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December 03, 2005
Ideological Tachyons
I finished reading 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' today. I had seen the movie a month or two back, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was definitely intersting to go and read the source material after having seen the film adaptation, to see where there were common elements and to also see where the two drifted from each other. Ultimately, they're different beasts, but both quite interesting. Maybe it's like they're half-brothers, you know, but with different mothers, raised seperately. Obviously related, but very different at their spiritual cores.
I wonder if anyone went up to Tevis, the author of the book, and asked them if Nick Roeg, the director of the movie, had ruined his book. I'm sure he'd do like Chandler did when asked about 'The Big Sleep', and go over to his book shelf, pull the book out, flip through it, then look over at the interviewer and say, "Looks like my book's just fine." Like, would anyone ask Tevis if Bowie's album 'Low' ruined his book? It's the unused soundtrack to the film, which was adapted from the book. Well, I'm listening to it as I type this, and, no, I still enjoy what I read from the book.
I went to see the film adaptation of 'Aeon Flux' today. I enjoyed it in a Barbarella/Danger: Diabolik way. Good pop-y fun. Was it anything like the original cartoon, or even the new Dark Horse comic? Just in that half-sister way, really. But, you know, if I want to watch the cartoons again, I'll go buy the DVD set. I wanted to see the film, and that's what I got.
See, to me, ideas are like tachyons. Tachyons, for those who don't know, exist as both particles and waves. I believe that an idea, like the ideas in 'The Man Who Fell To Earth', can really exist in different forms, but still inherently be within their nature. That idea really works well as a novel, a film, and an album. If I weren't so tied up in my own projects, I'd love to do a graphic novel of it. And, really, would my graphic novel destroy 'Low'? Shyeah, right.
That's what bugs me about folks who complain about a film not being like the source book, or TV show, or whatever. Of course it's not. Each form has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the concept needs to be tailored to suit that. Also, each form has its own type of audience, so the story needs to be altered to suit that as well. I'm pretty sure that most of the people sitting in the audience for Aeon Flux never saw the cartoon. Until they were into filming the movie, Bowie had not read 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'. And, I'm sure except for Max Allan Collins, no one complained about Sam Mendes changing the ending of 'Road to Perdition'.
Don't go into a movie expecting it to be just like the source material which you're already familiar with. If you want that, just read/watch/listen to it again.
Posted by Schamberger at December 3, 2005 09:12 PM