manananmaclir wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:21 pm
danielmann861 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:48 pm
gattoparde59 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2010 10:05 pm
I guess the best way to pose this question is to ask whether we should accept the judgment of the film adaptation: that what we see in the film represents the “fillet” of the novel and the rest should be discarded as literary offal. Do you think the film adaptation is a vast improvement over a poorly written, and in some cases offensive novel, or do you think the novel can stand on its own merits, separate from the film adaptation? Feel free to comment, I won’t hold it against you.
No, I see them as two different mediums telling the same story in different methods and that is that. The novel stands on its own. It tells its own story and doesn't care if you're uncomfortable in the places it takes you. It stands on its own. You can like one better than the other, but to discard one over the other or say one is literary offal because it goes to uncomfortable places is kind of a ridiculous notion
Well put. Rather abrupt, but still well put. I should add that I don't agree that the novel was poorly written, nor did I find it offensive. Some parts were more uncomfortable than others, less enjoyable, but not offensive.
I don't even mean to be rude. Just yeah, I think they both stand on their own rights. But I come at this from the perspective that I was a fan of the book LONG before the movie even came to be. I was a fan of the book from the time it was first published in Australia. I bought it in October of 2007 and fell in love with it from there before there even was a movie. When I heard there was a film version on the way, I didn't think they could do it justice but was shocked to see how well they did it even with the more pulpy elements removed. The way I look at it is the simple, the core heart is of course Oskar and Eli. All versions of this story retain that core heart but take different routes along the way. The novel is very pulp-horror Stephen King by way of a coming of age story and I love it for that reason. Tomas Alfredson's film is the same core story by the way of Ingmar Bergman drama removing some of the pulp-horror aspects along the way. Matt Reeve's version is somewhere between the pulp-horror tone of the novel and the Ingmar Bergman dramatic take of Tomas Alfredson. Or I would say the American equivalent of Ingmar Bergman but I think Let Me In is a muddled film that is trying to take some of the book while replicating too much of Alfredson's film and never really finds its own way. BUT, it still stands on its own.
Which I guess brings me to my overall point. The novel is its own beast. Alfredson's film is its own beast. And even Reeves film, as flawed as I find it to be, is its own beast. I mean you can like one over the other all you want and even argue the positives of one take over another. But to disregard any of the three just feels foolish to me (gee, maybe I have grown up a little considering I was the fool on IMDB trying to dismiss Let Me In at one point
)
I don't know. I think all three stand on their own two feet and should be judged as such. The book is its own beast and I kind of appreciate for it different reasons to the film. I like pulp-horror. I like being taken to uncomfortable places in fiction. I found some of the more demented aspects of the novel fascinating. I may not like Hakan, but hey, by the time Breaking Bad finished, I didn't like Walt either but still found him relentlessly fascinating as a character. Getting in the mind of someone who is reprehensible was still fascinating to me even if I despise what he is. I don't have to like the character to still find him fascinating. I don't know, I just think it's slightly foolish to disregard something because another does it better. Even that is just opinion as opposed to objective fact.
(Jesus christ, Harpospoke on the IMDB boards was right! I was an elitist little bastard at one point and this is what happens when the elitist bastard grows up
There's a reference I'd be surprised if anyone here would remember. My childish wars with Harpo on the IMDB forums...why do I even remember that?)