> -----Original Message----- > From: Rick Root [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 9:59 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: "I Am Legend" Book vs Movie: FIGHT! > > IMO, there is nothing lamer than a "book vs. movie" fight.
And yet you'll favor us with your views on it depth. ;^) (Also I hope you realize that the title was more a joke than an invitation to actual combat. I just happened to see the movie and read the book in the same weekend.) > Books - assuming you read them - are *always* better than movies, > because you envision the characters the way you want to envision them. > Books tend to go into much more detail about many things, drawing a > world with words, but ultimately, you envision everything the way your > imagination wants to. I generally agree - however there are exceptions. I just finished reading the "Dexter" books. The TV Series is significantly better in my opinion. I also liked the movie "Jaws" much more than the book. > I don't read a whole lot for pleasure any more because my Best Disease > has deteriorated my vision enough where I read *MUCH* slower than I > used to, and I simply don't enjoy it anymore. Audio books can be very good. I don't use them much but when I'm slightly interested in something and don't want to use the time to read it all I do. I listened the last "Harry Potter" book and enjoyed it - much faster than reading it. > In most cases, the "book vs. movie" argument is not a case of which is > better, but what is different. Some movies attempt to be as true to > the original story as possible. I think Peter Jackson did a great job > with the Lord of the Rings - even though certain things were glossed > over, and others still were completely left out (Tom Bombadil, anyone? > or the post-climactic "Scouring of the Shire"). Leaving things out is generally a requirement... there's no way to create a "complete" 2 hour movie from a 400 page novel. Changing things outright is less defensible - especially when you change nearly everything. In this case the movie "I am Legend" isn't bad (I actually quite enjoyed it), but it's simply NOT the same story as the book. They are much more different than alike and carry completely different messages. At best you can say they're two stories on a similar theme. In some of the more egregious cases (like the heinous "Wizard of Earthsea" produced by the Sci-Fi Channel) the two are so utterly different that it's purely, completely insulting. As I said, one concern I have in this is that any production of a story, especially a truly classic, ground-breaking story like "I am Legend" (or "Earthsea" or "Tarzan" or whatever) tends to: 1) Dilute the story in the public view. The source material becomes secondary to the popular view making subsequent popularizations even worse. Since the book has been released each generation has had a movie version of the story and each film took less and less from the book and more and more from the previous films. 2) Reduce the chances of anybody stepping up in the near future. Basically there won't be a "better" I am Legend" produced this generation - we've already got a huge, big-budget one. Nobody will be produce another anytime soon. I find this interesting - the way popular culture and profit repurpose and bend creative works. I always try to read the book when a movie comes out - especially when the book is from a different generation - just because I find it so interesting to see how people have decided to change them. Unfortunately taken from this perspective you get a disheartening picture. The stories are almost always changed to simplify, increase catharsis and popular appeal. "Add a hot chick!", "make a happy ending!", "throw in some 'splosions!" is the rule of the day. It's a minor, but I think meaningful indictment on our cultural evolution. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:249528 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
