tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post6513023495313157883..comments2024-03-29T12:59:00.612+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: By the book: more thoughts on adaptationJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-83684626091791204402012-10-11T03:55:15.747+05:302012-10-11T03:55:15.747+05:30I have always been plagued by these questions, esp...I have always been plagued by these questions, especially like the ones you ask about how the first person narrative of the reluctant fundamentalist can be adapted. I also agree with you about assessing a film against what the medium can best offer. In this connection, one of my most satisfying experiences was reading and watching the film 'remains of the day'. While reading the book, I thought it was impossible to adapt it into a movie. When I saw the movie, I was surprised by the ingenuity and the interpretation. For the first time in my life, I understood why directors have wanted to adapt, and what unique purpose it can serve. In the case of remains of the day, there were lots of things that a first person narrator could not say, but a movie's plot could. A true adaptation actually takes something from one medium and completes it using another. All mediums have limitations, but adaptations provide the 3rd dimension to a 2d picture. Have you seen/read remains of the day?cyndujahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14090543585721014625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-51973217090916026902012-10-10T11:57:27.584+05:302012-10-10T11:57:27.584+05:30Excited about these adaptations even though I have...Excited about these adaptations even though I haven't read Life of Pi and didn't like Reluctant Fundamentalist.<br /><br />I think bad books make good movies and good books are adapted into poor movies (of course with lots of exceptions). I also think short stories, novellas or small part of long story makes a good adaptation rather than a full story. Maybe this is because, a good amount of juice has already been squeezed out of an idea by a good long book. On the other hand, a short average book may just provide the right inspiration to a film maker to expand upon.<br /><br />P.s - Thanks for reminding me about the adaptation of Cloud Atlas. Had heard about that at the start of the year and have been waiting for it since. Am curious how the director will treat the matter.Sidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-43155208879055107082012-10-09T17:13:04.766+05:302012-10-09T17:13:04.766+05:30since we are talking about adaptations, over the y...since we are talking about adaptations, over the years, i have realized that shawshank redemption too could be a case of bad adaptation. i have just seen the film not read the book. but lines like, Life is a good thing my friend, can work in books but in films when you see human beings delivering such lines, you just wish that the director should have avoided such an obvious and melodramatic line for visual medium. Another instance was that dialogues, "Tim was here and so was Red" again works very well on paper but in film, i am not sure.Pessimist Foolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06057153008708242962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-68970574028069154442012-10-09T14:39:48.937+05:302012-10-09T14:39:48.937+05:30Have read all the four books in question. Waiting ...Have read all the four books in question. Waiting for the surprises the movies will bring :)Moulding defragmentationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05505862699285099735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-63949575275948595452012-10-09T10:36:01.862+05:302012-10-09T10:36:01.862+05:30but the actual process can be much more complicate...<i>but the actual process can be much more complicated when you're watching the film version of a book that you really love or feel an emotional engagement with </i><br /><br />Fair enough. Having said that it behooves the audience to make the mental adjustments rather than the film maker who is an independent artist in his own right.<br /><br />When you watch some of the "adaptations" of the 30s today, they're painful because of their attempts to recreate the book - Cukor's David Copperfield being an example. 80 years later, I don't think anybody ranks that film in Cukor's own personal top 10.<br /><br />And personally I feel like cringing when I hear lines from the book repeated in the film to please the audience - Eg: "Barkis is willin'" or Micawber's "Something will turn up". It smacks of a lack of originality.<br /><br />Moviemakers shouldn't be straitlaced by the expectations of a very small proportion of their audience who'd have read the book.<br />The idea ought to be to leave their own mark. Today, the number of people who've seen <i>Dodsworth</i> the film is many many times the number who've read Sinclair Lewis' novel from cover to cover.<br /><br />Also, sometimes an author's reputation can weigh films down. None of the Dickens films are too special. In contrast take a film like <i>The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp</i> - that's a great example of a magnum opus of British cinema created by a pair of film makers who relied on an unsubstantial cartoon strip as their "literary" inspiration! Now that's originality.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-45952915719906232772012-10-09T10:25:57.787+05:302012-10-09T10:25:57.787+05:30Padma: didn't know about that - that's a p...Padma: didn't know about that - that's a pity. Sounds like they wanted to tap the visual and symbolic potential of Istanbul as a place that shows the synthesis of Eastern and Western influences.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-91017820686975316322012-10-09T10:22:25.878+05:302012-10-09T10:22:25.878+05:30These are two different art forms. Why even expect...<i>These are two different art forms. Why even expect any kind of faithful adherence.</i><br /><br />Shrikanth: I largely agree with this in principle, but the actual process can be much more complicated when you're watching the film version of a book that you really love or feel an emotional engagement with (and especially if the film has set itself up as a direct adaptation rather than a "loosely based on" or "inspired by"). I don't know if someone who really liked <i>Dodsworth</i> the novel would have responded to the film the same way we did, for example. (Perhaps such a person might simply have imagined someone very different from Huston in the lead role, and that would have been enough to create a disconnect. Or there might be a hundred other factors, incuding some as apparently trivial as my peeve about the flashlight-Sauron thing.)Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-33764905962952304752012-10-09T09:57:05.042+05:302012-10-09T09:57:05.042+05:30I think now I look for some sort of harmony betwee...<i>I think now I look for some sort of harmony between the book and the novel.</i><br /><br />There doesn't need to be any kind of harmony, as the author of the film is the director/screenwriter who could be very different individuals from the author of the book.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-22217830810175912532012-10-09T09:37:47.247+05:302012-10-09T09:37:47.247+05:30oh, thats some line-up. i am very excited about Th...oh, thats some line-up. i am very excited about The Reluctant Fundamentalist. has anyone ever adapting Naipaul's books apart from Mystic Masseur. and anyone dared asking him his opinion on the adaptation :)Pessimist Foolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06057153008708242962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-40982371234977342982012-10-09T09:15:43.382+05:302012-10-09T09:15:43.382+05:30This is one of my pet peeves.
People complaining t...This is one of my pet peeves.<br />People complaining that the film doesn't faithfully reflect the books or something to that effect.<br /><br />These are two different art forms. Why even expect any kind of faithful adherence.<br /><br />My favourite "literary" film is perhaps Wyler's <i>Dodsworth</i>. Not sure how faithful it is. But at no point during the film do you realize you are watching an adaptation! That's the hallmark of a great adaptation - a film that makes you oblivious to the "baggage" of the book.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-46021441772155691042012-10-09T08:55:49.311+05:302012-10-09T08:55:49.311+05:30On the adaptations from the book to the film for T...On the adaptations from the book to the film for The Reluctant Fundamentalist, I hear the location of the place where Changez is told about the Janissaries has been changed from Valparaiso in Chile to Istanbul. As that odd Indian who lives in Chile and looks at the hills of Valparaiso from her home every evening, that broke my heart a little. I am sure Istanbul has its own cultural relevance to add to the story but an old bookshop in Neruda's Valparaiso is just where he should have had that conversation with the old man.Padmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451915112181094778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-75718485385193344092012-10-09T08:38:54.438+05:302012-10-09T08:38:54.438+05:30Gradwolf: no, more like I have just lazily focusse...Gradwolf: no, more like I have just lazily focussed on subcontinent books for the purpose of this column! David Mitchell's hugely complex (and, one might have thought, unfilmable) novel <i>Cloud Atlas</i> has just been made into a film by the Wachowski brothers, and there must be a few other high-profile adaptations in the works. Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-43240193395285996902012-10-09T08:35:19.792+05:302012-10-09T08:35:19.792+05:30I guess it just happened that the high profile nov...I guess it just happened that the high profile novel adaptations all have subcontinent connections?!<br /><br />I've long given up trying to look for "worthy" adaptations etc. I don't even know what that means anymore. I think now I look for some sort of harmony between the book and the novel. Whether the film can stand on its own as a story, as what it tries to achieve. Can it act as a bookend? Are the omissions and additions working for the film (and not necessarily the novel)? Those are the question to find answers for. I was thinking about The Perks Of Being Wallflower and its adaptation, how they'll transfer the epistolary setting without landing into tedium. That also reminded me of On The Road, the adaptation that was screened at Cannes and then the buzz died. Another coming of age novel, something that on screen will probably be only a series of vignettes and if there isn't some sense of control, can just fall apart.Gradwolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07031246793161524667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-47836437774668763192012-10-08T22:33:49.733+05:302012-10-08T22:33:49.733+05:30Afeem will certainly be worth looking out for. Mah...Afeem will certainly be worth looking out for. Mahmood Farooqui, I assume, is equipped, as adequately as anyone else, to handle the linguistic fineries of the book.Rahulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08600228969911790479noreply@blogger.com