la~~ that's all I really needed to say.
Friday, May 19, 2006
The War Obsession
I decided to edit this since it was a bit overboard. So the simple version is:
I like Miyazaki films: Kiki, Totoro, Spirited Away
I understand and am perfectly ok that books are edited when they become movies, but I am bothered when characters are stripped, renamed, replaced and the movie doesn't make any sense.
There's no need to ADD a war to a story that has none.
I was sad that they did the two items above to Howl's Moving Castle.
I'm a bit disturbed that they actually inserted the words War Saga into the title of the Tales of Ged.
la~~ that's all I really needed to say.
la~~ that's all I really needed to say.
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14 comments:
huh!
as one who does not share your affinity for wizard-tales, i cannot say i empathize... but i agree that it does sound annoying!
lol ~you don't love (as in have a near-physical thirst for) sci-fi and dragon stories, Logres and The LIttle Mermaid, Dracula and Jekyl and Hyde and, of course, Out of the Silent Planet? I never thought about that, but it's true huh?
I like fantasy stuff a bit too much...
Do you have a favorite fantasy Jenny? Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever talked a ton about books!
no, no favorite fantasy books honestly, can't stand 'em!!! sci-fi, that's a bit different, as long as it has a pretty strong under-current of something believable (for example, 1984 or even a handmaiden's tale, sorta...)
these are my favorites! (beware, this might get a little long!!!) :)
1. everything is illuminated -jonathan saffran foer: it's a crazy crazy crazy novel about this schtettl (sp?) in eastern europe in the mid '30's, which was obviously a very volatile time... i cried like a baby on the last page, worth reading just to get to it. it's also surprisingly funny, considering the setting - laugh-out-loud funny, also a bit inappropriate at times but it makes up for it...
2. the god of small things -arundhati roy: this one is set in india in a province that had just turned from the caste system to communism. it's another one of those devastatingly beautiful books, the kind where all these events get in motion and you want them to stop but you know they can't, and you just brace yourself... beautifully written too.
3. reading lolita in tehran: this one talks about iran during the revolution in 1980- it's a memoir, in a sense, the story of 8 different women. it's very jarring because it's true, and it really makes you think. really puts you out of your own skull - i've never had a book accomplish that so well.
4. me talk pretty one day -david sedaris: this is a hilarious series of prose/vignettes by a guy who is maybe the david wojnarowicz of writing. which is saying a lot.
5. sermons from solitary confinement -richard wurmbrand: this is a 5-book series of sermons/ramblings/musings written by a messianic romanian jew during his 3 years in solitary confinement (he spent 14 in prison in total.) everyday, he composed and memorized one of these sermons,and when he was finally let out, he didn't let himself sleep until he had written down every single word. during that time he was losing his mind, which is very evident in the writing. intellectually, it is amazing, but more than that it hits you really hard in the gut.
6. against all hope -armando vallardes: this is a book written by a guy who spent 21 years in prison in cuba. has the most harrowing, mind-blowing escape story i've ever heard of. couldn't hardly sleep for days...!!!
7. soul on ice -eldridge cleaver: this is a memoir by the founder the black panthers. very dark, very smart, makes you wince. written like poetry, so you can't put it down...
those are the ones that come to mind for now... :) you??
......and i think i have to add "teacher man" by frank mccourt. now i'm done! (i think!) :)
I loved the LOTR movie, but I was pretty mad when they strayed from the source material. And being a big Tolkien fan, I noticed every little thing they did wrong.
I have not read the Earthsea books, but I have been meaning to get around to them.
The other movie that I thought butchered the source material was the Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. As one who read the book, the movie sucked.
what'd they do wrong on LOTR? i mean the differences are kind of obvious, right, like they cut out all the songs and a lot of the material... (i personally like it that way, as i have the attention span of a squirrel).
is that line "i can't carry it for you mister frodo, but i can carry you!" in the book?? that part makes me cry every time. :)
I dunno, I thought they did a really good job sticking to the story with LoTR, like BK said. I mean, they HAD to cut some stuff out to shorten the lenghth, but at least they didn't ADD a ton of stuff to make the movie "better." So I thought it was a very well-rounded piece.
I was even satisfied that they didn't put Tom Bombadil in there since, well, since he's too great to put into an actual movie, it would only be degrading ^_^
I mean, I actually don't mind terribly much when they make small changes, just crazy additions: like putting in a war where there wasn't any and it causes the movie to make NO sense, drives me nuts.
Jenny, I'm still working on my list book list! It's crazy for me. I can't quite bring myself to write it completely down yet.
BK you're also right~they should just leave Ged alone, I can't ever imagine it working right!
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the problems with the LOTR movie, but here is what comes to mind at the moment.
1. They fundamentally changed the characters of Faromir and Treebeard. They were great characters in the book, and the movie ripped them to shreds.
2. Arwen. 99% of Arwen in the movie was stuck in. Besides the wedding scene at the end of the Return of the King everything else was added, and I think they went overboard with it. I can understand putting her in a little, otherwise people would be totally surprised when she suddenly shows up in the end, but in my opinion there was way too much of Arwen.
3. Gandalf figured out the riddle at the gates of Moria, not Frodo.
4. Aragorn was given the Sword that was re-forged before he left Rivendell, Elrond did not bring it to him.
They left out some of my favorite lines, but I guess that is to be expected. I do not remember for sure, but I think Sam carrying Frodo was in the book.
Keep in mind I loved the movies. I greatly enjoyed them and I thought the imagery was spectacular. I just had some issues with characters changing and doing different things than in the book.
Oh wow! The memories are flooding back! All of those I recognized too as I went through the movie.
The only ones I did care about were Treebeard and Faromir, you're right, that did bug me.
The Arwen thing bugged me too, but it was ignorable I guess, probably since it was an add on rather than an alteration of a good character, so I could just press delete in my head and it didn't change much of hte movie or story ^_^
You have a delete button in your head? Wow, I wish I had one of those. Oh, and if you are ever cleaning up some space in you memory banks, please don't delete me! I'm a nice guy, I don't want to be deleted!
lol - like that could ever happen! Those parts were deleted due to unnecessariness (I know it's not a word, but it should be) and lack of originality.
How many Norse friends named Lars do I have? You're irreplacable!
Well thank you, it is nice to know that there are two people in Japan who still love me. (Not that other people in Japan wouldn't, but I don't know any of them yet.)
Oh, on another note. Mark and Anne are moving back to the midwest this summer. Near by where I am. I am very excided! It has been dificult to keep in touch with them when they are out in Nevada. Oh, and they are having a baby! So yeah, excitement all arround. Now I just have to get you guys to move back to where I am...
just one more year!
Oh no! The baby race has begun. First it was everyone getting married, now it's gonna be everyone's having babies!
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