The Giver

[pen_grunt]

It's super cliche to see a movie trailer and whine about how it's nothing like the book and you hateitalready because BOOK.

I'm always torn between thinking this is valid criticism and thinking that it's pointless and whiny. On one hand, if a book is something you love it is disappointing to see major changes that screw with that thing you love. Especially disappointing if those changes aren't BETTER or equally as good. On the other hand, a movie is not a book--there are things that you just can't accomplish in a movie that you can in a book. You don't have that languid reading time for movie-viewers to relax into your narrative. It's lazy to say something is bad just because the book was better.

I thought that, while they had subtle changes and direction shifts, the Lord of the Rings movies and the Harry Potter movies were pretty good examples of books-to-movies. A lot of the Jane Austin book-based movies are quite good and faithful to the spirit of the books. I liked Atonement and The English Patient much better as movies than as books (in a rare twist from the usual convention). I didn't even mind Ender's Game, frankly, because I'm not quite sure how they were supposed to stuff in OSC's long-winded political diatribes that are basically sibling conversations. And I thought how they did the giant-videogame-test was very cool.

The Hobbit, on the other hand, irritated me because the direction to have them being CHASED the entire time to get them to "go" is completely moot when they were on a quest to "go" anyway. That, and Peter Jackson seemed hell-bent on connecting it to his LOTR opus...and it doesn't enrich the experience in the way you'd expect it to.

That all being said, from everything I've heard and seen--The Giver looks like it absolutely obliterates the original point of the book. Which was that society is its own nefariousness--it bends to the arc of conformity. The rebellion is quiet and personal--and even encouraged as the main character's role of the new memory keeper. The Giver movie, however, is all Teen Dystopian SuperAction Movie with a clear villainous presence, an open rebellion, and even a love triangle thrown in for funzies.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I will STILL see it. Because even if it's a disappointment overall (or it leaves me whining "The book was SOOOOO much better than the movie!"), it's still a treat to see all the characters you know and like from the book coming to life in a movie. So even though book readers whine about their favorite books being masticated beyond recognition into movies, they STILL don't want them to stop making said movies. Because there's always that chance that there will be a wholly satisfying experience that makes you go back and read the book...then watch the movie again...then go back and read the book in this weird book-to-film-to-book masturbatory reading and watching cycle.

Comments

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I never read The Giver. Now I'm intrigued.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

You should. It's rather for-juveniles, but I just re-read it and it mostly holds up. Plus it's a quick read.

[tommy50702.livejournal.com]

This movie was AMAZING!! maybe they did change a few parts and stuff, but they kept true to the plot and the moral of the story. The way they put it totally gave the audience the same feeling it gvr them with the book. The scenes were beatiful and actors were fantastic!