Iterations of the same story

        One story can be interpreted into many different stories based on who the author is or even the type of literature it is. Most of the time, unless giving just a factual rendition of events, the author’s own thoughts and ideas of the story that inspired them shapes what their own story becomes. That is why so many iterations of the same story can be found. One true story that inspired many writers resulting in quite a few different iterations was that of Charles Schmid, who was found guilty of murdering three young girls in Tuscon, Arizona in the early 1960’s.

        In the non-fiction iterations of this story, Murder in the Desert, Crime: Secrets in the Sand, and Arizona: Growing up in Tuscon, the true story does not change much just some give more facts than others. Murder in the Desert is a story by the attorney present at the trial of Schmid who goes into detail about the crimes and in describing Charles Schmid. They all three say that he was a young athlete who was pretty popular with the girls, wore makeup, and bragged about killing the three girls. They all said that he put things in his boots to make him appear taller, while varying on the actual objects used. While they all seemed to give pretty factual information on the case, each authors portrays a different view on the subject. While one seems to blame the friends of Charles Schmid that he supposedly bragged to for not coming forward sooner, the other puts the blame on the parent’s obliviousness to the lives of their teenagers.

         In the song by Bob Dylan, “Baby Blue”, it is harder to see the original story because of the way it is interpreted into such a vague perception of the idea. Dylan refers to a girl and a predator, but he also differs in the sense that he is almost saying that it’s all over now like the girl is okay. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates is actually created from the Bob Dylan song, but it still portrays some of the details that the original story does. Joyce talks about the creepy older guy who preys on younger girls and how he stuffs his shoes to make him taller ,but he only goes after one girl in the book and does not murder her. She even mentioned the girl having a sister and portrayed a busy road in which the girls cross to get to a burger joint, which was mentioned in Arizona: Growing up in Tuscon. The movie Smooth Talk is very much an elaborated version of Joyce Carol Oates short story and does not vary too much on the critical points of her story. But while Oates leaves the fate of the young girl up to the readers imagination, the movie portrays the girl getting raped but then being able to go home which is very different from the three girls being murdered in real life. In the YouTube version of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, the main characters are much the same as in Oates version, but the ending is changed where the girl is not harmed at all. This version is more of a spoof than an actual interpretation of the story.

          In all of the stories, the true character of Charles Schmid never really changes in the sense that he is a predator and goes after younger girls. Many of the stories keep the details about Schmid like the make-up and fact that he tries to make himself taller, but vary in the way that they tell it and how describe his nature. The iterations of the stories vary greatly because of each individual author’s beliefs and perceptions of the original story and how they want to retell it to make it their own.

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