The Sheila Variations

An oblique analogy: In Clavell's Shogun, Toronaga asks Blackthorne at their first meeting whether it isn't wrong to rebel against your lawful sovereign. Blackthorne replies, "Yes, it's wrong--unless you win." Laughing, Toronaga concedes the point.

Yes, it's wrong to take liberties with original works of film--unless you make it better, or just as good but a little different. A perfect example of the former, in my opinion, is JAWS. One of the dirty little secrets of the universe is that the novel was at best a mediocre potboiler. Spielberg and the writers (Carl Gottlieb and--to his credit--Peter Benchley, plus John Milius, Howard Sackler and Robert Shaw on the "USS Indianapolis monologue") cut the crap (the Ellen Brody-Hooper affair, the whole almost-Treasure of the Sierra Madre-I-don't-like-you dynamic of the Brody-Hooper-Quint in the book, the subplot with the mayor and the loansharks or whatever the hell it was) and made a great action movie.

If you make it worse, though, shame on ya. :)

About Jaws: I liked both versions a lot but the book version wouldn't have played well in theaters. If memory (I read it a long time ago) serves, Brody accidentally shoots Hooper while Hooper was getting eaten by Jaws and was horrified by it. And the end where Brody was swimming to shore with Jaws in hot pursuit: I don't know how they would have conveyed that he just died of exhaustion and drifted back out to sea with the barrels.

I do give credit to the film for the scene where Hooper is examining the hole in the lifeboat. That surprise jerked me right out of my seat. It is nowhere in the book and is a very nice addition.

Ken:

GREAT point. I think you are spot on there.

I've seen kind of radical productions of Shakespeare - which, to put it bluntly, do NOT work - and I am filled with scorn at the audacity of the director.

Then I have also seen radical productions of Shakespeare, which DO work, and breathlessly, and I am filled with awe at the vision of the director, and the staying-power of the Bard.

So if it WINS, it's okay.

Dear Sheila:

It's not about the poem. It's about the Gods.

Y'see; not many people want to be reminded that their own view of life and the cosmos may be dead-wrong, or that (taken as a group) we humans aren't all that great. Reminders like that don't make for box-office receipts.

Me? I liked the film. It was three hours of mindless action that was just about perfect.

Cheers!

-Will

Ken,

Not so oblique -- Shogun is a great book IF one can get all the way through it. But as it is kind of an engrossing tale, that's kind of easy.

That said, I have to say I agree with you. Although, from what I have heard about the movie, I think the people behind "Troy" ought be ashamed of themselves.

I don't think it's wrong insofar as it is clear that the original work inspired the firm, but isn't necessarily fully reflected in the film. I don't think anyone who went to see Troy really believed that Homer's full work was being displayed - except perhaps for the she-male sitting behind me who was quite shocked when Hector got dragged behind Achilles' chariot.