would have the answer and I think it definitely should.37.221.244.23 (talk) 08:15, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

The film has a completely different plot from the story. Other than the name and Southern setting, they are totally different. Even the central conceit is different (in the story, Button's mind and personality fit his physical age, but in the film, they fit his chronological age). 2.31.106.92 (talk) 15:43, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Rating confusion
Is this story a kid's book or an adult's short story? If it is an adult's story, it needs to be put that way in order to prevent confusion between both genres. The same goes for the former. Edward Roussac (talk) 03:45, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

plot...?
Why is it that the article lists the film adaptation but not the actual plot of the story that the article is about?

Unless someone adds a summary, we might as well just merge this with the movie article seeing as how useless this page is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.197.88.106 (talk) 01:50, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

The Italian origins (from Giulio Gianelli's "Storia di Pipino nato vecchio e morto bambino")
According to a recent essay, the idea came from Italian novel "Story of Pipino born old and dead child" written by poet Giulio Gianelli (Turin, 1879- Rome, 1914). See: Patrizia Deabate, "Chi ispirò il Benjamin Button?" in "Storia in rete" n. 114, aprile 2015.