what really winds me up!

NickClapper said:
It's also important to judge the movie on it's own, but that's not an excuse for filmmakers to betray the spirit of the book.
Click to expand...

What does that even mean, really? The "spirit" of a book is such a vague idea, that it can mean many different things to many different people, for the same book.

The movie has to be translated, because it's a different medium. Has there ever been a movie that was exactly like the book? No. Of course not. Because you can't. You literally cannot make the movie the same as the book. Well, in translating from one medium to another, there's a lot of room for interpretation, and how one filmmaker sees the story will never be the same as how another sees it.

You can say you wish they would've include this, or you wish they wouldn't have put in that, but you can't reasonably say that one is better than the other, because they're two completely different things.

I think the Eiffel Tower is better than Muhammed Ali. And skateboarding is better than the moon.
 
Twilight haters are more annoying than the Twilight fanatics. Not once have I run into someone saying "Oh my goooddd! Edward is so cutte". At least twice everyday someone proclaims proudly how they think that Edward is gay because he sparkles. With relish they describe Bella being a necrophiliac because Edward is dead. Day in and day out some insecure Twilight hater in my vicinity has to tell everyone who will listen how awful Twilight is. I am so sick of hearing about Twilight that I would prefer watching the movie or even read the book over listening to a Twilight hater.
 
Cracker Funk said:
What does that even mean, really? The "spirit" of a book is such a vague idea, that it can mean many different things to many different people, for the same book.
Click to expand...

It's more simple than you're taking it.

Take a book like Catch-22. If you made a film of that and it was a really guns-blazing movie with awesome aerial fight sequences and pithy war dialogue, that would automatically have lost the spirit of the book.

Most (if not all) books have a broad message that they try and get across, and that's the thing that filmmakers sometimes misplace. The book of 'Let The Right One In' is all about coming of age, sexual awakening and retribution and the first film captures this perfectly. The second one is good but it is a less focused adaptation.

I don't know what your favourite book is, but for the sake of simplicity let's say it's 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Would you be happy with the film, even if it was actually a fine piece of filmmaking, if Holden Caulfield was portrayed as being angry at people for being overly sincere and serious?
 
Cracker Funk said:
What does that even mean, really? The "spirit" of a book is such a vague idea, that it can mean many different things to many different people, for the same book.
Click to expand...

Actually, not so.

Take a book like To Kill A Mockingbird.

What happens in the book, is what the story is. The End. How a person interprets the happenings in the book, is personal and doesn't have anything to do with the situations or incidents. A film should be able to translate the spirit of the book and let the audience interpret what they will. The film will mean different things to different people, but the occurances are the same. There are no vague situations.

Atticus is raising 2 children in the midst of trying to defend a man accused of rape.

Nothing vague about that. Have there been any movies exactly like the book? From what I understand, Lord Of The Rings comes pretty damn close. Were things taken out for times sake? Sure. But the interpretation and adaptation must be true to the story. That is why there is an Oscar for Best Adaptation of a Screenplay.

-- spinner :cool:
 
Comparison will continue to be drawn upon any adaptation. The arguement is as good as mute.

Among film-makers and "Fanatics" there will forever be an air of scrutiny. One, for their love of the material, the other, for the neglection and understanding to the creation they love.
 
I don't appreciate you telling me to quit crying and make a movie.. because you don't know me and what i am doing, therefore you need to quit telling me what to do, ****

If you got an opinion, by all means, type it, but don't insult me. Thank you.

Also they may have been a little misunderstanding, i wasn't saying books arn't better than films, but personally when i view a film i view it as a film, not a book adaption and when i read a book i read it as a book. Although... I'm currently confused between The beach book and The Beach film, read and seen them and few times and it's all mixed up now, lol. But yeah i agree, books allow character development a huge amount more than films do.

I also hope i don't get in trouble for swearing but i'm not taking it back. Freedom of speech n'all :)
 
Last edited:
GSD said:
I don't appreciate you telling me to quit crying and make a movie.. because you don't know me and what i am doing, therefore you need to quit telling me what to do, Twat.

If you got an opinion, by all means, type it, but don't insult me. Thank you.

Also they may have been a little misunderstanding, i wasn't saying books arn't better than films, but personally when i view a film i view it as a film, not a book adaption and when i read a book i read it as a book. Although... I'm currently confused between The beach book and The Beach film, read and seen them and few times and it's all mixed up now, lol. But yeah i agree, books allow character development a huge amount more than films do.

I also hope i don't get in trouble for swearing but i'm not taking it back. Freedom of speech n'all :)
Click to expand...

I think this is a classic case of tones being miscommunicated/mis-interpreted on the internet. I've communicated enough with wheatgrinder that I can say with a very high level of confidence that he did not intend the remark as an insult, and was just being playful.













Prediction - wheatgrinder will respond to this by taking another playful jab at either one of us, and it will probably be funny.
 
nah.. im a crotchety old man.. the world is full of us.. we have more money and better lawyers , which trumps youth, talent and energy every time!

Get off my lawn you pesky kids!

You know what really burns my backside.. I mean REALLY burns it.. ?




wait for it...


A flame about three feet high..


*rimshot!

*tap .. *tap.. hey is this thing on?
SSSSiblince.. sSSSIlence.

meh.



EDIT: Ah man, just read CF's fine print.. man you DO know me.. lol
 
To address the OP, I am a huge fan of the Potter books, and I also love the movies. I saw the first 5 films before I ever read any of the books. Do I think the books are better? Absolutely. Do I think the films would have been good if they were literally translated on film, regardless of length? No, not at all. Just look at the Terry Pratchett mini-series' of two of his books, if you want proof. They are pretty faithful literal translations, and quite long. But, even though the CGI was good and the sets and acting were appropriate, it was too long and boring. It wasn't a movie. And they sucked, while the books were fantastic.

Reminds me of a BTS for Goblet of Fire I watched. They were talking about having to cut things out of the books more than they ever had before (which it the thing that, in my experience, pisses off fans of the book more than anything else). They said they settled on having it be Harry's journey, as the books and the films are called Harry Potter. That makes sense, lose the other stuff that isn't the true [/i]story[/i].

Cracker Funk said:
You can't make-out while reading a book.
Click to expand...

I would add that you can't properly make out while actually watching a movie, either.


Cracker Funk said:
What does that even mean, really? The "spirit" of a book is such a vague idea, that it can mean many different things to many different people, for the same book.
Click to expand...
To this, I say that one of the things that is a tribute both to the Harry Potter books and the films, is that it captured the spirit. I've never heard anyone not come out of a Harry Potter film saying anything but 'Oh my god, that's exactly how I pictured it."
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top