Sunday, August 12, 2007

"Rebel with a curse"

Sometimes I think book-fanatics who want to go see the film adaptation of their well-loved story should even think twice in the first place. The nosiest insufferable know-it-alls that they normally are, they should be banned from entering the theatre and public viewings or premieres and instead make a specialized screening where they can forever gloat in perpetuating their expertise which quite a select people give a damn anyway. This goes for the Harry Potter franchise, most especially, whose majority of the fan base feel that the film versions unjustly treated the material. Believe me, I wouldn’t want to go see an entire visual replica of a book because aside from being unbearably long, what’s the point?

I also want to contend that while some may opine that watching film adaptations the likes of Harry Potter without having to read the book first is an agonizing tedium, I believe that readers have a tougher job sitting through the entire running time. First, I believe that a film stands out as a film, one you can conveniently extricate from its material, and second, readers have the difficult job of having to distance the original material while seeing the film version in real time, and I believe few came out successful of this tedious and tricky exercise, which again explains the irritably nosy attitude.


I haven't read the final book in the series yet so I don't have the burden to decide which of the book stands out from the rest. It may even be impossible as the stories are closely-knit with each other. I liked Potter 5, both the movie and the book, if not for the important transition for Harry, the political subtexts (which were more manifest in the book) invites a more mature discourse apart from the usual magic and spectacle that the series is known for.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahaha! i can understand how you feel. that's just lack of respect for the moviegoers. Gusto siguro nila pakita na bright sila kay nagabasa sila libro. hehehe

Jap said...

I'm a film enthusiast but I also like reading books and I feel those "snobs" when they say there's nothing like reading the book first then watching the movie--especially if it's a good adaptation.

It's too bad though that only Harry Potter books get this kind of attention. For me, some of the better book-to-screen films include Stephen King's Misery and Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club. I like it when a book turns out "just how I imagined it" cause then I know that maybe I do have a shot at being a director hehehe

jayclops said...

How about the Jane Austen adaptations? Were they good like Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice? Haven't read and watch both of them even. I'm looking forward though to the Ian McEwan Atonement adaptation.

There's this adaptation of King's 1408 too that is coming soon right? I have read that collection too but I never imagined it to be relived on screen. It has one of the praises that is sprawled on the movie poster which says that it is by far the best of the adaptations. Hmmm?

Anonymous said...

That's why I don't watch the film when I read the book, I couldn't enjoy it coz I'd just be comparing the two.
Of course, matulog lang man pud ko sinehan okay lang diay. Mao na I hate snobs, kay sabaan kaayo sila makamata ko. hehee

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